Says Mercury News Editorial Board Next
Mayor Gonzales took time out of his busy schedule in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, where he delivered the keynote address on “good government” at the annual National League of Cities (NLC) conference, to respond to the latest round of Scud missiles launched at him with intent to inflict bodily harm.
Having reviewed the independent investigator’s report that was released Tuesday, Gonzales vowed to fight back and return his tattered reputation to what it was before he was elected mayor of San Jose, a hardworking, go-getting assistant to the human resources manager for the east wing of building 5 at a large high-tech firm. “That will teach them!” he said.
During the mayor’s speech in Charlotte to 1,600 cities and towns represented by the NLC, Gonzales invoked Special Executive Authority 2689A, an arcane section of the City Charter as researched by City Manager Del Borgsdorf, to officially censure his city council. “They have embarked on a four-year course of deception, concealment and misrepresentation with the goal of besmirching me and undercutting my authority!” he yelled. “I have no other choice but to censure them and ask for their immediate resignations. And let me be clear, if the Mercury News continues to tear me a new one, I will have no choice but to censure them also. See what that does to Knight Ridder’s sale price.”
San Jose State political professor Terry Christiansen predicts that if the mayor can garner enough support to force the resignation of the council, he would consolidate power and be able to move Joe Guerra’s agenda forward unfettered. “If mayor Gonzales can align the immutable patterns of politically and psychologically structured tiers of inter-subjective individualist identity and ethos, it may be his springboard into national politics.”
“Whatever,” said Councilman Forest Williams. “How tall are the elves in his world.”
If the Mayor had the power to raise the terrorist alert level locally, we wouldn’t be talking about this at all.
Maybe he can create a diversion by invading Milpitas.
I believe he has his sights set on invading Coyote Valley with his band of merry men.
I Dont Wanna to Throw Up, again
( from San Jose city government song book –
Sung to the Toys R Us commercial tune )
I don
Dear Dont Wanna,
I laughed so hard this morning that it took me several minutes to catch my breath after reading your post. My cubicle neighbors thought I was losing it. It’s good to laugh…it beats crying about the quality of our political leadership.
This is so sad for the people of San Jose; not surprising because the Mayor and his crew have been coming to this boiling point for years, so FINALLY do the right thing, Ronnie, and think of someone besides yourself…time to surrender, and move on!
This Mayor has yet to do the right thing for SJ. Everything he has done has been for his benefit, and if, by chance the City also benefited, that was just a lucky by-product.
It is very unlikely he will resign. More likely he will try to continue his bullying ways and attempts at intimidation. He will fade away at the end of his term and leave a legacy as a pathetic public servant who sullied the name of the entire city and left wreckage that will take years to repair.
Thanks, Ron.
Dont Wanna,
Great political nickname – Lying Denying Ron – Ron Gonzales
in the tradition of great political nicknames that reflect their political character
Dubya, Shrub or W – George W Bush
Slick Willie – Bill Clinton
Great Communicator / Teflon Ron – Ronald Reagan
Tricky Dick – Richard Nixon
Give ‘Em Hell Harry – Harry Truman
Good for you, Ron!
Ron, you are a breath of fresh air!
Ron,
We’d like you to give a lecture on political ethics and creative apologies. How about next Tuesday? As we understand it that City Council meeting is “mere procedure.”
This is my first post, so please bear with me.
Mr. Mayor definitely lives in a different world. One that actually leads me to wonder who actually pulls the strings in this town? The Mayor, or some of his henchmen? I think he needs to go, but of course he won’t…this is a terrible series of events that leaves me wondering about the future of this town. It’s all about ethics, character , leadership…where is it here?
Ron giving a speech on “good government” at the annual National League of Cities (NLC) conference is like John Gotte giving a speech at an annual National Police Conference on “Crime Prevention”.
Ron’s Bad Points
Baseball/Ballpark
City Hall
Abuse of Power
Public Records disappear
Garbage-gate
Slush funds
Cisco Cover up
http://www.dalewarner.com/new/accusation.htm
In the SJ Mercury News “Should San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales resign?” 83% polled agree that it is time for him to go now.
The image of SJ might have taken another hit. Is it not weird that VTA now started to withdraw plans for seeking federal funds for Bart?
Bid withdrawn for federal funds to bring BART to San Jose
SJhttp://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/bart/13370702.htm
A censure is not enough here, he should be a man and resign. He will only hurt San Jose more if he stays in office.
“I am not a crook!”
Richard Nixon
“These allegations are completely false and an abuse of power by the civil grand jury.”
Ron G
John I think you are right about this. We have to be pretty careful that Ronnie doesn’t muster up a Sunnyvale strike force to declare war on those who oppose him. I think someone should videotape everything he does in the future so that we have something to laugh about when we watch it. Really, how could anyone have any respect for this man?
Please join me in welcoming our new mayor: Cindy Chavez. She worked closely with Ron for many years in the County building, but she’s differernt. No, really. She is.
Bring back Jude Barry.
Dear San Jose:
What’s worse, a corrupt mayor or a council that won’t stand up to him?
This is serious business. Will the people of San Jose demand high standards in their city government, or will they give everyone a pass.
I applaud the Mercury News Editorial Board for their fine editorial calling for the mayor’s resignation.
TWO QUICK POINTS:
1) Now can we see the e-mails?
2) As a gesture of protest, why doesn’t everyone in San Jose take a buck off their garbage bill? They can’t throw all of us in jail (can they?)
P.S. Thanks to Reed and Cortese for standing up to Mayor Corruptus!
Pete Campbell
What color is the air on his planet? I’ve never liked the slickness of this guy, and now I dislike it more. When he should be humble, he’s now being more obnoxious. It’s been said that those things we react to most defensively are those things within ourselves we truly need to work on. Take heed Ron. I think your 15 minutes of fame are up.
Deano,
The color of the air in Gonzo’s planet is red. It took City staff awhile to figure this guy out, but soon after his election we started to hear from several of the higher ups that this guy had to be from another planet. Mars, maybe. Now we know he’s a Martian. Who would step on his own troops (City staff), insult his peers(City Council), offend his supporters (San Jose voters) and still think he could keep a leadership position? It had to be someone that was very spaced out….
Ron’s fifteen minutes are up!? How about 15 years?! How has this guy survived so long…I think it is through intimidation and fear.
He’s got Cindy duped.
Chuck and Dave have a great opportunity here to distance themselves from Cindy. They have to absolutely keep the investigation going and they can’t let Cindy and Labor roll all the other labor friendly council members into covering the rest of the investigation up.
If it keeps going, there is a good chance Cindy is implicated, and that would spell the end of her bid for Mayor.
Does Hizzoner keep a poll? It should be pretty revealing. (Is there such a thing at this level of government?)
The Merc shows that 83% of the respondants to their poll believe that the Mayor should resign. The usual 3% to 5% margin of error does not seem to make much of a difference.
There aren’t any elves in Gonzo’s world, only lobbyists.
Summing up his sorrowful situation, Hizzoner quotes Jesse Jackson: “What are these allegations, and who are the allegators makin ‘em??!!!”
I, for one, am proud of the way Ron is handling himself.
Ron is a good man.
If you want to place your vote of no confidence go here:
http://www.inthebagsf.com/DaveCortese/VoteOfNoConfidence.aspx
But is Cindy just part of the problem and not a good solution?
I knew Ronny G was too arrogant to resign on his own!
He’s certainly got Cindy duped—let’s hope Cindy doesn’t have the electorate duped. If she does, don’t expect much improvement in the current situation. She has supported nearly everything Gonzo proposed including the secret, backroom deal giving away $11+ million of our money. Back to the Labor Council Cindy.
Vote on a vote of no confidence on Dave Cortese’s website.
Call the SJ mayor’s office and state your opinion that this city belongs to good ethical individuals and you strongly disapprove of the mayor’s actions and reaction. “He should resign”. He seems to still think that he did nothing wrong. His apology is an empty attempt to seem sorry, sorry that he got caught.
In the Mercury News it is funny that Ron G states that he got nothing in return for keeping his mouth shut on the backroom deal for years, and instead is “blaming the process”. That is the biggest BS. Ron G was and who knows, he might still try to run for the state assembly or state senate, and he claims that he was not going to get anything from Norcal (money, votes, etc) I DO NOT THINK SO. Clearly this is an “I scratch your back, you scratch my back deal”.
Here’s a link to Tuesday’s City Council agenda:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/Agenda/12_13_05docs/121305aa.pdf
The Norcal issues, including censure and continuation of the independent investigaton, are item 3.8. A link to the investigator’s report is highlighted in blue right next to the number 3.8. It’s long but the “Summary of Initial Conclusions/Findings” is an interesting read.
Be sure to also click on the three attachments if you want to have a good understanding of all the issues the Council will be taking up.
Very important decisions are going to be made Tuesday.
PS – It’s ironic that the item to censure the Mayor comes right after item 3.7: “Approval of the Mayor’s 2005 Biennial Ethics Review”!!!
What the heck is Gonzales doing back in North Carolina? Feeding again at the public trough? He better not be back there on the taxpayers’ dime, he certainly does not represent me or my family with his lies and deception. Somebody should grab him by the neck back there and drag him home to look for all the missing City of San Jose vehicles whose whereabouts and function couldn’t be accounted for a couple years back… with Ron in charge they gotta still be missing. Maybe they could all be parked under his new $30 million rotunda. What a circus here.
Its official the Federal governmental officials now say they will not help pay for Bart to San Jose. That is $750 million that cash strapped VTA was counting on, that it will not get.
So then the next question is what is your 170 million in tax money paying for? Well it seems at the moment for nothing. Salaries for individuals and planners that just talk and doodle maps and drawings for a project that might never be built, and they really now have no purpose.
I think the real reason why the FED finally dropped Bart to SJ is the clear cut fictious and unrealistic ridership totals, that seem to have come out of the same garbage-gate can that Ron G created.
Bart does not know the way to San Jose
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4228851
They want to bring a baseball team here why> There’re aren’t enough balls in this town.
I hope we’re done paying for his trips. Can he actually go to any conference and think anyone looks at him like he represents what the citizens of San Jose want?
JC # 13:
You forgot :“I did NOT have sex with THAT WOMAN!”—Slick Willy
#30 – yes we paid for it:
3.2 Report of the Rules Committee – November 30, 2005
Vice Mayor Chavez, Chair
(a) Redevelopment Agency
(1) Review December 13, 2005 Draft Agenda
(2) Add New Items to December 6, 2005 Agenda
(3) List of Reports Outstanding
(b) City Council
(1) Review December 13, 2005 Draft Agenda
(2) Add New Items to December 6, 2005 Agenda
(3) List of Reports Outstanding
(c) Legislative Update
(1) State
(2) Federal
(d) Meeting Schedules
(e) The Public Record
(f) Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees
(g) Rules Committee Reviews, Recommendations and Approvals
(1) Approval of Request for District 1 Festival in the Park Event
(2) Approval of Travel by Mayor Gonzales to Charlotte, North Carolina, December 6-9, 2005 to attend the National League of Cities and Exposition. Source of Funds: Mayor and City Council Travel Fund
Further proof there needs to be some accountability in this city.
Bart to SJ
They first said it would be by 2010 then 2015, 2018, 2020, 2025, 2030 and now probably never.
Thanks Ron G
It is time to choose the Caltrain Metro East as another alternative to Bart in SJ.
Flavafan, that 2nd paragraph in #6 seems to indicate that Gonzo took his cues from that idot taking up space in the White House.