January
The Beginning Of the End

With Domeville, San Jose's city government got a new look, and an unofficial new motto: "Get out while you can." Suddenly it was mass exodus time, and playing "Who's next?" became a popular guessing game. When City Manager Del Borgsdorf left in December 2005, he was widely felt to be taking a fall for the scandals (Cisco, Norcal) that led to the Gonzales censure. But January 2006 saw two more defections, with Planning Director Stephen Haas and Information Technology Director John Bjurman abandoning their posts. Bjurman lasted only five months in the long-struggling IT department. Deputy City Manager Kay Winer said both sides felt "it was not a good fit" because Bjurman only had experience with smaller companies. "This is a very large and complex organization," she said. She hadn't seen nuttin' yet.

February
Smelling Blood In the Water

Even the eighth time wasn't a charm for San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales when he gave his final State of the City address. Indeed, charming was the last thing that came to mind as Gonzales awkwardly recited the lines of his speech under the eerie blue lights of City Hall's luminescent dome. "Tonight, as I prepare to finish my eighth year as your mayor, I'm even more optimistic about our future and more excited about my job than ever before," he declared in an unconvincing monotone, mustering a half-smile and biting his lower lip. While the mayor tried last week to savor the sweeter highlights of his time in office (making neighborhoods safer and helping teachers buy houses), the bitterness of his recent censure ruined any pretense of celebration. Councilmember Dave Cortese refrained from applause during several of Gonzales' lofty proposals for his final year in office, an early hint that giving Ron the cold shoulder was going to be Job One for all the serious contenders in the mayor's race.

March
Insult to Injury

Things were so bad in the wake of the Norcal scandal that the company itself couldn't stand its own stench. When San Jose leaders offered to extend the trash collector's contract, Norcal representatives rejected the offer for "financial reasons." Meanwhile, San Francisco showed up the South Bay by going medieval on Norcal subsidiaries Sunset Scavenger and Golden Gate Disposal Recycling, who serve most of S.F. When they asked for a sizeable pay increase that would raise resident rates by 26 percent in one year and 36 percent over the five-year agreement, San Francisco officials did some Legg work: Douglas Legg, a representative from San Francisco's Public Works Department, said the documents they were given had inflated the company's projected costs for staffing, pension plans and insurance premiums. The city held hearings that were open to the public and hired consultant Linda Eggerth for $49,000 to represent the public at them. Hopefully somebody down here besides us was taking notes, because San Jose's single-family garbage collection and recycling service contract is still up for bid, and the winner will be selected in the summer of 2008.

April
Look Who's Talking

San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle was seen whispering to councilmembers at a study session on Coyote Valley, arranging for several members of the council to be served with subpoenas in regards to what they knew, and when, about the secret Norcal deal. Although the council voted 9-2 in December 2005 to end its investigation, a civil grand jury began sniffing around. They wanted all communications about Norcal, the Teamsters, the Longshoremen, Recycle Plus, rate hikes or the RFP that took place between the subpoenaed party and any of those entities, as well as the mayor and the South Bay Labor Council.

May
New Lows

San Jose City Councilmembers Nora Campos and Nancy Pyle unleashed a broadside against fellow member Dave Cortese, accusing him of violating the City Charter during May of 2005. Now, this was hot news not because the charges were all that interesting but because most people had almost forgotten Campos and Pyle were even on the council! After barely saying peep since they took office, they were suddenly picking through memos and blindsiding the opponent of their endorsee for mayor, Cindy Chavez? At the May 9 City Council meeting, the council haggled for 15 minutes over semantics—whether an "investigation" or an "inquiry" should be suggested, or whether the matter should just be "looked at." It went nowhere, of course. Meanwhile, Chavez had lined up ex-Mayor Susan Hammer and Congressional power-hitter Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo to denounce the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce mailers that linked Chavez to "scandals, secret backroom deals and wasteful spending." In September, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the mailings were kosher, overturning a decision against them by the city's Election Commission.

June
Gonzo Takes a Fall

Gonzales looked infuriatingly smug as he waited to be arraigned June 26 on felony charges from the indictment handed down by the grand jury the week before. He exchanged occasional whispers and chuckles with his wife, Guiselle Nunez—you couldn't be blamed for thinking the couple were gracing an awards banquet instead of a hearing at the criminal courthouse. They may have been having fun, but Gonzo's defiance made this whole debacle worse for everyone else. Resigning from office when six councilmembers demanded it—along with 87 percent of San Jose residents, according to a Mercury News online poll at the time—would have been the right thing to do. But ironically, the mayor claimed stepping down would mean failing the people of San Jose. The charges against Gonzales, his budget czar Joe Guerra and Norcal included bribery, conspiracy and misappropriation of public funds, all stemming from the mayor's secretly cut $11 million deal with the garbage company.

July
The Counter-Offensive

Things got even weirder when the grand jury imbroglio took on racial overtones, and Gonzales suddenly made himself the champion of the Latino community. In an effort to salvage the shards of his political goodwill, he put an ethnic spin on his refusal to resign, saying, "I'm innocent" and "I'm Latino" in nearly the same breath at a special City Council meeting. African American Councilmember Forrest Williams, one of two not in favor of booting the mayor, took the people-of-color-plea and ran with it. "Is there a need to rush? In 1933, the citizens of San Jose rushed and they hanged two men in St. James Park," he warned, referring to the public lynching of guilty white men Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes. "We don't want to continue that legacy." A handful of speakers from the public stirred the same sentiments: one immigrant man said the council reminded him of the Nicaraguan government that he fled; another man said Gonzales shouldn't be singled out "just because he's Mexican-American," and a Latina activist dubbed the whole controversy "systemized racism." But the brown vs. white dynamic got complicated when Latina Councilmembers Cindy Chavez and Nora Campos voted for Gonzales to resign. "This is one of the hardest votes I have ever had to make," Campos told the mayor.

August
The Transcript Hits the Fan

We learned a lot from the more than 2,000 pages of grand jury transcripts released in the Gonzales indictment case. For one thing, Chuck Reed's middle name is Rufus. Can you believe that? Other highlights: In 25 pages of testimony, Councilmember Judy Chirco repeats the phrase "I don't recall" 19 times. But Julius Finkelstein continues to grill her about why she supported giving Norcal an extra $11.25 million in 2004: "Do you think maybe you didn't fully understand the issues when you cast your vote?" Chirco admits, "Based on the information that I know now, yes." Later, Finkelstein corners Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez about why she agreed to have taxpayers "shell out an additional 11 million" to Norcal, finally pouncing with: "So the policy in fact being furthered was your policy, not necessarily the city's policy?" Another great moment was when Finkelstein went after Todd Thompson, one of Norcal's attorneys, who had written, "During subsequent months, Bill [Jones, a Norcal executive] and others courted members of the city council and the mayor." When Finkelstein asks him what he meant by "courted," the witness again veers off-track with a literal definition of the word. "In a romantic relationship, a man courts a woman or vice versa in order to cause them to fall in love." If nothing else, he gave this whole scandal some much-needed sex appeal.

September
The Contenders

Corny jokes flew left and right at Sept. 20's Rotary Club meeting, which featured a face-off between Reed and Chavez. Reed launched one of his monotone missiles after being asked what he planned to do about San Jose's $70 million budget deficit. "Well, I'm going to start by taking up a collection at Rotary," he answered with a half-grin. His jokes never got much better. After Chavez spoke about the bright future of San Jose riding on the cutting edge of technology, moderator Dr. Gary Silver said, "Talk about 'cutting edge' always gets my attention." A round of snickers rose from a few tables, while people who didn't get the inside joke exchanged bewildered looks. What they were missing: Dr. Silver is a heart surgeon. Rim shot! Still, no one tried the veal.

October
P.S. She Lost

In the run-up to the election, the Chavez campaign told Metro the candidate wouldn't be speaking to this paper until the Chavistas considered the election coverage "fair and balanced." Apparently, they didn't quite grasp the irony of on-the-record supporter of open government Chavez making a policy decision not to talk to the media until she's pleased with that outlet's coverage. On election night in November, her campaign manager even attempted to eject a Metro representative from Chavez's party at the Holiday Inn's Mediterranean Room banquet hall, claiming "This is a private party." Was it something we wrote?

November
Finally, Some Sunshine

With little to show after 10 meetings, San Jose's Sunshine Reform Task Force seemed destined to crawl along at a glacial pace, so the group scheduled an all-day meeting for Nov. 18 to try and pick up the pace. Mayor-elect Chuck Reed appeared at the 9am Saturday session to express his hope that some work could be completed before he introduces his reform package at the Jan. 9 council meeting. The group took action on eight of the 18 sunshine proposals contained in the "Reed Reforms," a package that basically comprised his winning platform in the mayor's race. The SRTF agreed Saturday to approve, in concept, four of Reed's reforms (a sunshine ordinance; prohibitions on secret meeting by most city task forces, committees and commissions; release of appraisals for city real estate purchases upon deal finalization; and the recording of closed session meetings), and to refer another four back to council.

December
And on to '07...

Kansen Chu, one of three major candidates to replace Reed in the District 4 City Council seat balloting March 4, could have his political ambitions sidelined by his side business, a food franchise at San Jose International Airport. Government Code 1090 is a prickly legal spur that says elected officials cannot have a financial stake in contracts their council or board votes on—contracts like the one the city has with the airport concessions manager Host International, which subleases to Chu's Harbor Express in Terminal C. And it's not enough for Chu to recuse himself from votes related to the airport contract if he got elected. City Attorney Rick Doyle says Chu would have to step down or sell his business if the council had to renew, extend, modify or amend the contract. That's a sticky situation likely to come up since the city's deal with Host International terms out in 2008. The consequences are no joke: 10 years ago, state Superintendent Bill Honig had to step down after authorizing $337,509 of public money for a consulting firm owned by his wife and run out of their family home. He faced felony charges for the conflict, which were later reduced to misdemeanors. Chu and his wife, Daisy, own Harbor Express, a nice little restaurant at the airport. Would he be willing to sell it in order to keep a $75,000-a-year City Council job? "Sure," Chu said, "If it came down to that. I'm ready to move on."

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