People of Santa Clara, it is time for concern. The City is being led by someone who believes she is above the law and above reprisal.
On the surface, the Aug. 30 closed session of the City Council that resulted in a he said/she said involving the Council majority and the Council minority may seem like the same old politics. But this one came to a frightening conclusion.
Words were exchanged and Mayor Lisa Gillmor determined that the “verbal attacks and irrational behavior” – her words, not ours – displayed by Council Member Anthony Becker required police presence.
As Gillmor told the SF Chronicle, “I called the police because it was obvious he was having huge anger issues. I’m always very careful if it appears anyone is getting out of control. But he was so emotional and I wanted to protect myself.”
But the number that Mayor Gillmor called, in this case, was not 9-1-1. It was a direct call to Police Chief Pat Nikolai. A public records request to the City of Santa Clara shows that Mayor Gillmor called Chief Nikolai on Aug. 30. The Chief missed the call, but he called Mayor Gillmor back. Then, the Chief got on the phone with police dispatch and received a call from Sgt. Joshua Craig.
Unfortunately, Chief Nikolai’s records are the only records The Weekly can access. An official Public Records request made by The Weekly that asked for “Communications between Lisa Gillmor and Kathy Watanabe and employees and officials of the Santa Clara Police Department from Tue 8/30 8:30 a.m. to Wed 5 p.m., including: 9-1-1 calls for services, calls to non-emergency PD phone numbers, calls to city or personal cell phones, text messages, emails,” went unanswered by Mayor Gillmor and Council Member Kathy Watanabe. That’s despite the fact that Mayor Gillmor herself told the SF Chronicle that she “called the police” and Chief Nikolai’s phone records back up that fact.
This raises two important issues that every citizen of Santa Clara should take note of no matter how they feel about the 49ers, the Council majority or the Mayor. First, a public official sworn to serve the people of Santa Clara DID NOT comply with an official California Public Records Act request – a system that was created with the sole purpose of holding the people in power accountable.
Phone logs from Chief Nikolai prove that there was information to report, yet Mayor Gillmor used her own discretion to determine that this information was not something that should be shared with the public.
Second, that as Mayor of Santa Clara, Mayor Gillmor believes she is more important than the ordinary citizens of this City. The Editorial Board is not arguing the merits of Mayor Gillmor’s call of distress. She is a citizen of Santa Clara. If she felt threatened, she is well within her rights to call for help.
What the Editorial Board is concerned about is the message that this call sends to the other citizens of Santa Clara.
Santa Clara is a city with a population of more than 126,000 residents and a police force of more than 150 sworn officers. Many of those officers are trained and certified to deal with crisis situations.
But Mayor Gillmor did not call 9-1-1 to reach one of the officers that would help “protect” her. Mayor Gillmor used her position of power to call the highest-ranking member of the Santa Clara police force directly. Who then called police dispatch and a sworn officer of the City of Santa Clara.
These actions prove Mayor Gillmor believes she is allowed special privileges. Privileges that are not stated in the City Charter. Privileges that allow her to pick and choose which formal public records requests she must comply with and which ones she can ignore. Privileges that allow her to personally call the Chief of Police when she needs to “protect” herself.
People of Santa Clara, is this what you want? Should any leader of this City be more important than its average citizen? Does the position of Mayor give someone extra privileges? What happens if you or I cross the Mayor? Can she call the police chief to check the registration on your car? Can she dispatch an officer to write you a ticket for jaywalking?
Make no mistake. What happened on Aug. 30 and everything that transpired following the event was a power move by the Mayor of Santa Clara. Mayor Gillmor had the opportunity to call 9-1-1, but she personally called the Chief of Police instead.
As the leader of Santa Clara, Mayor Gillmor had the opportunity to respect the rules of the closed session of the City Council, but she chose to run to the media instead.
Mayor Gillmor and Council Member Watanabe had 10 business days to comply with an official public records request, but they refused to comply.
Through her actions on Aug. 30 and the days following, Mayor Gillmor has conveyed two things to the people of Santa Clara. One that in her vaunted position as mayor, she is more important than any ordinary citizen, and two, you cross the mayor at your own peril.
View Comments (10)
What a bunch of crap. The behavior of Becker, who takes massive contributions from the 49er organization, is deplorable. I don’t live in his district but I’m glad this election gives me a chance to vote him out.
The 49ers are being used as the boogeyman in this election, similarly as Donald Trump is being used by the Democrats as the boogeyman in the national election. The real person behind this curtain is Lisa Gillmor. Since, Lisa is running for reelection, she really needs to run on her own record over the past 6 years. Unfortunately, it has been a horrible record, very few ups and lots and lots of downs.
The truth hurts ;-)
From the actions describe in this article, at the very least, Lisa Gillmor needs to censored and reprimanded by the entire City Council for her faulty behavior.
The city attorney or district attorney should get involved if the Public Records Act is not being adhered too.
Yesterday morning, I awoke to find 2 signs supporting the Mayor had been placed in my front yard. They obviously had been placed there in the middle of the night or the early, early morning. I was NOT asked for permission to place these signs on my property. Also, on my travels to the nearest public school and city park, I did NOT see any of these signs!
Isn't this an example of (a) trespassing on private property and (b) littering by a group supporting the Mayor?
Another example of 'special privileges.'
Wow! Lisa Gillmor is the first one out, and really starting early this year. A little littering and trespassing, but what the heck, that's always been her style.
How many times, and for how many years, must the willful violation of California's Public Records Act (CPRA) be highlighted and substantiated before residents of Santa Clara take meaningful action to cure this city of deliberate misconduct?
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Even at the county level, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury can't get Lisa Gillmor and city administrators to take decisive action and comply with state law. Sure, the city provides lip service to imply that corrective action is being taken but far too often the heat lamp is turned off once attention moves to other areas. https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-not-complying-with-records-law-civil-grand-jury-report-says/
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At the heart of all this is a lack of integrity across the board. A new mayor needs to be elected and new city council members must be free of impropriety. The city must do away with the old system of electing a police chief removing political favors between policy makers and law enforcement and all records, maybe redacted to protect witness identity, must be made accessible through CPRA within a week of that document or tangible item being executed. We know the City of Santa Clara has the technology to expedite CPRA requests, now city managers must ensure they have the right, competent, personnel to fulfill those requests wholly and accurately.
If Lisa Gillmor is leadership you can't buy it's because she's the buyer. She is in power to give sweet heart deals to her family's real estate business. Anthony Becker actually stands for something. Which is why I understand why Lisa Gillmor was confused by his behavior. She should be voted out of office for the good of the city. She doesn't care about its people. Only its land.
What is Lisa hiding, why for 19 years does she have to be in office, and 60 years as a family - time for her to go! she put Nikolai in office of course she has his direct number and expects favors. The only people who need to be investigated are the people who align themselves with Lisa, including that blogger, the pizza guy, and anyone who she supports.