Just a whiff of the Council censuring the mayor was enough to get the Santa Clara City Council to run amok, causing the City Attorney to repeatedly admonish them for off-topic remarks.
A public petition Tuesday night, submitted by Lori Garmandy, asked the Council to consider censuring Mayor Lisa Gillmor for leaking confidential information and writing a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“It sickens me to see the lies and the turmoil,” Garmandy said. “To see the negativity and all the political crap is sad.”
But Garmandy’s comments didn’t seem to deter the Council. Discussion of the petition pulled a thread that led to Councilmembers sniping back and forth at one another at length.
While admitting the line between “substantive discussion” and “discussing the merits” of having the item return to the Council is sometimes blurry, City Attorney Steve Ngo repeatedly warned the Council that it was treading on dangerous ground.
“I would ask that you stick to your own policies,” Ngo said after interjecting into Council dialog for a third time.
The mudslinging started when Gillmor defended herself. Her defense of the letter to the Governor remained the same as before, essentially saying she was only asking for a speedy decision and advocating the City’s position.
“You are going to look at censuring me for something that I had full authority to do?” she asked.
However, when she defended herself from supposedly leaking confidential information, sparks began to fly. She refuted that her public disclosure following a closed-door settlement negotiation with the 49ers was privileged information.
Following that meeting, which she and political ally Council Member Kathy Watanabe walked out of, Gillmor accused Council Member and mayoral opponent Anthony Becker of being “verbally abusive.” She said Becker cursed at her, yelled and made an obscene gesture.
Watanabe said she “sat shaking for hours” after the incident. She repeatedly called the situation “despicable,” framing Gillmor as “a victim.”
Vice Mayor Suds Jain said he has been “reluctant or shy” about going public with his impressions of the meeting, adding that he has a “different interpretation” of the events. Dialogue surrounding Gillmor’s accusation has been “one-sided,” he added.
He went on to say that the examples of leaks have been numerous and have nothing to do with how Gillmor claims Becker treated her, something Council Member Kevin Park echoed. Park said the issue was not censure but discussion, adding that Gillmor used her “mayoral privilege” when writing to Newsom.
Becker offered a verbal riposte, calling the characterization of his behavior “consistent wild accusations.” Further, he accused Watanabe of laughing and pointed the finger at Gillmor and Watanabe for “abandoning [their] elected duties.”
“You verbally abused me,” he told Watanabe. “The thing is, it is a one-way street. This is a prime example of bullying after homophobic remarks were found on a blog that you guys (Gillmor and Watanabe) support. This is clearly retaliation.”
Old guard Council gadfly Deborah Bress phoned into the meeting to call the exchange “dirty politics at dirty politics time.” She called Gillmor’s behavior “shenanigans” to “maintain her fiefdom,” going so far as to accuse Gillmor of crimes.
The Council voted 5-2 to discuss — at a future meeting — censuring Gillmor. Ngo said the item will likely have to return twice: once after getting clarity on the request’s scope and producing a staff report, then again to get direction from the Council.
Proposed Civic Center Park
An attempt to get a park to replace a housing project for the poor gained traction among the Council. A public petition from a neighborhood group near the proposed development at 1601 Civic Center Dr. returned to the Council after the Council had deferred it to the City Manager’s office back in September.
Charities Housing — who purchased the land in 2020 for $12.5 million — plans to develop the two-story vacant office building into 106 below-market-rate apartments for those earning between 30% and 60% area median income.
However, residents of the area say the area is park-anemic and that the proposed complex does not fit the neighborhood’s needs. They claim parks have not kept pace with the City’s growth and that the project’s density makes it a bad fit for the area.
Cynthia Bojorquez, Assistant City Attorney, said the neighborhood’s 1.2 acres of park per 100,000 residents fails to meet the City’s minimum standard of 2.6 acres of park per 100,000 residents.
To transform the land into a park, the City would first need to purchase it. Charities Housing agreed to sell the City the land for $18.9 million, provided the City secures an alternate site for its development and covers any additional costs associated with the move.
Although Borjorquez laid out options to buy the land — the land sale reserve, park in-lieu fees, the budget stabilization reserve — she cautioned the Council about doing so, noting that the City has already spent $50.6 million from its reserves over the past two years.
While many Councilmembers supported the idea, Vice Mayor Suds Jain said he didn’t see a need to stretch already thin City resources when there are two other parks within a quarter mile of the proposed site. Perhaps, he added, those parks don’t have the amenities they should, which demonstrates the need for a parks master plan.
The Council denied noting and filing the report, instead opting to exhaust all options during a closed-session negotiation with Charities Housing following the meeting.
Consent Calendar Spending
- A $1.92 million amendment to a contract with Delta Star, Inc. for upgrades to power-station transformers. Total contract is now $2 million; a $2 million amendment to the same contract with Delta Star, Inc. for “transformers equipment and services at various substations.” The total for that element of the contract is now $4 million.
- A $177,000 transfer from the land sale reserve to pay for raises at the fire department.
- A $446,000 transfer from the land sale reserve to pay for raises at the police department.
- A three-year, $75,978 extension to a contract with Armanino for maintenance of Levi’s Stadium’s financial management system.
- An amendment to a contract with InTWO, Inc. for software subscription and cloud/hosting services, to increase the one-time setup fee to $5,969 and annual fee to $56,532.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday Nov. 15 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.
Members of the public can participate in the City Council meetings on Zoom at https://santaclaraca.zoom.us/j/99706759306; Meeting ID: 997-0675-9306 or call 1(669) 900-6833, via the City’s eComment (available during the meeting) or by email to PublicComment@santaclaraca.gov
View Comments (35)
Hopefully in seven days there will be light at the end of the tunnel. A majority vote for Becker, Hardy, and Chahal will put Santa Clarans on track to a more dignified and harmonious council body that works towards progress. If their opposition prevails, financial ruin and decline of city-wide morale will persist for many more years.
.
$623,000 for police and fire salary raises is not necessary to sustain employment or quality living standards, they are already the highest paid in the entire state for their vocation. Transferring monies from one departmental budget reserve to acquiesce specific employee union voracity is, at the very least, economic raping of sound financial principles. The city council should vote to deny the request.
Becker stated it in the best way: By leaving the session, both Watanabe and Gillmor were clearly guilty of abandoning their elected duties. District 1 voters no longer had a “voice”. Watanabe and Gillmor clearly need to stay and represent the voters that elected them.
Oops! What I meant to say was that's another reason to be voting both of them out of office.
Another item that needs to be investigated: Lisa Gillmor shortly after leaving the session made a personal call to our Chief of Police, requesting “protection”. I understand that our Chief of Police then sent a squad car to her home to provide the “protection”. Is this proper? Are some rules or laws being broken here?
If it is true it was silly.
As silly as Becker accusing Gillmor of promoting homophobia and Becker accusing Burt Field of inciting death threats against him.
Becker wasn't going to go to Gillmor's home and attack her obviously. Becker was not going to attack Gillmor and Watanabe at city hall. His behavior sounds as if it was crude and perhaps a little aggressive but not anything to make a big fuss over.
Becker also should not overdramatize things such as whining about being "muzzled" because it is an improper waste of everyone's time to get on his soapbox at council meetings. He is never muzzled anyway since he can always get his thoughts printed here in the Silicon Valley Voice as well as in San Jose Spotlight.
I am agreement with everyone else that the bickering amongst the council is an embarrassment to the city and must end. I am tired of seeing various council members try to discredit each other with silly exaggerations of minor grievances.
Bushser,
Yes, I agree it is silly. But nevertheless, it is true. Lisa did call our Chief of Police and he did send a patrol car to her home that night. It just shows the connection Lisa has with our police department. It's time to put an end to this connection. Let's vote her out of office, now.
As usual you the Gillmor and the WantaBe showed an insight into how they probably acted that night. I purposefully stayed up late last night to watch the Shenanigans. Sadly Becker took their bait that night when that incident occurred I'm sure. I was glad to hear Jain say what he did about that evening. If you read between the lines they clearly egged Becker and others on that night. No surprise that would be the case, I've heard from various sources and read it on line that they two of them turn their back continuously on other council members, don't acknowledge them etc. The High School drama has to stop and for that to happen it requires getting Rid of Gillmor and WantaBe - their adolescent behavior can be seen and this is not the first campaign where they acted so childish. Not even Childlike but Childish. As I've said before Becker may not be the best choice but he's BETTER than the other option. Becker IS BEST.
Kudos Raj and Jain for the reports and insights into the fact the Stadium Money has helped pay down the loan and Yes there is money going into the General Fund. If Park is reading this you may add this lie Gillmor and her Tribe try to keep alive to the Litany of Lies. Remember Gillmor herself called it a Litany of Lies.
I agree with your comments. Here is a partial list from the past two years why Gillmor needs to be removed.
1. Her opposition to the Six District Election system.
2. Her support of Byron Doyle.
3. Her support of Deanna Santana.
4. Her opposition to the 49ers lawsuit settlement.
5. Her letters to our Governor requesting favors for Related Companies.
6. Her disgraceful behavior in bringing in outsiders to run as residents in our city elections (Sam Kumar, Christian Pellecchia, Bob Mezzetti).
7. Her associates and their phony Civil Grand Jury report.
8. Her condemnation from the trade union consortium (BCTC).
9. Her lack of support from the local news media: Mercury News, Weekly, SVV.
10. Her formal reprimand and censure from our Council regarding the Kevin Park incident at the Public Diversity Meeting.
11. Her pending reprimand and censure from our Council regarding the closed session meeting with the 49ers lawsuit settlement.
@Davy - good rundown!
Two other additional costly fiascos: (12) Measure “C”, (13) 10pm Stadium Curfew.
Agreed, SCMale. The longer the childish shenanigans go on the more people won't want to engage with their local government, it needs to end. Get rid of Gillmor next week and Watanabe likely won't stick around through 2024.
Electing Anthony Becker mayor is no way to get rid of childish shenanigans. Four years after he was brought onto the scene by Patty Mahan and John McLemore and Becker still cannot stop himself from being preoccupied with what Robert Haugh writes on what is obviously a partisan website as svvoice.com is as well. His partner
And Kevin Park similarly cannot get Kirk Vartan out of his head and does not have the presence of mind to not waste the time of the public and the council with his emotional need to argue with Vartan during a council meeting.
Watanabe is scarcely better with her inability to ignore what she thought was Park aggravating her while she was speaking.
At least Gillmor silently takes the attacks from public commenters and even thanks them for participating and keeps the meeting moving.
Becker is a ridiculous figure and would be an embarrassment as a mayor. Calling for the press to cover his ridiculous claims that Burt Field has incited death threats against him because he wrote a poorly considered by innocuous analogy in a comment on Haugh's blog. And painting Haugh as a homophobe because a couple comments out of thousands made by other people contained homophobic or possibly homophobic sentiments. Demanding that Gillmor denounce Haugh for this nothing of a claim. And even calling in political favors to get LGBTQIA+ groups and several local gay politicians to cosign the ridiculous demand upon Gillmor.
Public records requests show that Becker and Jain have still recently been trading text messages and emails obsessing over Haugh and Vartan and Rowen and others like gossipy schoolchildren. I can hardly believe that they are so compulsive about doing this despite knowing that Rowen will file public records requests to make their childish gossiping public.
Jain at least seems to be able to keep this childish behavior behind the scenes. Chahal and Hardy seem to refrain from it entirely and let their voting do their talking.
I would not be surprised if Gillmor is cold toward other councilmembers. There are good reasons for that but I can see how she seems to have accumulated opponents over the years and there must be reasons for that. But at least she mostly keeps council meetings on track and tries to keep the bickering private or conducted through proxies.
If Becker were to wield the gavel every council meeting will end up being an occasion for him to air his petty and imagined grievances. A petty part of me does not mind Becker becoming mayor because then the four who would have helped him become mayor will have to deal with his petty nature unrestrained.
Unfortunately, the ballot doesn't offer a check boxes for Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Albert Einstein. Becker isn't one of the county's most polished politicians but I think his personality can be tamed by the others if Gillmor is ejected. Gillmor has been the nucleus of constant fighting and backroom dealing for decades persistently fighting with Santa Clarans who have tried to represent their fellow residents. With Becker there is a chance all this bickering subsides a bit; with Gillmor there is no chance. Vote for Becker and let's try to move forward to greener pastures.
CSC,
I think it does not make sense to accuse Gillmor of being responsible for too many bad things while also being unable to get along with others. The only way that a councilperson or mayor in Santa Clara can do anything is to get along with others at least enough to form a majority coalition on the city council.
I think if Becker wins the settling down of bickering will be due to Watanabe being the only one left who has not given up on something as basic as getting full detailed financial information to be able to truly audit the Forty Niners stadium management. And to simply trust that they are managing the stadium honestly when we have every reason to believe they are not.
Nobody is asking for a Nobel prize winner as a choice for mayor. I do require some basic level of professional or practical experience and knowledge that Becker falls very short of. There is dignity in all work but going from merchandising at a Target store to being mayor of a city is not a natural progression and being a city councilperson for two years does not change that.
I also require some basic level of maturity and ability to control emotions to behave with decorum and Becker is a complete failure in that regard. He would be an embarrassment to the city with his petty preoccupations and penchant for being wildly overdramatic in portraying himself as a victim. He in fact already has been.
And it is simply wrong and unacceptable for city councilpeople to have dozens of private meetings with only a corporate special interest and political allies without even nonpolitical and much more professional and knowledgeable city staff in attendance. And doubly so when that corporate special interest will spend $8,000,000 in two years on politically promoting these councilpeople.
You obviously are intelligent and knowledgeable about the city. I do not imagine that you have anything but the city's best interests at heart. I would be very interested in understanding how you rationalize a total lack of transparency and massive suggestion of improper influence of money that I do not believe that you would rationalize away if it were being driven by Gillmor.
Buchser,
I’ve listed 13 items above that Lisa is associated with that were a determent to our City. Now this is only within the past 2 years. If I could go back 10 years further that list would likely increase by dozens more. Lisa has been a terrible Mayor. Our City does not need or want another 4 more years of her representing us. I recall a comment from “District 6 Resident” which ask, “What has Becker done for us?” I could ask the same question, “What has Lisa Gillmor done for us?” Why should we keep her in office? Why should we reward incompetence?
As for our Council Members meeting with the 49ers, I’ve offered my explanation many times to you before. They felt the need to understand the 49ers lawsuit, and they were not getting the answers from Santana and Gillmor. They saw the problem. As our elected officers, they took it upon themselves to understand it. Well, through their efforts, a session was held with the 49ers and our Council and a settlement reached. Mission Accomplished. I do not see that as being “unacceptable and wrong”. To my mind, they all deserve a blessing.
CSC,
A very nice reply to Mr. Buchser. I could not have possibly responded as well as you did.
@ Buchser Alum - starting a new comment as replies are getting vertically compressed.
.
I agree that 100% of the blame can’t be put solely on Gillmor’s shoulders, but being the one constant of bickering among multiple changes of seats does in fact leave Gillmor as the common denominator in all of it. There is so much white noise coming from internal political battles and animosity it’s hard to actually see who’s advocating for real transparency, accountability, and integrity but I am certain the City of Santa Clara is a long way from wholly achieving all three without wiping the slate clean. Once we’re able to see through the noise, we can start hammering away at anyone who stands in the way of those three principles.
.
We look for credentials in every vocation. No one would have ever thought a reality star could become President of the United States or a restaurateur the Governor of California but here we are. Becker may not have been born with a silver spoon and familial connections to the city’s old guard but in America that should never be a barrier to opportunity.
.
Outside money has always been a challenge in politics. The POA-PAC and Related Companies influence only got its feathers ruffled when other Independent Expenditure Committees with deeper pockets challenged their leverage. It would be nice to see only Santa Clarans and Santa Clara headquartered companies supporting candidates but it is naive to expect that. The idea of SCPOA supporting a candidate for a return of overgenerous financial benefits is no better than Jed York supporting a candidate for a return on business favors, if either is the case.
.
In this entire thread with Buchser Alum, SCMale, and Davy L, I sense a genuine desire from all to see a city council free of infighting, adhering to unwavering integrity, and adopting a policy of universal transparency. It's also apparent that none of us believe either candidate - Gillmor or Becker - is prototypical, which is fine. Although Nobel Prize Winner Albert Einstein is misattributed as saying this, it’s still a good perspective: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Gillmor has been at the center of the same bickering for more than two decades, let's not vote for this insanity again. Vote for Becker and let's envision better outcomes starting November 9.
CSC,
Good idea to start a new comment. It seems that the Silicon Valley Voice's commenting system could use some improvement. The compression seems unavoidable but I do not understand why words are cut off in the middle and it is so hard to see separate paragraphs as separate paragraphs.
.
I think that it is too simplistic to attribute council strife to Gillmor. While it may not usually escalate to what we have seen here in Santa Cl ara there is a reason why "small town politics" is an oft used phrase. Santa Clara has had a bickering council for as long as I can remember for decades. Gillmor was not in council for a decade between her first eight years on council and her second term that led to her being mayor. And she was appointed mayor in 2016 to replace Matthews by a council that otherwise was deeply divided. You could easily say that Patty Mahan was the common denominator of strife for many years. Why is Gillmor the cause when after a dozen years on council she was appointed to be mayor unanimously by council including even by longtime opponent Dom Caserta? The real change to the tenor of the council came with acting tougher toward the Forty Niners and especially the election of Anthony Becker to council and two others with unprecedented financial support by the Forty Niners. We disagree in our views on this I know but my point is that there are two sides to this and both sides are subjective.
.
The SCPOA and firemen could not spend money on campaigns expecting quid pro quo compensation if that is what their raises are "obviously" about because Gillmor cannot deliver anything that the majority bloc does not vote for. And the proposed raises are many times the size of their paltry campaign spending of less than $15,000. Comparing Forty Niners spending to that or even the larger amount by Related cannot be done. And if you think SCPOA or developer spending was wrong before then you must think Forty Niner spending is many times more wrong now otherwise you are not being consistent in your principles. I agree with you that outsider spending was an issue before but compared to the issue raised by massive Forty Niner spending it was a relatively irrelevant issue. You and I are speaking reasonably and honestly and I wish intelligent and sincere Gillmor opponents would not so readily dismiss the massive problem of Forty Niner campaign spending. We have never before in our history seen a political force like the Forty Niners.
.
And let us please not pretend that requiring substantial experience and expertise in our leaders equates to having a silver spoon in their mouths when born or having a rich family. I do not object to the qualifications of the rest of the council. Hardy and Chahal I assume were not born with silver spoons in their mouths but have real professional careers and many years of community involvement prior to being elected to council. Becker is a dilettante in over his head and the only reason he has a chance of becoming mayor is $2,500,000 in Forty Niner spending.
.
I must believe that you winced at all the catty private gossip conversations that have surfaced between Becker and Jain and Caserta. There is a reason why you have not seen this from Gillmor and Watanabe and Chahal and Hardy and Park. Becker is the "common denominator" there acting like a schoolchild talking behind a rival classmate with his friends. And on official city phone and email no less. What an embarrassment. I cannot accept such a person serving as even the figurehead leader of our city.
.
We do not need to vote out Gillmor to strip her of power. She has not had power for two years and that is why our litigation to seize financial transparency and maybe management control over the stadium we own was ended. That is why Santana and Doyle could be fired. That is why this council refused to publicly explain their reasons for settling now with the Forty Niners. So your rationale about not repeating what we have been doing actually is backward. Voting for Becker is doubling down on the direction set for the city the past two years.
Buchser,
We need to vote out Gillmor, not to strip her “out of power”, but to state clearly to her that we shall not reward her failures, back-hall dealings, and incompetence with another 4 years of representing our City’s highest officer.
We disagree on candidate of choice. We agree your new adopted formatting style is much easier to read. ;)
.
My votes are cast, you and Davy L. have a good time ... we'll return on Nov. 9th to see how the count went.
CSC,
Thank you for reminding me about the use of punctuation to ameliorate this site's commenting system's formatting problems.
.
In case you are open to taking this at face value I do not comment here or engage in debates here for the sake of arguing or even to push my beliefs or convince anyone that I am right about something. Often times I am commenting because I feel the published article is biased or inaccurate and I want to add something to it with my comment. Other times I am doing the same thing with regard to someone else's comment.
.
In the few times that you and I have gone back and forth I have tried to have sincere conversation. I am interested in your opinions and that is why in my long response above I even ask you some questions. So I wish you would continue the conversation but it seems you would prefer not to and I respect that as your choice.
.
I think it is a shame that we do not really have a public forum to have good conversation and debate about our city's issues. This publication and Robert Haugh's websites are both highly partisan and their partisan positions are mirrored by their own petty personal squabbling. It is a shame but I suppose not surprising that our local media landscape mirrors our local political one in its penchant for petty bickering. I hope at least that some of us individual citizens can do better as commenters and while I disagree with your positions I do appreciate and value your contributions to conversations.
Buchser,
Unfortunately, you are guilty of your own complaints.
You're very quick to make false accusations.
Allow me to list just a few of them:
---
Attacking on SVV for wrongly deleting Vartan’s link.
Accusing me of working for 49ers.
Accusing me of being a friend of Becker.
Accusing me of “hating” Gillmor.
Accusing me of being a “big” supporter of Becker.
Accusing our city of becoming a 49ers company town.
Accusing the Weekly/SVV of being funded by the 49ers.
Accusing our Council for circumventing the “Brown Act”.
Accusing our Council of supporting the 49ers due to their monetary support.
Accusing the SVV of supplying photo to 49ers.
Accusing Chahal of supplying photo to 49ers.
Accusing 49ers for the firing of Doyle and Santana.
Accusing me of lying when I stated no one has knock on my doors for Becker.
Accusing me of lying when I stated I have not seen any 49ers TV commercials.
Here are a few more:
Accusing 49ers of lying by stating two Grand Jury members recus themselves.
Accusing 49ers for the stadium revenues not matching initial projections.
Demanding the 49ers open their books to the public.
---
Perhaps Mr Buchser needs to take some “ethics” classes from Tom Shanks.
Buchser,
After Nov 9th, the squabbling shall stop.
Would you be surprised to hear that the mayor of Santa Clara supports a hateful blogger who has been lying about the mayor's perceived enemies for many years?
She tries to separate herself from this person but the truth is she is very close to him. I hear that she feeds him a lot of info so that the hateful blogger haugh can say the things that the mayor can not be caught saying.
Would you be surprised that, at the instruction of the mayor this haugh person harassed one of the council member's employers so many times that the council member was fired from their job?
Would you be surprised that, at the instruction of the mayor around the same time this haugh person harassed another one of the council member's employers, and told them lies, so many times that the council member was let go from that job, as well?
Both are true stories. Now it seems that the mayor is becoming so desperate that she is instructing this blogger to further harass & lie about this council member. Nothing new for her & her friend the blogger. She is also desperate enough to have been seen walking the streets recently LOL Maybe she shouldn't have tried to undercut her constituents' pay checks with her letter to Newsom favoring her big $ tfg donor instead of hard working people in her own city.
Do you really want a dishonest, underhanded person like this running your city any longer?
Wow! I never liked Mayor Gillmor, but this is really nasty stuff. She appears to have had a lot of influence in our City. Hopefully, after this election, she will quietly and gracefully disappear. Our City doesn’t really need this type of person representing us. But who is this person, Haugh? Why does he receive so much attention?
Would you be surprised to hear that at the SC wine & arts festival the mayor's good friend, Teresa O'Neil, told my cousin that Karen Hardy is a racist? My cousin came to me with the story immediately afterward. We were both stunned, but I guess that I shouldn't really be surprised. There is no low that the mayor and her friends won't stoop to.
This is just another “strike” against Gillmor and her team. In fact, it’s the final “strike”, the game is over, and mighty Gillmor has just struck out.
Would you be surprised to hear how the mayor had her friend Kathy Watanabe convince Dan Winters that it would be in his best interest not to run for police chief? Since he did not want to put his family & himself through what Watanabe must have described, Nikolai ran unopposed. He could very possibly now be beholden to the mayor. How many people does this woman need in her pocket? The police chief, the city manager, the city attorney, anyone else? Thank goodness they are being whittled down.
I'm always quite entertained at the motley crew that the mayor has come stand at the podium to literally read off their complaints, or call in, about her perceived enemies on the council. The mayor & her crew are so transparent.
Very interesting. I’ve never did like Lisa Gillmor, but my impression of Kathy Watanabe was more or less neutral. After reading your comments, I’ve changed my mind. I strongly regard her now, as someone who seriously needs to be removed and replaced from our Council. Thanks for the information.