Free Republic

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales should resign. He repeatedly has violated the city charter. He has spent the last year trying to dodge responsibility and berating his critics. And now he has issued a pathetic apology stressing his lofty goals more than his improper behavior. His credibility, already damaged, is now so tarnished that he cannot lead the city. ... Gonzales and his top aide, Joe Guerra, cooked up a deal to pay garbage hauler Norcal more money to cover recycling-worker wages, then got council members to pass a rate hike to cover the cost without telling them what the...

An independent investigator has found that the mayor of San Jose and his top budget aide misled the public and the city council and treated council procedure as a ``mere formality'' when the two men sought to help Norcal Waste Systems get reimbursed for labor costs in excess of its bid. The report by investigator Chris Scott Graham said that Mayor Ron Gonzales and his aide Joe Guerra ``at the very least'' appear to have violated city policies calling for independence and impartiality, and acted in ways that ``were not consistent with the structure of government as set forth in...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his chief policy aide acknowledged this week that they privately agreed in the fall of 2000 to support a future pay increase for recycling workers -- a move that hid the true cost of the city's garbage contract from the city council, the public and competing companies. Through a spokesman, Gonzales on Thursday said he learned months before the city council approved an 11-year agreement with Norcal Waste Systems that there would be additional costs associated with the $250 million deal. However, Gonzales said he did not know the exact amount of those costs....

SAN JOSE - Like many of its competitors in the waste management business, the trash-hauling company at the center of a developing San Jose city hall scandal is no stranger to political controversy and legal disputes. Norcal Waste Systems, which traces its origins to the aftermath of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, is a $420 million company with subsidiaries involved in trash-hauling, recycling and landfill operations around the state. --snip-- ''Norcal is a big player in small markets,'' said Kyle Rhorer, a management consultant who advises waste companies. In the current flap, a Santa Clara County civil grand jury has...

Three weeks ago, San Jose's city council got its latest big-ticket surprise from Mayor Ron Gonzales -- this time, an additional $11.7 million he said was needed for the city's garbage hauler to pay higher labor costs the company didn't expect when it submitted its low bid. Here's what Gonzales didn't tell his colleagues. In order to keep the contract with eventual winner Norcal on track, the mayor's office offered Norcal assurances of his support for higher compensation than the contract would call for. This promise was made not years later, as the mayor has said, but before the council...

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The tiny New Zealand mud snail is threatening Northern California's trout streams, officials say.</p> <p>The mollusk, which seldom exceeds 5 millimeters in length, can reach concentrations of 700,000 per square meter and can strip entire river systems of algae.</p>

Chapter Meeting The most important thing we can do right now is to help Bill Simon get elected governor! All other issues pale by comparison. I can't stomach four more years of "Gay" Davis, can you?! Please come join us to strategize!! NorCal-Capitol Area Chapter Meeting this Friday! September 6th - 7p.m. 1020 19th St. (19th & K), Suite 100, Sacramento. Yahoo!! For victory & freedom!!! Saundra Duffy (I'm head of the Fresno/Central Valley Chapter but sort of a honorary member of the NorCal Chapter, too)