Posted on 06/26/2006 2:24:56 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The embattled but defiant mayor of San Jose was arraigned Monday on public corruption charges stemming from a secretly negotiated garbage contract deal.
Mayor Ron Gonzales, 55, did not enter a plea to six felony counts in the indictment unsealed last week, including conspiracy, bribery, misappropriating public funds and falsifying records. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in prison.
Gonzales, who is in his final year as mayor of the nation's 10th largest city, made an initial appearance in Santa Clara County Superior Court before Judge Rene Navarro. He did not speak, standing next to his attorneys while they waived a formal reading of the charges. Another court appearance was scheduled for July 26.
His co-defendants, Gonzales' budget aide Joe Guerra and Norcal Waste Systems Inc. also did not enter pleas at their arraignments Monday.
The mayor is accused of pressuring Norcal into using the Teamsters union - instead of a lower-paid union - at a recycling plant. Prosecutors allege he then secretly agreed to help the trash contractor recoup the extra labor expenses at a taxpayer cost of $11.25 million.
Though Gonzales may not have personally received any gains from the agreement, prosecutors invoked a rarely used provision of state law to allege that the Norcal deal leading to the hiring of the higher paid Teamster's union constituted bribery. Under the law, a public official who solicits a bribe for himself or a third party is illegal, prosecutors said.
The indictments of Gonzales, Guerra and Norcal culminated a six-month grand jury investigation.
Guerra is charged with three counts of conspiracy and misappropriation of public funds and could get a maximum sentence of five years and eight months in prison if convicted; Norcal, charged with four counts, could face more than $100,000 in fines, plus repayment of the extra $11.25 million it got from the deal with San Jose.
The indictment said Gonzales suggested to Norcal officials that he could make the city reimburse the company, and enacted an elaborate plan to persuade the council to approve the extra payments without knowing where the money was going.
Gonzales, who was already censured by the City Council last December over the backroom deal, is now also facing mounting pressure to resign.
During a special meeting Wednesday, the council will consider a formal resignation request and a plan to strip the mayor of his power - or remove him from office - if he doesn't step down.
Gonzales became one of the first Hispanic mayors of a major U.S. city in 1998, and addressed the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
Gonzales was barred by city law from seeking a third term. His current term ends in December.
Yikes, really? I know it was too big for me at 750,000 when I left in 1978. When my family moved there in 1958 it was a pleasant, small city of 100,000. Most of the valley was covered in orchards then. The older I get, the more I like small towns.
Hey Pelosi, you be sure to get to work on that REPUBLICAN culture of corruption, okay? Because God knows, REPUBLICANS are the bad guys that take bribes, right?
It seems like every week or so there's a new RAT being frog-marched off to the pokey. I think it's a genetic thing for these RATS.
What do you think of the 2 final mayoral candidates? What did you think of the whole field of candidates?
There HAS to be a mistake. The culture of corruption only applies to Republicans. Nancy said so. It must be true. s/
I've never been in that area - but have read a few articles over the years.
That area used to be fairly Republican as I recall.
You'd think with the high-tech industry that the area would lean to the GOP in elections. But it isn't.
What's causing it? Is the influx of liberals fleeing San Fran and bringing their weirdness and liberal ideas with them?
WTFIIWSJ?
Do you really believe that the story would be so bereft of any mention of the mayor's party, if he were a Republican? Neither the headline nor the body says he is a Democrat. Only in the final words does the story note that he addressed the Democratic convention, allowing the correct, belated inference.
If he were a Republican, this paper would have so informed us either in the headline, the first two 'grafs, or in both.
I'm biased, Chuck Reed all the way, he's our councilman,
no Cindy Chavez no way,
Pandori and Cortese would have been my next picks
We get the liberal academic types down here. Think Stanford, Steve Jobs, types.
You like Chuck Reed. Good. I can't stand Cindy Chavez.
I talked to Pandori's mother-in-law, and I liked some of his platform. Mainly he's pro-slow growth and so am I. However, I think he would be fairly liberal in other areas.
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LOL!
No, liberals generally go TO San Francisco, not away from it! Though as Thomas Sowell has documented, the insane cost of living in SF and on the SF peninsula puts those areas out of reach for many, particularly black Americans. San Jose is just to the south of that area.
San Jose has always been heavily hispanic, with (in my day) a large percentage of blacks, too. Waves of Vietnamese and Cambodian and Laotian boat people in the late 70s probably reinforced the trend toward liberalism.
California was a Republican state into the 1960s, but those days are long gone.
This is not Janet Gray's san jose anymore sadly,, more like Dionne Warwicks San Jose on crack.. lol
We''l can only hope that the tide continues to raise Chuck to the top. I think some folks were surprised at the vote in the run off.. not all of those who lost will vote Cindy , she's been the right hand of Ron, time to cut her free.
But as the hydraulics on his truck decided to go haywire right then, instead of an answer I got a front yard full of garbage.
Feh.
This guy and South Gate CA. are examples.
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