The Merc is correct—it is time for him to go. While I have not been a fan of the mayor for many years and have found his behavior to be less than admirable, I do not rejoice in seeing him leave. There is no question that his departure will be the best thing to happen to SJ since his election, but he has brought shame not only to himself but to our city. I am pleased that he is finally getting what is due him but it is unfortunate he had to take the city down with him. This is a guy who listened only to people who said “yes, sir,” instead of listening to all opinions—even those who dared disagree with him. If he is allowed to stay with only a censure then all of the elements that allowed this happen will also remain in place (i.e. Guerra, Borgsdorf, etc.) Every day they stay is another day of lies, spin, and the breaking of the trust a city should have with its officials.
So the mayor’s a liar and a cheat? We knew this last year. I’m with Scott H on this one, let’s just move on to bigger issues, he’ll be gone soon enough. We don’t want to waste all of our time and resources on this for the next year.
Not butchering Coyote Valley into the next ugly strip mall disaster that is the rest of “new” San Jose is vastly more important. You can just hear the developers and land owners plotting to make their move while the City is distracted and weak.
I have to agree with Scott Herhold. Let’s get on wih it. My feeling is that our city management should be people who have a deep interest in San Jose including its history. A displaced Sunnyvale City Councilman doesn’t have the interest in the community that these positions require. Coyote Valley is very important. This last bit of green needs to be preserved. Already housing development is encrouching along Highway 101 towards Coyote Valley. Let’s get city management people (elected and appointed) who are real authentic sons and daughters of San Jose and who can see the green. Gonzalez, Guerra, Borgsdorf and Doyle can fade off as a disgraceful glitch in our history.
One thing for certain is that the players on the City’s side of this entire transaction exhibited a tremendous amount of poor judgement. Guerra must resign or be fired, as the architect of this deal. Specifically for his not understanding (or simply ignoring the fact) that there is a procedure for dealing with requests from contractors or vendors who are asking for more money. If Norcal could not perform the service they agreed to provide, then the City could have put the contract out for bid again. The bids would have been competitve and fair.
But in viewing the big picture, just what did the mayor and Guerra get out of this transaction? Why would they jeopardize their entire careers just for doing what the mayor thought was the “right thing”? This part still needs to be told.
Ron needs to resign immediately! An apology won’t cut it. He has lied to San Jose for the past 5 years and all of a sudden he expects people to accept his apology?!? Rubbish!!
Terry Gregory was forced out of office because he accepted a $1,200 bottle of wine and crab dinners. Ron gave Norcal and their sub contractor $11million in concessions and who knows what else. The citizens of San Jose deserve better, and “I apologize” and a Council censure won’t do it for me. Ron needs to resign or be recalled immediately and while we’re at it, Del needs to go to!
It will not be time to move on until the Mayor and his merry band are gone. As a result of the Cisco scandal 3 people either lost their jobs or were domoted and they weren’t even the main players (guess who was—Gonzales, Borgsdorf, etc.) and now we’re supposed to accept a forced, lame apology from the Mayor and a censure (which means nothing to a guy like Gonzales.) The Council must show some guts—finally. A censure is a slap on the wrist and continues the tacit approval the council has given the mayor all these years to carry on his vindictive, mean-spirted regime. It’s not over until he is gone!!
Cindy Chavez has made the smart move, she is out in front of this thing and gaining momentum for her plan to stop the investigation. Herhold has jumped on board, as has a majority of bloggers here…
We absolutely can not stop the investigation until all of the facts are out, including Cindy’s involvement, and until a conclusion has been made.
The city can not afford to leave this guy in office for another year and have nothing get done.
Jerry (and others) are right. It is not time to move on until we clean house. What message does it send to the majority of city workers who conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner if the council does nothing more than censure the mayor. To leave the major players in this scandal in place is an insult to the city work force and the citizens of San Jose. If Cindy had nothing to hide she wouldn’t be so quick to call for a censure and then move on as if nothing has happened. It took Cindy way too long to finally even indicate the slightest concern over this issue which she has supported and defended all along.
For the sake of our city the Mayor, the manager, Guerra and the others must leave and find new employment far away from here. The time has finally come—where will our council be when it is time to act? Let them know NOW.
Enough is enough if we as citizens of SJ want to show a sign to future politicians that they cannot step on the citizens of SJ.
Mayor Gonzales should resign, or be recalled out of office. If we let this go like everything else before, (bart, cisco, gregory was not alone there were probably others)
We will keep getting this kind of treatment from politicians. Who knows what else has been done in the name of citizens of this city without our authority. Mayor Gonzales has let done the citizens of San Jose and proved the lack of ethics he has.
Why the outrage? This is not news. Why not call for the resignation of Bush? His lies cost lives and the credibility of an entire nation.
And I’m not an apolgist for Gonzales or Guerra, but what they did does not rise to the level of resignation. In fact, had Ron come out with this apology when the GJ report had originally come out—this thing might have blown over by now.
I find Cortese’s call for Ron’s resignation somewhat disingenious or politically naive.
Does he really want to run against Mayor Chavez?
I also find it ironic that, after all Joe and Ron have done—individually and collectively to antagonize people—this incident is the one that gets people to call for their resignation. Personally, I don’t even see the need to censure.
From a professional political point of view, however, when the hometown newspaper calls for you to resign—it’s time to begin looking for another line of work.
Ah, now Rich has spoken and still sees nothing wrong with what what was done. No need to try and rehash this over and over again for his benefit. Obviously, not following the rules and possibly the law is no big deal to Rich and nothing we say will get him to focus more clearly.
At least we can agree that it’s time for the guilty to look for another line of work.
As for Bush, not that that has anything to do with this issue, if this country were morally and ethically grounded there would be calls for his ouster as well for his betrayal of the public trust. At least we have a chance of cleaning up this mess on the local level.
Yes, the Mayor should have apologized months ago. But Ms. Chavez should have also taken the report more seriously. Let’s not forget Ms. Chavez’s response to the Grand Jury report in a June 15, 2005 Mercury News article:
“Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez echoed Gonzales’ criticism of the report saying it read like a “British tabloid,” and had drawn unfair conclusions about her own testimony.”
Ms. Chavez’s knee jerk reaction to the report is troubling and makes me wonder if she has what it takes to lead the city as Mayor.
No need to wonder if Cindy has what it takes to be Mayor. Just ask yourself if you like the way things have gone the past few years—if you answer “yes” then Cindy’s your candidate. If your fed up with the inaction of the Council during all of our many scandals then you’d better look for another candidate. Otherwise, welcome to four more years of the Gonzo chronicles.
It’s an all too common observation, but I’ll mention it just the same. We, the people, never seem to care enough about what is going on until something bad happens.
Trite?
Perhaps, but that in and of itself should show us how used we are in the political arena. Politicians pull out all the stops when they’re running for office. They’ll make you believe that every single person’s opinion counts. When they’re in, however, the tune changes. That’s when they put us back on the shelf to collect dust till the next election.
So when I hear something like this scandal, and the mob cries for blood, it’s hard for me to join in. Afterall, don’t we, the people, shoulder some of the blame for allowing our leaders to act, for the most part, with carte blanche authority?
If only government were more transparent. If only there was a better way to get people involved in the actions of government. If only we lived in a day or society that could use technology to bridge the gaps between the people and their government; shedding light on the darkness of secrect deals and the like. Or, wait… isn’t this the Silicon Valley?
I’m talking about a revolutionary new way to approach democracy that encourages inclusion in the governing process. If it can happen anywhere, it is here.
It is only when the people participate in government regularly that democracy happens. If we are content to only care when we learn of the secret deals made behind our backs, then we will never truly be able to lead this city anywhere other than where the ‘special interests’ want it to go. Afterall, they don’t have to worry about election cycles.
If you want to help make our San Jose Government more responsive by revolutionizing the way people participate in our democracy, please contact me. This is how democracy happens!
#11 Has it right – San Jose has a weak City Council and they all should be blamed for not taking timely action about our recent scandals and not asking questions about the issues
#17 All the Mayor candidates saw the same information and did anyone do anything – NO – so blame all of the Mayor candidates If one of them tried to do something then who. what was it and who voted against their proposal ?
A Resignation of the Mayor while appropriate will waste a lot of time – we would be better off to force out some of the Mayor’s staffers- Joe etc and have Del and Rick to resign on a City Council no confidence vote and this will prevent Ron from doing what he has done to the public ‘s current lack of confidence that we have an honest and effectiveness which is unfortunate since the majority are great thical and hones hard working city employess
This assumes that our entire City Council can actually work together as they are supposed to and start looking for replacements since the entire City Council appoints the City Manager and City Attorney not Ron
Maybe Rich – will comment about the City Council group or individual effectiveness and their lack of ability to work together without the Mayor telling them what to do
We need to also look at both why these scandals occured ( and it was not just 2-3 people ) and how they were able to hide them
Passing a San Jose Sunshine law will make it harder to hide problems and scandals in the future
Rich – Is there a city law or policy that clearly states that city department heads, employees or staff will be penalized or fired for withholding important information from the City Council?
Rich makes a good point when he refers to “Mayor Chavez” above. Do we really want to have that situation right away and give her the inside track next year? I sure don’t. That’s a minimum of 5 more years of the same BS we’ve been dealing with for the last 7.
I’m not so sure a knee-jerk reaction is what we need here. Maybe Gonzo should stay put, lame as he is, and allow time for a grass-roots effort to get the momentum necessary to produce a candidate for mayor that the people of SJ won’t have to hold their nose to vote for. The current crop of candidates are all members of the sitting inept and ineffective Council. We need a better option in a candidate for mayor or this quagmire is going to continue for another 4 to 8 years.
I’m leaning towards leaving things as they are in hopes that someone with vision, charisma and the city’s best interests will come forward as a candidate and blow the rest of those jokers out of the water next year.
Gonzales campaigned as a devoted father and husband while he was snogging a gal young enough to be his daughter. Given how close the election was, I for one am sure that warm, friendly and approachable Alvina pulled him over the finishing line.
When he was caught, Guerra snuck RonGo over to his Catholic church to pretend Ron was just being a choirboy that weekend. How sleazy can you get.
Like Ross Perot once said “If a guy is cheating on his wife, he’ll cheat you.”
#20 – The other two mayoral candidates (Cortese and Reed) both voted NO on the Mayor’s proposal to make an $11 million gift of public funds. Chavez voted YES and has continued to defend her vote ever since.
Letting the Mayor stay in office continues to send him the message that other people will take the fall for you. He couldn’t have done this alone but those that enabled him could not have done it without him.
What was Herhold talking about this morning? He and Cindy are the only ones who think this investigation should be put behind us. Why should such a scandal be put to bed when you have an INDEPENDENT investigator saying that we need more information.
We have just waded into the shallow end of the quagmire – and as much as I don’t like the idea of seeing Cindy as mayor – we can’t let a bad guy like this Gonzales govern after he has blatently lied to the public.
What a choice. Keeping Gonzales or having Cindy as Mayor. How about appointing an interim Mayor who agrees they will not run for election as Mayor. That person could spend the time until the next Mayoral election doing what should have been done years ago—cleaning up the mess created by Gonzales and Borgsdorf (and a majority of the Council.)
The interim mayor’s slogan could be something like…“at least I’m not Gonzales or Chavez.”
Don’t we, as citizens of SJ, deserve some kind of a break here?
So what sort of reaction do you think San Jose will get when it sends Ron Gonzales to lobby the other Santa Clara County cities to vote for a BART tax?
Is this the Mayor who can bring baseball to San Jose, or build a soccer stadium?
Face it, a censured Mayor is a crippled Mayor. There is no “putting this behind us” as long as Gonzales is on office.
As for shutting down the investigation…what are Cindy and the others trying to hide? There is no justifiable reason for ending an investigation which has indicated a strong possibility of official misconduct. Herhold is flat out wrong today.
The San Jose City Council is the major enablers of our city government scandals
They did not require the Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney and a few city department heads and staff to run a honest, open, ethical and responsible city government regardless of their weak and not believable political statements.
It is very difficult to accept the excuse they did not know – they should have known what was going on and how it was being done – It was their legal responsbility
The act like a ” See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ” City Council not what the City Charter defines as their responsibility
It is too easy, simplistic and not realistic to blame a few others who definately had a part but it is the City Council who has final and total responsibility. They hire / fire City Manager, approve budgets and pass all legislation.
Read the City Charter – City Council has the power and votes.
The Mayor
We have a City Council – City Manager government with the Mayor as the political leader has very limited authority without the other City Council votes. He has 1 vote and the other Council members have 10 votes.
If the City Council does not like what the Mayor does – they don’t have to follow or vote with him
Do you really believe the City Council is not primarily responsible and has fulfilled their clear city charter responsibility to the public and voters ?
Of course the Council is primarily responsible and they have allowed the Mayor and the City Manager to ignore the City Charter. But, the Council will not remove itself—only we can do that and we have done a miserable job with that. The Council can start doing the job they should have been doing for the past 7 years by taking strong action against the Mayor, the Manager, and the others who allowed this to occur for far too long. Then, at election time, the people can finally start doing their job by replacing those Council members who have asleep at the switch all these years.
Have you realistically looked at what effort, time and money it takes to do a local recall election?
Are you willing to walk blocks and spend months gathering signitures to have the City Clerk throw many signitures out so you better gather 1/3 more than necessary and then do an election for a Mayor for probably a 6 month term since a recall takes 6 or more months ?
The history of sucessful recall campaign is not good
The odds are so long most people do not want to waste time on a recall
You might spend your time, energy and money on electing the good people the first time
Recalls are a waste of time, Elect good well qualified people the first time
Rich – spoken like a true lobbyist. In my book, LYING about anything other than your age is not right. I guess that Gonzo has lied so much that he wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him. As for his lame apology, I wouldn’t accept ione like that from one of my kids so why should I accept it from my mayor.
Clean house – Gonzo, Guerra, the city manager & city attorney should all go. This is not a knee jerk reaction, it is a long overdue one. It is called cleaning up someone else’s s*&#!
I am just happy that people are finally upset enough to make something happen. It beats the past 6 years of apathy.
Heard your speech at the Rotary, Tom. Sorry that the group is too spineless to agree with you.
A while back this blog compared the ethical lapses of the S-Jay government to San Diego. Well, at least those in San Diego had the good grace to resign when they were caught. Fat chance with Gonzo. Who in his/her right mind would hire him? So, he needs to draw that paycheck as long as possible. Censure is insufficient. He needs to go. Take Guerra, Borgsdorf & Doyle with him.
The council has yet to grow a backbone; and the three mayoral candidates are the worst. They spout political platitudes, while awaiting the poll numbers to tell them which way the wind blows, and thus what to say.
Forgive my ignorance—if Gonzo resigns, does the post automatically go to Cindy? Why not give it to Phaedra, and skip the middle-person?
Many bloggers here got on the anti-development line. Most probably also scoff at the problems in “undeveloped” countries, while railing against development. Many also probably bemoan high housing prices here, due to the housing imbalnce even in a down economy.
Until we all stop having kids we will need more housing. Until we all stop having kids we cannot afford, we’ll have “programs” to salvage the ever-growing families of non-producers. But, ironically, the “developed” nations continue to lower their birth rates, while the “undeveloped” nations listen to the pope and keep going forth and multiplying, as the Old Testament exhorted them to do.
Getting back to Garbagegate—the irony of it all is that for the secret increased fees Gonzo/Guerra negotiated , we get far worse service from NorCal than we got from GreenTeam.
Are we all wearing a tee shirt that says “REALLY STUPID”? Gonzo denies and denies and denies, blames others out to get him( very Nixonian for a professed Democrat), then thinks that a hastily crafted apology makes it all go away?
The current report was an unnecessary expense. It echoes the previous grand jury report. Well, not really, it’s actually even more negative. The D.A. should prosecute, and part of Gonzo’s restitution fine should be the money the city spent on this virtually unnecessary extra report that merely confirmed what the grand jury told us months ago.
We have had more than enough “process”. When will there be action?
Looking forward to your missive. The McEnery clan has never been accused of cowardice.
As you know I’ve been a major critic of the current Mayor. But when I’ve taken my shots, I never did it on background for “not for attribution”. Neither yourself or Tom has been shy about speaking out either.
It’s the honorable approach.
Novice,
This isn’t a race issue. There are valid reasons for folks to want this Mayor to resign.
If some argue the accumulation of scandals has become too much or he is no longer credible etc. ok.
My point is that this incident alone does not rise to the level where he should leave.
And if one is going to call for the ruination of a political figure; one, at least, ought to have the courage to tell him to his face.
In any case, the political death-watch (whether by resignation or term limits) began at least a year ago.
Apparently San Joseans with leadership ability find more satisfaction running blog pages or playing golf in Arizona. Given the stench from City Hall, I can’t say that I blame them.
Anyone who looks to Guardino or Phaedra for leadership has never had a conversation with either one of them.
Dando probably thought Cindy had the Mayor’s race sewn up, and is probably regretting her decision not to run. Looks like she could have walked away with it now that Cindy has been revealed as the Gonzo-In-Waiting. Oops.
So who does that leave?
Dave Cortese? I’ll give him this: He knows when to jump onto a bandwagon as the Anti-Gonzo. But why can’t he muster any support from the rest of the Council? This doesn’t suggest leadership ability.
Chuck Reed: A very bright and honest man with the perceived charisma of a bowl of oatmeal. The electorate wants flash not low key logic from our leaders much to our detriment.
Then there’s Herrera, the guy who jumped in Wednesday. Talk about bad strategy, announcing your candidacy on a day when the local news was focused on another story! Who’s handling this guy’s campaign?
There’s talk that former Councilman David Pandori might run, but does he have the name recognition to get far? He’s been so silent for so long would anyone care if he ran?
Other potential Leaders: Tom Campbell laughed off the suggestion of a run. Maryls Casto’s name came up, then down. Jim Cunneen decided to get a real job. Even Andy Diaz says he’s “retired” from politics.
You want Leadership? At this point your best bet is to open the San Jose phone book, point to a name, and elect that person as your next Mayor.
Not long ago I stepped into the privacy of a voting booth and anonymously voted for the “ruination” of Governor Davis by voting for the recall, an act much more potent than anything I could post here on San Jose Inside. I would do the same if given the opportunity to recall Mayor Gonzales.
Looks like the U.S. system of voting makes us all cowards in Rich’s eyes.
Rich,
I wholeheartedly support your call for Guillotines for political consultants. They are the people behind those sleazy “anonymous” hit pieces that arrive in my mailbox the day before most elections! But then, some consultants think lying is OK. I tend to not support their candidates when I cast my secret ballot.
Wow! An anonymous angry crowd complete with ropes, pitch-forks and torches awaits the Mayor’s arrival back from Charlotte.
After you-all string-up the Mayor in St. James Park—don’t stop there. Set-up a Guillotine for all those Councilmembers, Lobbyists and Consultants who make your life miserable.
Then torch the town, or at least paint it red for dramatic purposes.
Then maybe you will all feel safe enough to remove the sheets which hide your identity. . . then again maybe you won’t.
Quoting a former jingle of a bay area-based clothing chain: “What a difference a day makes…24 little hours”.
To #38: I can personally tell you that Carl G. is too busy playing Silicon Valley’s Transit Tax Man. He doesn’t care who ultimately runs San Jose – as long you vote for BART Tax II in November 2006.
Were I living in San Jose, I might consider supporting Chuck Reed in any mayor’s race. (When the electrorate makes charisma a standard for leadership, no wonder San Jose is where it is now.) My question is did he support the termination of the investigation of the Cisco gear debacle in the construction of the (white elephant) City Hall?
Personally I want to see Ed Rast take a shot at the Mayor’s seat. He is an intelligent, caring person desparately needed by San Jose NOW.
At the same time, let’s start looking at candidates from other political parties as well as independent candidates. When the only choices we want to accept are by-products of the big two political parties, San Jose is truly screwed. Your ideas, beliefs, prior record, and not your party affiliation should determine whether or not you qualify to be a leader in San Jose.
Simply going to one city council meeting, giving your 2 minute speech and quitting after being ignored can no longer cut it. As I learned at the recent UNSCC conference, We the People need to take better responsibility in our city. Failure to do so will continue to give the city more of the same mediocre leadership and lower quality of life.
First off, what was Mr. Scott Herhold thinking? We need to move on? Yeah we need to move on…we need to move on into more of Mr. Mayors business. It seems that over the last few years the idea of ethics, character, and leadership have gotten lost somewhere in this City. Not only do we need to investigate this further, my hope is that we do, but also City Hall in general, how politics is done in San Jose. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but at the same time I am not entirely suprised…this has been brewing for years. Gonzales and his cronies Guerra, Borgsdorf, et al. they all need to go…my question is simple: we are all up in arms for what we know happened, but what else has gone on that we know nothing about?
If I didn’t know any better I would think that this was an episode of the Sopranos…
#41: I would certainly give Ron a second look. America loves a comback story. In fact, I’ll bet good money that Gray Davis will rise again. Time does tend to heal wounds.
U.N. weapons inspectors have concluded that material that could be used for biological and chemical weapons has been removed from more than 100 sites in Iraq.
The senior adviser to Iraq’s Interior Ministry blamed U.S. forces Tuesday for not securing facilities where the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says equipment that could be used to make nuclear weapons has vanished.
Some 380 tons of explosives powerful enough to detonate nuclear warheads are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.‘s nuclear watchdog agency says.
For the past seven years there’s been enough sleaze at City Hall to produce ten more seasons of the Sopranos. Gonzo’s legacy will be bad deals, backroom government and denial of wrong doing, not matter how obvious it is to the rest of us. He’s going to hang on until he’s recalled or the Sherrif shows up.
When Ronnie’s failed attempt at being a big city mayor is passed, maybe he’ll be rehired by HP in thier PR department. Then he can brag about all his political accomplishments on the Sunnyvale City Council, The Country Board of Supervisors and the Mayor of San Jose. His goals of going on in the political world to state or national levels is dead now. Who would vote for him?
You are right the Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce are both too spineless and uninvolved in civic life regardless of their speeches and self back patting to do anything for San Jose unless they directly benefit.
Why is the business community so disconnected from city government and not saying anything about the Cisco and Norcal scandals or calling for chnages ?
The conditions for scandals, corruption etc are just not only caused by the Mayor and 2-3 others many other must be benefiting for everyone to remain silent
” All that is required for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing ” or remain silent
Maybe our City Council, other local politicians, business community and labor who put themselves up as our leaders and do nothing –
are not good people
Where is the outrage and calls for change by our ” leaders ” if they do not act as leaders maybe we need new leaders ?
Why are they strangely silent ?
Carl Guardino – ” Silicon Valley Leadership Group is organized to ” ” to address major public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals do not affect economic health or quality of life
Pat Dando – “San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s focus is to create a climate whereby businesses flourish. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals are ok since business is flourishing
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins – “South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council is involved in many programs that are directly intended to improve the lives of working families in the Bay Area. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals are have nothing to do with improving the lives of working families
Leadership is best demonstrated when we have problems – If this is not it – When is it ?
There are calls to “let’s just move on to bigger issues” this is the big issue without confidence in our government and our local leaders how can we move on to the other issues
The public will rightly conclude all our leaders are in on the lies and scandals or will ignore them since they don’t want to upset their good business deals or other benefits they get from our local government officials by calling for reform actions
I’ve long been an advocate against sinking billions more into downtown and will add your suggestions to my list of viable alternatives.
I noticed you’ve yet to call the authors of the anti-Ron/anti-Cindy posters racists yet – you must be slipping (or was the St James reference a warm up before the big race bomb is tossed?)
Nice of the Mercury News to come around to supporting the Sunshine Law, but they are a latecomer to the party. Metro’s Dan Pulcrano pressed both Pat Dando and Gonzales on the issue in a 1998 televised mayoral debate and brought it up in a Rotary speech this year. Maybe with the ailing Merc following Metro’s lead, San Jose can see a little more sunshine sometime soon.
#50, Pleeeease…..get a life!
Rich R…..You are much too close to the forest to see the trees. You are as much an insider as the rest of them…so much so that you are unable to see the the real issues and offer an objective perspective. I guess these irritating behaviors in Ron and Joe are just politics as usual in your eyes. Gee, no need to censure or make such a big deal….you’ve seen this going on for a long time, no biggie. I guess when your job is that of a professional political groupie you get used to and begin to accept these things. Glad you’ve never ran for office yourself.
#55. Maybe the Merc can also follow Metro’s lead in publishing page after page of massage parlor ads. Until then I don’t think Pulcrano is in a position to preach about ethics.
Hizzoner is easily the most corrupt mayor of SJ since…..day one, perhaps? This guy makes the Dick Murphy and the San Diego situation look clean. He needs to pack his carpetbag and hightail it back to Murphy’s Station. He’s worn out his welcome. And tell him to take “Dr. Evil” with him, too.
This city has become a stronghold for the developmentt terrorists and their leaders the consultants and lobbists. How did this happen? No one wanted to believe that a mayor would be this bad. He will do anything and his former employees are doing everything to sell out our city.
Gonzales and Guerra should be forced to repay personally the $11+ million that they picked from the pockets of San Jose garbage ratepayers. Plus interest. Then civil and criminal charges should be filed and full prosecution of these two turkeys should be commenced. Unless unsavory behavior like this is stopped swiftly, it will continue ad finitum after the heat dies down. Call the city councilmember for your district, remind them who they work for, and demand full accountability.
Ben,
Our Councilmembers are too busy covering their own behinds. That’s why they are so anxious to stop the work of the independent investigator before he puts them under oath.
The old “We need to move on now…” line is the kind of BS we heard from Nixon during Watergate, probably for the same reasons. What do they have to hide?
If you really want to “demand full accountability” from the council, tell them they are not exempt from the same scrutiny that was given to Gonzales.
We do not post personal attacks. When in doubt, we err on the side of free speech and good debate, and although 53 & 56 were close, we let them through.
Timed Out,
Metro’s ads speak for themselves. How can it be considered a personal attack to point out what any reader of the publication can see for his or herself?
My point is that Metro, and it’s publisher, cannot be taken seriously on issues of ethics so long as the publication has such low advertising standards.
So why did Gonzo/Guerra (or is it Guerra/Gonzo in reality[who do you think is the brighter and the more Machiavellian of the two?]) do what they did if there was no $$$ payoff? Could there be a political payoff?
Big Labor—such as it is here—does bring one thing to the table—huge direct commitment to electoral campaigns. They flood the streets with dedicated folks. Good for them. They understand the process of local electoral politics, and the business types clearly do not. The business types want to write a check and stay above the fray. So, they write a check to everyone. Feet on the ground win every time.
What does the SJ Chamber do? Hold a meeting, listen to all the candidates, pick one and give him/her a small check. THAT’S IT!?That will never compete with hundreds of labor feet on the ground in the neighborhoods.
But I digress.
Ron & Joe are majorly beholden to Phaedra @ the Labor Council. That’s where Cindy came from. So, there is an agenda.
But who can complain about giving people an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s worK? Not me.
So the issue isn’t whether the people who work in the sorting plants should get decent pay. Of course they should. The issue is how we were all (including the weak, spineless, politically motivated, I-want-to keep-feeding-from-the-public trough members of the city council) duped by Gonzo/Guerra by their failure to fully and completely inform the council of the back room deal that they made.
My response to our mayor—it ain’t a process problem, stupid…you LIED.
The process problem is our spineless, let’s all just get along council, who never questioned.
One thing I still don’t get—just ‘cuz I’m an outsider—is how Gonzo can bully anyone. He ain’t all that bad. I’m sure Tom McE can fill me in on why Gonzo could actually bully so many people for so long. I just don’t get it.
Nixon resigned over a minor burglary that turned into a nightmare of ridiculous denials.
Sounds like what Ronny G. did.
The crime becomes secondary to the mendacity of the politician that gets exposed as he repeatedly denies, then says “I am not a crook”, and then resigns beceuse he is a crook; a mean, rotten, nasty, bullying, paranoid crook. Gonzo—a low-rent Nixon, without the big positive breakthrough that Nixon orchestrated.
It pains me to agree with you on much of anything, but I gotta agree that the nameless aka spineless bloggers who criticize are a problem
Why is it that they spout off but don’t have the fiber to put their name to it?
The occasional public employee who might lose a job, I can understand. But all these pseudonyms?? Geez—grow some cojones or shut up. Be proud of your ideas, or keep them to yourself.
Nameless bloggers are the functional equivalent of the white hooded boys who burn crosses in anonymity.
The Merc is correct—it is time for him to go. While I have not been a fan of the mayor for many years and have found his behavior to be less than admirable, I do not rejoice in seeing him leave. There is no question that his departure will be the best thing to happen to SJ since his election, but he has brought shame not only to himself but to our city. I am pleased that he is finally getting what is due him but it is unfortunate he had to take the city down with him. This is a guy who listened only to people who said “yes, sir,” instead of listening to all opinions—even those who dared disagree with him. If he is allowed to stay with only a censure then all of the elements that allowed this happen will also remain in place (i.e. Guerra, Borgsdorf, etc.) Every day they stay is another day of lies, spin, and the breaking of the trust a city should have with its officials.
So the mayor’s a liar and a cheat? We knew this last year. I’m with Scott H on this one, let’s just move on to bigger issues, he’ll be gone soon enough. We don’t want to waste all of our time and resources on this for the next year.
Not butchering Coyote Valley into the next ugly strip mall disaster that is the rest of “new” San Jose is vastly more important. You can just hear the developers and land owners plotting to make their move while the City is distracted and weak.
I worked very hard on Pat Dando’s run for Mayor. Now all I can say is…“Told you so!”
I have to agree with Scott Herhold. Let’s get on wih it. My feeling is that our city management should be people who have a deep interest in San Jose including its history. A displaced Sunnyvale City Councilman doesn’t have the interest in the community that these positions require. Coyote Valley is very important. This last bit of green needs to be preserved. Already housing development is encrouching along Highway 101 towards Coyote Valley. Let’s get city management people (elected and appointed) who are real authentic sons and daughters of San Jose and who can see the green. Gonzalez, Guerra, Borgsdorf and Doyle can fade off as a disgraceful glitch in our history.
One thing for certain is that the players on the City’s side of this entire transaction exhibited a tremendous amount of poor judgement. Guerra must resign or be fired, as the architect of this deal. Specifically for his not understanding (or simply ignoring the fact) that there is a procedure for dealing with requests from contractors or vendors who are asking for more money. If Norcal could not perform the service they agreed to provide, then the City could have put the contract out for bid again. The bids would have been competitve and fair.
But in viewing the big picture, just what did the mayor and Guerra get out of this transaction? Why would they jeopardize their entire careers just for doing what the mayor thought was the “right thing”? This part still needs to be told.
Ron needs to resign immediately! An apology won’t cut it. He has lied to San Jose for the past 5 years and all of a sudden he expects people to accept his apology?!? Rubbish!!
Terry Gregory was forced out of office because he accepted a $1,200 bottle of wine and crab dinners. Ron gave Norcal and their sub contractor $11million in concessions and who knows what else. The citizens of San Jose deserve better, and “I apologize” and a Council censure won’t do it for me. Ron needs to resign or be recalled immediately and while we’re at it, Del needs to go to!
It will not be time to move on until the Mayor and his merry band are gone. As a result of the Cisco scandal 3 people either lost their jobs or were domoted and they weren’t even the main players (guess who was—Gonzales, Borgsdorf, etc.) and now we’re supposed to accept a forced, lame apology from the Mayor and a censure (which means nothing to a guy like Gonzales.) The Council must show some guts—finally. A censure is a slap on the wrist and continues the tacit approval the council has given the mayor all these years to carry on his vindictive, mean-spirted regime. It’s not over until he is gone!!
Cindy Chavez has made the smart move, she is out in front of this thing and gaining momentum for her plan to stop the investigation. Herhold has jumped on board, as has a majority of bloggers here…
We absolutely can not stop the investigation until all of the facts are out, including Cindy’s involvement, and until a conclusion has been made.
The city can not afford to leave this guy in office for another year and have nothing get done.
I’m shocked, shocked, to learn that the Grand Jury was right all along, as confirmed by an independent investigator.
I’m shocked, shocked, to hear a lame apology from our Mayor.
And, I’m shocked, shocked that for once, I think Scott Herhold is wrong and the editorial board is right.
This is not a time to move along as if business were as usual. It’s time to clean house.
Jerry Estruth
Jerry (and others) are right. It is not time to move on until we clean house. What message does it send to the majority of city workers who conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner if the council does nothing more than censure the mayor. To leave the major players in this scandal in place is an insult to the city work force and the citizens of San Jose. If Cindy had nothing to hide she wouldn’t be so quick to call for a censure and then move on as if nothing has happened. It took Cindy way too long to finally even indicate the slightest concern over this issue which she has supported and defended all along.
For the sake of our city the Mayor, the manager, Guerra and the others must leave and find new employment far away from here. The time has finally come—where will our council be when it is time to act? Let them know NOW.
In response to Mercury News called for San Jose City Council to pass a Sunshine Law – which is different than San Jose
Enough is enough if we as citizens of SJ want to show a sign to future politicians that they cannot step on the citizens of SJ.
Mayor Gonzales should resign, or be recalled out of office. If we let this go like everything else before, (bart, cisco, gregory was not alone there were probably others)
We will keep getting this kind of treatment from politicians. Who knows what else has been done in the name of citizens of this city without our authority. Mayor Gonzales has let done the citizens of San Jose and proved the lack of ethics he has.
Let’s hang the current carpetbagging mayor in effigy at St. James Park and then tar and feather both him and the Vice-mayor there also.
An apology is not good enough, get him out! But he is so arrogant, would he ever admit the city is better off without him?
Why the outrage? This is not news. Why not call for the resignation of Bush? His lies cost lives and the credibility of an entire nation.
And I’m not an apolgist for Gonzales or Guerra, but what they did does not rise to the level of resignation. In fact, had Ron come out with this apology when the GJ report had originally come out—this thing might have blown over by now.
I find Cortese’s call for Ron’s resignation somewhat disingenious or politically naive.
Does he really want to run against Mayor Chavez?
I also find it ironic that, after all Joe and Ron have done—individually and collectively to antagonize people—this incident is the one that gets people to call for their resignation. Personally, I don’t even see the need to censure.
From a professional political point of view, however, when the hometown newspaper calls for you to resign—it’s time to begin looking for another line of work.
Ah, now Rich has spoken and still sees nothing wrong with what what was done. No need to try and rehash this over and over again for his benefit. Obviously, not following the rules and possibly the law is no big deal to Rich and nothing we say will get him to focus more clearly.
At least we can agree that it’s time for the guilty to look for another line of work.
As for Bush, not that that has anything to do with this issue, if this country were morally and ethically grounded there would be calls for his ouster as well for his betrayal of the public trust. At least we have a chance of cleaning up this mess on the local level.
Yes, the Mayor should have apologized months ago. But Ms. Chavez should have also taken the report more seriously. Let’s not forget Ms. Chavez’s response to the Grand Jury report in a June 15, 2005 Mercury News article:
“Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez echoed Gonzales’ criticism of the report saying it read like a “British tabloid,” and had drawn unfair conclusions about her own testimony.”
Ms. Chavez’s knee jerk reaction to the report is troubling and makes me wonder if she has what it takes to lead the city as Mayor.
No need to wonder if Cindy has what it takes to be Mayor. Just ask yourself if you like the way things have gone the past few years—if you answer “yes” then Cindy’s your candidate. If your fed up with the inaction of the Council during all of our many scandals then you’d better look for another candidate. Otherwise, welcome to four more years of the Gonzo chronicles.
It’s an all too common observation, but I’ll mention it just the same. We, the people, never seem to care enough about what is going on until something bad happens.
Trite?
Perhaps, but that in and of itself should show us how used we are in the political arena. Politicians pull out all the stops when they’re running for office. They’ll make you believe that every single person’s opinion counts. When they’re in, however, the tune changes. That’s when they put us back on the shelf to collect dust till the next election.
So when I hear something like this scandal, and the mob cries for blood, it’s hard for me to join in. Afterall, don’t we, the people, shoulder some of the blame for allowing our leaders to act, for the most part, with carte blanche authority?
If only government were more transparent. If only there was a better way to get people involved in the actions of government. If only we lived in a day or society that could use technology to bridge the gaps between the people and their government; shedding light on the darkness of secrect deals and the like. Or, wait… isn’t this the Silicon Valley?
I’m talking about a revolutionary new way to approach democracy that encourages inclusion in the governing process. If it can happen anywhere, it is here.
It is only when the people participate in government regularly that democracy happens. If we are content to only care when we learn of the secret deals made behind our backs, then we will never truly be able to lead this city anywhere other than where the ‘special interests’ want it to go. Afterall, they don’t have to worry about election cycles.
If you want to help make our San Jose Government more responsive by revolutionizing the way people participate in our democracy, please contact me. This is how democracy happens!
#11 Has it right – San Jose has a weak City Council and they all should be blamed for not taking timely action about our recent scandals and not asking questions about the issues
#17 All the Mayor candidates saw the same information and did anyone do anything – NO – so blame all of the Mayor candidates If one of them tried to do something then who. what was it and who voted against their proposal ?
A Resignation of the Mayor while appropriate will waste a lot of time – we would be better off to force out some of the Mayor’s staffers- Joe etc and have Del and Rick to resign on a City Council no confidence vote and this will prevent Ron from doing what he has done to the public ‘s current lack of confidence that we have an honest and effectiveness which is unfortunate since the majority are great thical and hones hard working city employess
This assumes that our entire City Council can actually work together as they are supposed to and start looking for replacements since the entire City Council appoints the City Manager and City Attorney not Ron
Maybe Rich – will comment about the City Council group or individual effectiveness and their lack of ability to work together without the Mayor telling them what to do
We need to also look at both why these scandals occured ( and it was not just 2-3 people ) and how they were able to hide them
Passing a San Jose Sunshine law will make it harder to hide problems and scandals in the future
Rich – Is there a city law or policy that clearly states that city department heads, employees or staff will be penalized or fired for withholding important information from the City Council?
Rich makes a good point when he refers to “Mayor Chavez” above. Do we really want to have that situation right away and give her the inside track next year? I sure don’t. That’s a minimum of 5 more years of the same BS we’ve been dealing with for the last 7.
I’m not so sure a knee-jerk reaction is what we need here. Maybe Gonzo should stay put, lame as he is, and allow time for a grass-roots effort to get the momentum necessary to produce a candidate for mayor that the people of SJ won’t have to hold their nose to vote for. The current crop of candidates are all members of the sitting inept and ineffective Council. We need a better option in a candidate for mayor or this quagmire is going to continue for another 4 to 8 years.
I’m leaning towards leaving things as they are in hopes that someone with vision, charisma and the city’s best interests will come forward as a candidate and blow the rest of those jokers out of the water next year.
Why are we surprised?
Gonzales campaigned as a devoted father and husband while he was snogging a gal young enough to be his daughter. Given how close the election was, I for one am sure that warm, friendly and approachable Alvina pulled him over the finishing line.
When he was caught, Guerra snuck RonGo over to his Catholic church to pretend Ron was just being a choirboy that weekend. How sleazy can you get.
Like Ross Perot once said “If a guy is cheating on his wife, he’ll cheat you.”
#20 – The other two mayoral candidates (Cortese and Reed) both voted NO on the Mayor’s proposal to make an $11 million gift of public funds. Chavez voted YES and has continued to defend her vote ever since.
Letting the Mayor stay in office continues to send him the message that other people will take the fall for you. He couldn’t have done this alone but those that enabled him could not have done it without him.
What was Herhold talking about this morning? He and Cindy are the only ones who think this investigation should be put behind us. Why should such a scandal be put to bed when you have an INDEPENDENT investigator saying that we need more information.
We have just waded into the shallow end of the quagmire – and as much as I don’t like the idea of seeing Cindy as mayor – we can’t let a bad guy like this Gonzales govern after he has blatently lied to the public.
What a choice. Keeping Gonzales or having Cindy as Mayor. How about appointing an interim Mayor who agrees they will not run for election as Mayor. That person could spend the time until the next Mayoral election doing what should have been done years ago—cleaning up the mess created by Gonzales and Borgsdorf (and a majority of the Council.)
The interim mayor’s slogan could be something like…“at least I’m not Gonzales or Chavez.”
Don’t we, as citizens of SJ, deserve some kind of a break here?
So what sort of reaction do you think San Jose will get when it sends Ron Gonzales to lobby the other Santa Clara County cities to vote for a BART tax?
Is this the Mayor who can bring baseball to San Jose, or build a soccer stadium?
Face it, a censured Mayor is a crippled Mayor. There is no “putting this behind us” as long as Gonzales is on office.
As for shutting down the investigation…what are Cindy and the others trying to hide? There is no justifiable reason for ending an investigation which has indicated a strong possibility of official misconduct. Herhold is flat out wrong today.
Reader,
The San Jose City Council is the major enablers of our city government scandals
They did not require the Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney and a few city department heads and staff to run a honest, open, ethical and responsible city government regardless of their weak and not believable political statements.
It is very difficult to accept the excuse they did not know – they should have known what was going on and how it was being done – It was their legal responsbility
The act like a ” See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ” City Council not what the City Charter defines as their responsibility
It is too easy, simplistic and not realistic to blame a few others who definately had a part but it is the City Council who has final and total responsibility. They hire / fire City Manager, approve budgets and pass all legislation.
Read the City Charter – City Council has the power and votes.
The Mayor
We have a City Council – City Manager government with the Mayor as the political leader has very limited authority without the other City Council votes. He has 1 vote and the other Council members have 10 votes.
If the City Council does not like what the Mayor does – they don’t have to follow or vote with him
Do you really believe the City Council is not primarily responsible and has fulfilled their clear city charter responsibility to the public and voters ?
Of course the Council is primarily responsible and they have allowed the Mayor and the City Manager to ignore the City Charter. But, the Council will not remove itself—only we can do that and we have done a miserable job with that. The Council can start doing the job they should have been doing for the past 7 years by taking strong action against the Mayor, the Manager, and the others who allowed this to occur for far too long. Then, at election time, the people can finally start doing their job by replacing those Council members who have asleep at the switch all these years.
Has anyone started a recall process yet?
Bouncer,
Have you realistically looked at what effort, time and money it takes to do a local recall election?
Are you willing to walk blocks and spend months gathering signitures to have the City Clerk throw many signitures out so you better gather 1/3 more than necessary and then do an election for a Mayor for probably a 6 month term since a recall takes 6 or more months ?
The history of sucessful recall campaign is not good
The odds are so long most people do not want to waste time on a recall
You might spend your time, energy and money on electing the good people the first time
Recalls are a waste of time, Elect good well qualified people the first time
I deesahgree…recahl eelections wurk guud.
Rich – spoken like a true lobbyist. In my book, LYING about anything other than your age is not right. I guess that Gonzo has lied so much that he wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him. As for his lame apology, I wouldn’t accept ione like that from one of my kids so why should I accept it from my mayor.
Clean house – Gonzo, Guerra, the city manager & city attorney should all go. This is not a knee jerk reaction, it is a long overdue one. It is called cleaning up someone else’s s*&#!
I am just happy that people are finally upset enough to make something happen. It beats the past 6 years of apathy.
Heard your speech at the Rotary, Tom. Sorry that the group is too spineless to agree with you.
City staffers are waiting for the public to react to the results of the investigator’s report.
After all, we are paid to follow the leadership you send us. The ball is in your court…
SJ Downtowner-
Amen…Nicely put!
A while back this blog compared the ethical lapses of the S-Jay government to San Diego. Well, at least those in San Diego had the good grace to resign when they were caught. Fat chance with Gonzo. Who in his/her right mind would hire him? So, he needs to draw that paycheck as long as possible. Censure is insufficient. He needs to go. Take Guerra, Borgsdorf & Doyle with him.
The council has yet to grow a backbone; and the three mayoral candidates are the worst. They spout political platitudes, while awaiting the poll numbers to tell them which way the wind blows, and thus what to say.
Forgive my ignorance—if Gonzo resigns, does the post automatically go to Cindy? Why not give it to Phaedra, and skip the middle-person?
Many bloggers here got on the anti-development line. Most probably also scoff at the problems in “undeveloped” countries, while railing against development. Many also probably bemoan high housing prices here, due to the housing imbalnce even in a down economy.
Until we all stop having kids we will need more housing. Until we all stop having kids we cannot afford, we’ll have “programs” to salvage the ever-growing families of non-producers. But, ironically, the “developed” nations continue to lower their birth rates, while the “undeveloped” nations listen to the pope and keep going forth and multiplying, as the Old Testament exhorted them to do.
Getting back to Garbagegate—the irony of it all is that for the secret increased fees Gonzo/Guerra negotiated , we get far worse service from NorCal than we got from GreenTeam.
Are we all wearing a tee shirt that says “REALLY STUPID”? Gonzo denies and denies and denies, blames others out to get him( very Nixonian for a professed Democrat), then thinks that a hastily crafted apology makes it all go away?
The current report was an unnecessary expense. It echoes the previous grand jury report. Well, not really, it’s actually even more negative. The D.A. should prosecute, and part of Gonzo’s restitution fine should be the money the city spent on this virtually unnecessary extra report that merely confirmed what the grand jury told us months ago.
We have had more than enough “process”. When will there be action?
No need for resignation or recall in this case. A third alternative exists which draws on the collective wisdom of the civil grand jury. See:
http://www.dalewarner.com/new/accusation.htm
If the jury issues an accusation, a trial with 12 jurors can oust the mayor, just as the mayor of Mountain View was ousted 3 or 4 years ago.
John McE,
Looking forward to your missive. The McEnery clan has never been accused of cowardice.
As you know I’ve been a major critic of the current Mayor. But when I’ve taken my shots, I never did it on background for “not for attribution”. Neither yourself or Tom has been shy about speaking out either.
It’s the honorable approach.
Novice,
This isn’t a race issue. There are valid reasons for folks to want this Mayor to resign.
If some argue the accumulation of scandals has become too much or he is no longer credible etc. ok.
My point is that this incident alone does not rise to the level where he should leave.
And if one is going to call for the ruination of a political figure; one, at least, ought to have the courage to tell him to his face.
In any case, the political death-watch (whether by resignation or term limits) began at least a year ago.
#36. Where are our Leaders?
Apparently San Joseans with leadership ability find more satisfaction running blog pages or playing golf in Arizona. Given the stench from City Hall, I can’t say that I blame them.
Anyone who looks to Guardino or Phaedra for leadership has never had a conversation with either one of them.
Dando probably thought Cindy had the Mayor’s race sewn up, and is probably regretting her decision not to run. Looks like she could have walked away with it now that Cindy has been revealed as the Gonzo-In-Waiting. Oops.
So who does that leave?
Dave Cortese? I’ll give him this: He knows when to jump onto a bandwagon as the Anti-Gonzo. But why can’t he muster any support from the rest of the Council? This doesn’t suggest leadership ability.
Chuck Reed: A very bright and honest man with the perceived charisma of a bowl of oatmeal. The electorate wants flash not low key logic from our leaders much to our detriment.
Then there’s Herrera, the guy who jumped in Wednesday. Talk about bad strategy, announcing your candidacy on a day when the local news was focused on another story! Who’s handling this guy’s campaign?
There’s talk that former Councilman David Pandori might run, but does he have the name recognition to get far? He’s been so silent for so long would anyone care if he ran?
Other potential Leaders: Tom Campbell laughed off the suggestion of a run. Maryls Casto’s name came up, then down. Jim Cunneen decided to get a real job. Even Andy Diaz says he’s “retired” from politics.
You want Leadership? At this point your best bet is to open the San Jose phone book, point to a name, and elect that person as your next Mayor.
We’ve done worse.
Not long ago I stepped into the privacy of a voting booth and anonymously voted for the “ruination” of Governor Davis by voting for the recall, an act much more potent than anything I could post here on San Jose Inside. I would do the same if given the opportunity to recall Mayor Gonzales.
Looks like the U.S. system of voting makes us all cowards in Rich’s eyes.
Rich,
I wholeheartedly support your call for Guillotines for political consultants. They are the people behind those sleazy “anonymous” hit pieces that arrive in my mailbox the day before most elections! But then, some consultants think lying is OK. I tend to not support their candidates when I cast my secret ballot.
Wow! An anonymous angry crowd complete with ropes, pitch-forks and torches awaits the Mayor’s arrival back from Charlotte.
After you-all string-up the Mayor in St. James Park—don’t stop there. Set-up a Guillotine for all those Councilmembers, Lobbyists and Consultants who make your life miserable.
Then torch the town, or at least paint it red for dramatic purposes.
Then maybe you will all feel safe enough to remove the sheets which hide your identity. . . then again maybe you won’t.
Rich-
Don’t worry. I’ve never had a sheet – Ron gets his revenge in my column tomorrow…
Quoting a former jingle of a bay area-based clothing chain: “What a difference a day makes…24 little hours”.
To #38: I can personally tell you that Carl G. is too busy playing Silicon Valley’s Transit Tax Man. He doesn’t care who ultimately runs San Jose – as long you vote for BART Tax II in November 2006.
Were I living in San Jose, I might consider supporting Chuck Reed in any mayor’s race. (When the electrorate makes charisma a standard for leadership, no wonder San Jose is where it is now.) My question is did he support the termination of the investigation of the Cisco gear debacle in the construction of the (white elephant) City Hall?
Personally I want to see Ed Rast take a shot at the Mayor’s seat. He is an intelligent, caring person desparately needed by San Jose NOW.
At the same time, let’s start looking at candidates from other political parties as well as independent candidates. When the only choices we want to accept are by-products of the big two political parties, San Jose is truly screwed. Your ideas, beliefs, prior record, and not your party affiliation should determine whether or not you qualify to be a leader in San Jose.
Simply going to one city council meeting, giving your 2 minute speech and quitting after being ignored can no longer cut it. As I learned at the recent UNSCC conference, We the People need to take better responsibility in our city. Failure to do so will continue to give the city more of the same mediocre leadership and lower quality of life.
First off, what was Mr. Scott Herhold thinking? We need to move on? Yeah we need to move on…we need to move on into more of Mr. Mayors business. It seems that over the last few years the idea of ethics, character, and leadership have gotten lost somewhere in this City. Not only do we need to investigate this further, my hope is that we do, but also City Hall in general, how politics is done in San Jose. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but at the same time I am not entirely suprised…this has been brewing for years. Gonzales and his cronies Guerra, Borgsdorf, et al. they all need to go…my question is simple: we are all up in arms for what we know happened, but what else has gone on that we know nothing about?
If I didn’t know any better I would think that this was an episode of the Sopranos…
Ron G is trying to make a Tammany Hall in San Jose.
Who knows what will be uncovered next?
#41: I would certainly give Ron a second look. America loves a comback story. In fact, I’ll bet good money that Gray Davis will rise again. Time does tend to heal wounds.
Sorry to interupt the flow of this thread but…
#15, #16
Bush lied?
http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2005_06_03_1954.html
Jun 3, 2005 United Nations
U.N. weapons inspectors have concluded that material that could be used for biological and chemical weapons has been removed from more than 100 sites in Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/12/iraq.nuclear/index.html
Missing Iraqi nuke equipment worries IAEA
The senior adviser to Iraq’s Interior Ministry blamed U.S. forces Tuesday for not securing facilities where the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says equipment that could be used to make nuclear weapons has vanished.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.explosives/
Tons of Iraq explosives missing
Some 380 tons of explosives powerful enough to detonate nuclear warheads are missing from a former Iraqi military facility that was supposed to be under American control, the U.N.‘s nuclear watchdog agency says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2979405.stm
Iraq files ‘show al-Qaeda link’
Documents found in Baghdad show a link between Saddam Hussein’s fallen regime and al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, according to a UK newspaper.
Scape,
For the past seven years there’s been enough sleaze at City Hall to produce ten more seasons of the Sopranos. Gonzo’s legacy will be bad deals, backroom government and denial of wrong doing, not matter how obvious it is to the rest of us. He’s going to hang on until he’s recalled or the Sherrif shows up.
When Ronnie’s failed attempt at being a big city mayor is passed, maybe he’ll be rehired by HP in thier PR department. Then he can brag about all his political accomplishments on the Sunnyvale City Council, The Country Board of Supervisors and the Mayor of San Jose. His goals of going on in the political world to state or national levels is dead now. Who would vote for him?
SJ Downtowner
You are right the Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce are both too spineless and uninvolved in civic life regardless of their speeches and self back patting to do anything for San Jose unless they directly benefit.
Why is the business community so disconnected from city government and not saying anything about the Cisco and Norcal scandals or calling for chnages ?
The conditions for scandals, corruption etc are just not only caused by the Mayor and 2-3 others many other must be benefiting for everyone to remain silent
” All that is required for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing ” or remain silent
Maybe our City Council, other local politicians, business community and labor who put themselves up as our leaders and do nothing –
are not good people
Where is the outrage and calls for change by our ” leaders ” if they do not act as leaders maybe we need new leaders ?
Why are they strangely silent ?
Carl Guardino – ” Silicon Valley Leadership Group is organized to ” ” to address major public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals do not affect economic health or quality of life
Pat Dando – “San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce’s focus is to create a climate whereby businesses flourish. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals are ok since business is flourishing
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins – “South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council is involved in many programs that are directly intended to improve the lives of working families in the Bay Area. ” Apparently scandals and lies by city officals are have nothing to do with improving the lives of working families
Leadership is best demonstrated when we have problems – If this is not it – When is it ?
There are calls to “let’s just move on to bigger issues” this is the big issue without confidence in our government and our local leaders how can we move on to the other issues
The public will rightly conclude all our leaders are in on the lies and scandals or will ignore them since they don’t want to upset their good business deals or other benefits they get from our local government officials by calling for reform actions
Leaders it is time to lead, not remain silent
Rich,
Burn the town? Paint the town red?
I’ve long been an advocate against sinking billions more into downtown and will add your suggestions to my list of viable alternatives.
I noticed you’ve yet to call the authors of the anti-Ron/anti-Cindy posters racists yet – you must be slipping (or was the St James reference a warm up before the big race bomb is tossed?)
Nice of the Mercury News to come around to supporting the Sunshine Law, but they are a latecomer to the party. Metro’s Dan Pulcrano pressed both Pat Dando and Gonzales on the issue in a 1998 televised mayoral debate and brought it up in a Rotary speech this year. Maybe with the ailing Merc following Metro’s lead, San Jose can see a little more sunshine sometime soon.
#15 If Bush lied then so did all the government officials and congress who supported him to go to war..
#50, Pleeeease…..get a life!
Rich R…..You are much too close to the forest to see the trees. You are as much an insider as the rest of them…so much so that you are unable to see the the real issues and offer an objective perspective. I guess these irritating behaviors in Ron and Joe are just politics as usual in your eyes. Gee, no need to censure or make such a big deal….you’ve seen this going on for a long time, no biggie. I guess when your job is that of a professional political groupie you get used to and begin to accept these things. Glad you’ve never ran for office yourself.
#55. Maybe the Merc can also follow Metro’s lead in publishing page after page of massage parlor ads. Until then I don’t think Pulcrano is in a position to preach about ethics.
Hizzoner is easily the most corrupt mayor of SJ since…..day one, perhaps? This guy makes the Dick Murphy and the San Diego situation look clean. He needs to pack his carpetbag and hightail it back to Murphy’s Station. He’s worn out his welcome. And tell him to take “Dr. Evil” with him, too.
This city has become a stronghold for the developmentt terrorists and their leaders the consultants and lobbists. How did this happen? No one wanted to believe that a mayor would be this bad. He will do anything and his former employees are doing everything to sell out our city.
Gonzales and Guerra should be forced to repay personally the $11+ million that they picked from the pockets of San Jose garbage ratepayers. Plus interest. Then civil and criminal charges should be filed and full prosecution of these two turkeys should be commenced. Unless unsavory behavior like this is stopped swiftly, it will continue ad finitum after the heat dies down. Call the city councilmember for your district, remind them who they work for, and demand full accountability.
Ben,
Our Councilmembers are too busy covering their own behinds. That’s why they are so anxious to stop the work of the independent investigator before he puts them under oath.
The old “We need to move on now…” line is the kind of BS we heard from Nixon during Watergate, probably for the same reasons. What do they have to hide?
If you really want to “demand full accountability” from the council, tell them they are not exempt from the same scrutiny that was given to Gonzales.
#53, #56 Looks like moderator of this thread thinks anonymous personal attacks are appropriate even when not germane to subject. Let’s be civil now.
Time out-
We do not post personal attacks. When in doubt, we err on the side of free speech and good debate, and although 53 & 56 were close, we let them through.
Rich and Dan can handle themselves
Timed Out,
Metro’s ads speak for themselves. How can it be considered a personal attack to point out what any reader of the publication can see for his or herself?
My point is that Metro, and it’s publisher, cannot be taken seriously on issues of ethics so long as the publication has such low advertising standards.
Village Idiot #5:
So why did Gonzo/Guerra (or is it Guerra/Gonzo in reality[who do you think is the brighter and the more Machiavellian of the two?]) do what they did if there was no $$$ payoff? Could there be a political payoff?
Big Labor—such as it is here—does bring one thing to the table—huge direct commitment to electoral campaigns. They flood the streets with dedicated folks. Good for them. They understand the process of local electoral politics, and the business types clearly do not. The business types want to write a check and stay above the fray. So, they write a check to everyone. Feet on the ground win every time.
What does the SJ Chamber do? Hold a meeting, listen to all the candidates, pick one and give him/her a small check. THAT’S IT!?That will never compete with hundreds of labor feet on the ground in the neighborhoods.
But I digress.
Ron & Joe are majorly beholden to Phaedra @ the Labor Council. That’s where Cindy came from. So, there is an agenda.
But who can complain about giving people an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s worK? Not me.
So the issue isn’t whether the people who work in the sorting plants should get decent pay. Of course they should. The issue is how we were all (including the weak, spineless, politically motivated, I-want-to keep-feeding-from-the-public trough members of the city council) duped by Gonzo/Guerra by their failure to fully and completely inform the council of the back room deal that they made.
My response to our mayor—it ain’t a process problem, stupid…you LIED.
The process problem is our spineless, let’s all just get along council, who never questioned.
One thing I still don’t get—just ‘cuz I’m an outsider—is how Gonzo can bully anyone. He ain’t all that bad. I’m sure Tom McE can fill me in on why Gonzo could actually bully so many people for so long. I just don’t get it.
Richie # 15: You got zero cred. on that blog.
Nixon resigned over a minor burglary that turned into a nightmare of ridiculous denials.
Sounds like what Ronny G. did.
The crime becomes secondary to the mendacity of the politician that gets exposed as he repeatedly denies, then says “I am not a crook”, and then resigns beceuse he is a crook; a mean, rotten, nasty, bullying, paranoid crook. Gonzo—a low-rent Nixon, without the big positive breakthrough that Nixon orchestrated.
Steve#17: Thanks for reminding us how much in lockstep with Gonzo Cindy really is.
Well, no surprise—they both get their marching orders from Phaedra.
Mark T 21: I disagree. The best way to show Cindy for what she is—a puppet of SJ Labor—is to have her in as interim mayor.
Ricjie #39:
It pains me to agree with you on much of anything, but I gotta agree that the nameless aka spineless bloggers who criticize are a problem
Why is it that they spout off but don’t have the fiber to put their name to it?
The occasional public employee who might lose a job, I can understand. But all these pseudonyms?? Geez—grow some cojones or shut up. Be proud of your ideas, or keep them to yourself.
Nameless bloggers are the functional equivalent of the white hooded boys who burn crosses in anonymity.
A Christmas with Smithy
I forgot to sign in. Please add and post my blog. Ping, bling, ping!