School Board Race Scratches Padre Record

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Yuma, Yuma.

For the last couple of years, Steve Vaus has been turning out ditties like this one--sung to the tune of “New York, New York”--as unofficial balladeer of the San Diego Padres.

He has also managed to turn his lyrical Padre hype into a profitable business, through an exclusive contract with KFMB-AM (760), which airs the songs, and another with KCST-TV (Channel 39), which shows Vaus’ music videos of the team’s exploits.

But on March 7, Vaus became an official candidate for the city’s Board of Education, and the decision to run for the seat being vacated by board member Larry Lester may end up costing him a major portion of his livelihood.

KFMB pulled “Yuma, Yuma” and “Going to Yuma”--tunes about the Padres’ training camp site in Arizona--off the air, citing the Federal Communications Commission’s “fairness doctrine,” which means the station has to give equal time to seven other candidates for the school board seat if Vaus’ name is mentioned when his songs are played.

“We’re really going to be affected in the ratings if all of a sudden we have to give air time to a string of candidates stretching out to the parking lot,” said Mark Larson, program and operations manager at KFMB. The station, Larson said, cannot preempt its features to present “school board equal time hour.”

KFMB lawyers said the station could play the tunes without mentioning Vaus’ name, if Vaus could get all seven candidates to sign waivers approving it. The station had been playing the tunes without mentioning Vaus’ name in the weeks before the March 7 filing date, after candidate Jim Roache complained about the free publicity Vaus was receiving.

Vaus said Thursday that six candidates had agreed to sign waivers, but that one--Sue Braun--had turned him down.

That means no KFMB air time for the tunes Vaus sings with Linda Smith, wife of Padres President Ballard Smith, and no KCST videos, Vaus said. KCST production director Rick Schwartz could not be reached Thursday to confirm that his station would refuse to run the music videos.

“I’m not looking for an unfair advantage over the other seven candidates,” Vaus said. “I’m just trying to make a living, to keep a business going that I started from scratch.”

Vaus, 33, is the owner of Steve Vaus Productions recording studio. He said that “we’re talking about a very significant part of my income,” a minimum of $20,000 to $30,000 if he is ultimately unable to air eight Padres songs and 20 videos, as he did last year.

“I think somebody’s trying to force me into a decision of staying in business or trying to stay in the race,” he said.

Braun was out of town and could not be reached for comment, but her campaign manager, Mary Kevorkian, sang a slightly different tune.

Kevorkian at first confirmed that Braun was refusing to sign the waiver because “she does not feel it’s in her best interests at this point.”

Later, however, Kevorkian said that she had checked her notes and found that Braun was undecided about signing the waiver. Kevorkian said Braun wants to review the matter with her staff Monday before making a decision.

At least one other candidate, Deputy Atty. Gen. Al Korobkin, is reserving judgment on the matter.

“I’m undecided,” Korobkin said Thursday. “I want to read (Vaus’) lawyer’s brief and I want to see the waiver. And if the other candidates aren’t signing, then it’s moot.

“If all of them have to agree to sign the waiver, and if even one says they’re not signing, then there isn’t much left to that issue.”

Two other candidates reached Thursday night, Mark Pollick and Sandra Kay Sparks, said they would sign the waivers. “I don’t have any problems with that. He’s got a right to make a living,” said Pollick, an attorney.

Vaus, who said the Padre songs were a springboard to similar contracts with other organizations around the nation, vowed to stay in the race.

“There’s too many issues that are too important to me with the schools,” he said. “I just feel that Steve Vaus needs to be in this race, that Steve Vaus brings some good talents and good ideas to the race. I don’t think my ability to be in the race should be determined by what business I’m in.”