Events are now in the saddle in our City. Each new day brings different and corroborated charges against members of the professional staff, one beleaguered Council Member, and the chips are falling: loudly. The sad story continues to unfold before the horrified eyes of all but a few too involved or too blind to see.
In recent years basic needs have been pushed to the forefront at City Hall—the basic needs of the politicians. The need to be collegial, to play on the same team, to never rock the boat, has predominated in the rarified air of City Hall on North First Street. It has prevented the Council from doing the right thing in this time of the City’s utmost need. With a casualness bordering on dereliction of their oaths of office, they have abdicated the most essential sworn duty of any public official—keeping the confidence and preserving the trust of the people.
Most of them have done it with a certain casualness, and little malice or forethought. This is a plausible, but weak defense; this is the heart of the secondary problem.
First things first, let’s look at the problem. Mayor Ron Gonzales made a fatal mistake with his pronouncement that the voters of District 7 should decide the fate of Terry Gregory. Now the District Attorney and Grand Jurors will lead the way. Gonzales has charted a course into this ethical morass followed by his many acolytes on the Council, unable or unwilling to find an independent course for themselves. While three courageous members of the Council, Chuck Reed, Dave Cortese, and Linda Lezotte, have been guided by a moral compass, others have chosen silence as their weapon.
This silence is screaming at all of us.
There is a day of reckoning approaching and what form it will take is still unknown. Yet this juncture may well determine who the next Mayor of our City will be. One thing is certain beyond any reasonable doubt, the months ahead will provide one of the defining moments in the modern history of San Jose.
On Monday—the leadership crises in our business community—Et Tu Chamber.
You’re on a roll now, keep it up and let us know how we can spread the word about http://www.San Jose Inside.com
I remember telling George Starbird when he was re-writing the charter, “Don’t allow the elected officials become isolated from the electors by the paid staff!” Putting the elected council’s offices way up there on the 6th (or what ever) floor and not out in their districts effectively prevents most of the citizens from having any intercourse with their elected representitives! So, the only people that they really hear are lobbyists and/or the staff – mostly their own who are guided by the manager’s and the mayor’s who they see in the lunch room. Solution? No eating establishment in the city hall, establish district offices where the council person’s staff would live!
And, I thought that the Manager served at the pleasure of the council. Why don’t they just fire the ******* and make sure that his replacement get rid of the rest of the department heads!
Jerry
Please think about this: McEnery for Mayor 2006
You could like run like Arnold did: a reformer, a leader, and a fun guy to be around.
Also, congratulations on being the first Mayor in San Jose to have a blog. In fact, your are the only Mayor in San Jose (former or current) to have a decent website…have you seen:
http://www.sjmayor.org/
YIKES!
I certainly agree with this part II column. Not just about this mayor and council but how about the last one. How many years have people been talking about how Valley Fair or whatever it’s called now killed the downtown. She was the downtown council member before she won election as mayor and what is her major accomplishment. Leading the follower council to approve Santana Row another dagger in the heart of the city. Didn’t those coucil member or Mayor Hammer hear the talk about killing the downtown most of their lives. So look what they did Santana Row. Remember the Eviormental Impact report on that massive project it declared no impact. Where was the staff on that one. Have you ever tried to drive to that area of town forget it. All these people are blinded by the same lobbiest that now completely control are city.
Keep up the good work!
San Jose residents share some of the blame for electing and allowing our leaders to misbehave as they are. As a life long resident, I have become dismayed with the apathy within our city. The last few council elections in our area were quite sad with almost no opportunity for residents to hear and ask questions of the candidates. The Mercury News provides very little insight into the differences between candidates so I wonder how most residents decide on how to vote. In recent elections, one candidate seems “chosen” with endorsements from the Mayor, council, and unions. With so much initial support and money, the campaign becomes nothing more than mailing flyer after flyer out to the district. With council districts approaching 100,000 residents, I wonder if this will only get worse.
Not SILENT … not all. People in the council chambers during the meeting know that Cindy Chavez CRIED during the vote to punish Terry Gregory!!! Gimme a freakin break!!! She wants to be the freakin mayor!!!
Tom: Congrats on SJINSIDE! Your blog site could most likely rank right up there with trips to the Burgie Bar or watching “Hell is for Heroes.” Watch out Jon Stewart!
Sincerely, Jeff Alongi
Truer words were never said.
As a long time resident of this area I am saddened and horrified by the antics, backslapping and total disregard for ethics in our City Hall.
How much longer do the residents of this city have to cringe every time they open the paper? How much longer do we as one of the best cities in the nation have to put up with what is increasingly becoming one of the worst civic governments in America?
In case anyone missed “2004: The Year in Scandals” in Metro, here’s the lead excerpt:
The Gonzales Scandals
The most dependable and prolific local producer of scandals in 2004 is the mayoral administration of San Jose’s Ron Gonzales, whose carefully managed image as a straight arrow has precipitously unraveled over time. To give all of Gonzales’ scandals proper attention in these pages would squeeze out another half-dozen worthy scandals, so space limits force us to catalog his scandalous activities in bullet points.
* In June, Metro reported that Gonzales had become a regular at “the next Pebble Beach”—an exclusive championship course in San Martin where memberships cost a quarter-million dollars—thanks to his generous lobbyist friends who have free golfing privileges. Even though his buddies represent clients who do business with the city, Gonzales considers his golf time “social” and does not report it on his official calendar. Claiming that he tips caddies in cash to pay his share, Gonzales later admitted screwing up the math and writing a check to the private, exclusive CordeValle golf club for $275. There has never been an independent audit to determine whether the golf-addicted Gonzales accepted favors from the lobbyists he golfs with, or whether the paltry payment settled the matter.
* A sweetheart deal for Cisco to install an $8 million phone system in the new City Hall cost two city officials their jobs and resulted in what the Mercury News called “one of the broadest probes of wrongdoing in San Jose government history,” including a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office. Even though the mayor had enjoyed a close relationship with Cisco’s CEO, Gonzales proclaimed, ‘‘I know for myself and for my office that there was no involvement’’ in the botched procurement deal. Gonzales did, however, accept $7,000 in travel and lodging from Cisco for a junket to Sweden in December 2003.
* Gonzales cleverly set up an political action committee fund that permitted him to bank contributions 20 times above local limits. The fund can be used to pay for the mayor’s meals, travel and phone bills. Gonzales raised $143,000 in a 15-month period, according to published reports, in amounts of up to $5,000. Among the largest contributors were companies hoping to develop large projects in the environmentally sensitive Coyote Valley. A local family-owned water company objected in a complaint to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission. “Using the ruse of a controlled committee to collect money used personally by the mayor represents the worst in political chicanery, the sole purpose of which is to buy influence,’’ attorneys for the Great Oaks Water Company wrote. “In any other context, these monies would be treated as gifts, not political contributions.’‘
* Two former aides to the mayor, Tony Arreola and Sharanjit ‘‘Sean’’ Kali-Rai, violated the city’s “revolving door” ordinance by working for owners of the Tropicana Shopping Center within a year of exiting City Hall. According to a complaint filed by the city attorney, neither Arreola nor Kali-Rai registered as lobbyists in 2001, as the law required.
* Budget director Joe Guerra’s wife received a real estate commission on a transaction related to a housing and compensation package negotiated by her husband with City Manager Del Borgsdorf. Conflict-of-interest laws prohibit public officials from profiting from deals in which they are involved.
* The mayor closed a chapter on the sex scandal that rocked his administration by marrying his lover and ex-employee Guisselle Nunez in September. The wedding took place at the ultraexclusive Corde Valle Country Club. Gonzales has not disclosed how he paid for the event on his government salary.