San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo named Councilman Chappie Jones as vice mayor, replacing colleague Magdalana Carrasco in the largely symbolic role she held since 2017.
Liccardo praised Jones—who represents District 1 in West San Jose and has supported the mayor on a number of key votes over the past four years—as someone who brings a “thoughtful and independent perspective” to the 11-member council.
“He’s also a natural collaborator who seeks to understand all sides of an issue and is well-respected by stakeholders across the political spectrum,” the mayor said in an email to reporters Thursday afternoon.
Jones, who ran unopposed for a second term in 2018, will be formally appointed to the deputy mayoral role at next week’s council meeting. As vice mayor, he will be tasked with chairing meetings and performing other duties when Liccardo is absent.
“I greatly admire and fully share the progressive vision the Mayor has for San Jose,” Jones said in a joint announcement with the mayor. “I have worked diligently to establish an inclusive and innovative future for our city and will continue to advocate on behalf of its residents. I am humbled and proud to be given this new opportunity to continue to serve the city of San Jose and its extraordinary residents.”
Jones was born in Sacramento and moved to San Jose in the 1990s, where he said he developed a strong sense of civil service and fiscal responsibility. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California, Davis, and an MBA from UC Berkeley before going on to work in a series of sales management jobs, most recently at Apple. He’s been married for 20 years to Kelli Jones and lives in the Murdock neighborhood, where the couple raised their two children.
In announcing his nomination of Jones, Mayor Liccardo also thanked Carrasco for her “exemplary service and partnership” in the role for the past two years.
“Magdalena has done a great job as vice mayor and I’m particularly thankful for her willingness to pitch in over the past week as I recover from my accident,” Liccardo said. “She has been a great partner and I look forward to continue working with her to broaden prosperity and educational opportunity in our city.”
The District 5 councilwoman, the city’s second-ever vice mayor from the East Side, knew her time in the position would end when it did; throughout her tenure, she would assert her independence by occasionally voting against Liccardo’s proposals. Through her spokeswoman, Carrasco thanked Liccardo for giving her the chance to serve as vice mayor and congratulated Jones on his nomination.
“During my tenure, I am proud of the accomplishments that directly improved the lives of the residents of East San Jose and the entire city,” she said. “We have focused policies on women and families, including the passage of the Women's Bill of Rights, increased funding for services that assist survivors of domestic violence, attacked blight in the community, strengthened policies to address human trafficking, created paths for good-paying jobs with city investment, developed a clean energy program, addressed infrastructure needs and are on track to build thousands of homes for residents of all income levels while providing enhanced protections for current renters.”
Meanwhile, Carrasco continued, she advocated for greater representation of women and people of color at all levels of local government.
“I look forward to continuing my work in East San Jose,” she concluded, “pushing forward progressive policies that address the needs of [the city].”
Today, I nominated @chappiejones to serve as the next Vice Mayor of our city. Throughout his tenure, Chappie has brought a thoughtful and independent perspective to this Council, & a natural collaborator who seeks to understand all sides of an issue. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/lw2flWgwbb
— Sam Liccardo (@sliccardo) January 10, 2019
I guess now that Carrasco has lost her sugar daddy DeLeon, her relative worth is down to zero
I guess this an example of the City’s diversity that Mayor Liccardo is quick to proclaim as the City’s “secret sauce.” It is so disgusting to see the Mayor, Chappie Jones and Magdalena Carrasco all heaping praise on each other for the wonderful job they have done as members of the City Council. The claim that Jones and Carrasco are independent is laughable. It is clear that members of the City Council are not all that independent and that they follow the Mayor’s lead on most issues. Members of the City Council have shown no independence or courage because they refuse go against the Mayor and call for an investigation into my complaints that the City Attorney’s Office colluded with the US District Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to commit several felonies during the litigation of two lawsuits I filed against the City for racial and disability discrimination. I’m black/African American. The purpose of these crimes was to cover up the City’s racism and to facilitate rulings in the City’s favor. Jones appointment to vice mayor is all politics by Liccardo; appoint Jones to vice mayor in order to offset the racist treatment I received at the hands of City officials after I retired from the police force. My message to the Mayor, councilmembers Jones and Carrasco is that I stand by the emails I sent City officials a few months ago. I encourage SJI to contact these officials for comment. The public deserves a response to these very serious allegations. Where is the outrage from all those civil rights groups that called for the firing of the officer for his tweet criticizing BLM? Additional details can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/624131267713226/ and http://crnctz.blogspot.com/2015/08/exposing-cover-up-of-cheating-scandal.html.
Fred Bates, retired SJPD
Fred, you’re calling on deaf ears with that racism crap. Whatever you did you deserved to be terminated or you’d still be there. You’re wrong they are right, says the judge, end of story. Now get on with you’re life.
Chappie is an outstanding Councilmember. He does his job well representing his community. He will do well in this position. Even though I disagree with many things he’s done, his reasoning is sound and I respect that. Wish chappie well in the new position.
SCLOCAL if you feel so strong about your position, why don’t you use your real name. I have brought up this matter many times on SJI. Each time I used my real name because I’m telling the truth. It is clear you don’t know what you are talking about. Apparently you missed the part where I stated I retired from the police force. I was not terminated. Doyle and the City admitted they were wrong in denying me a CCW permit. When I sued, they lied in court and in their filings saying I was denied my CCW permit only once knowing that I was denied my permit at least five times. If you take the time to review the evidence I posted on my blog and facebook page, you will see that the judgments in my two lawsuits are based on fraud and that the judges violated laws that limited their discretion as it relates to issue preclusion and stipulations of dismissal, thereby violating my rights. Simply put, the judgments are void and worthless by law. I stand by everything I said in my earlier comments that the City and courts committed several felonies during litigation. If you call Jones’ standing by while a black person’s rights are being violated is doing his job well, I guess he’s doing a good job. Why don’t you or SJI ask Chappie Jones or the Mayor to comment on my allegations. If my allegations are malicious or untrue, seems like a lawsuit against me for defamation of character is in order. The City and courts don’t have the integrity or honor to accept the indisputable fact that they have been caught red handed lying and cheating. They have no shame.
Fred Bates, retired SJPD
What does Jones bring to the table?
HONESTY.
Carrasco
Fppc Fines in the thousands.
Poor District Office Conduct.
Political debts to state legislators in Los Angeles and Nevada, all of whom are poster children for Sexual Harrassment.
A ex state Senate Leader pockmarked with scandals.
Attacked blight? That is hilarious! Each time I leave my house and drive our neighborhood streets, all is see is blight! And it’s worse than ever before! What a joke!