A new year. A new City Council. Same old shenanigans from Mayor Gillmor and her thinning list of supporters.
You may recall that Mayor Lisa Gillmor meticulously eliminated many long-term City employees when she took office in 2016. Any employee that could or would question her agenda was ousted from the City payroll.
Replacement employees were recruited who would loyally support Mayor Gillmor. This one-lane thinking has left a vacuum of intellect, integrity, and objective decisions. Take for example Santa Clara City Attorney Brian Doyle. His behavior and legal opinions border on the schizophrenic. At Council meetings one minute he represents the City, providing legal advice, and minutes later he leaves the dais and speaks at the public microphone claiming to now be a resident offering his opinion. Really?!
His “legal counsel,” or lack thereof, has cost Santa Clara millions. Just look at the current case of the California Voting Rights Act lawsuit.
A $4 million award by the court already decided that Santa Clara was negligent in not creating voting districts. The defeat of Measure C by the residents last March reinforced that position. Yet, he and the Mayor spent a trunkful of cash in legal fees, which the City does not have, to appeal the court’s decision. Doyle stated: “I think we can win this case.” And if he believed that idea, he probably also believes in the Easter Bunny.
No one…that is, like, NONE, has ever won a case against the CVRA and attorney Robert Rubin.
You guessed it. Doyle and the City lost the appeal, as disclosed on www.SvVoice.com on December 30, 2020.
This is the kind of futile, fictitious, and fatal thinking that Santa Clara has from an attorney that’s supposed to be representing the City’s interests. Oh…that’s right. He supports Mayor Gillmor and that seems to be the qualifier.
Santa Clara deserves genuinely qualified, experienced, and objective legal counsel. This retired civil service attorney must be returned to pasture.
Even worse is the collaboration of the Mayor, City Attorney and prior Council Members. They ignored three warning letters from Rubin to form voting districts or he would sue Santa Clara.
Where was the City Attorney? Waiting for direction from the Mayor and her cohorts who did NOTHING. Nor did attorney Doyle. The Mayor, former Council and City Attorney, sat on their hands, which has now cost City taxpayers millions!
Santa Clara residents had enough and acted; voting out an incumbent and voting in three new Council Members to restore optimism and sensible decisions. The new Council is loaded with fresh thoughts, diversity, ingenuity, and enthusiasm to direct Santa Clara.
They need to make timely and important decisions like replacing Doyle. This new Council deserves objective, precise, and correct legal advice. Tax-paying voters of Santa Clara elected this new Council to clean house, restore order, balance the budget, and make decisions beneficial to all citizens.
Mayor Gillmor may not cooperate quietly. Several City employees are considered by her to be her personal employees…including attorney Doyle.
It may take a Council meeting or two for the Mayor to realize she no longer has carte blanche to ignore the will of Santa Clara residents by burning through taxpayer cash.
Couldn’t happen soon enough.
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With the recent news of the city attorney not notifying the council immediately following a CVRA settlement offer coming in, Brian Doyle should be shown the door. If the mayor and current council does not ask for his immediate resignation, a complete overhaul of all council members and the city manager would be justified.