Mayor Chuck Reed has nominated Madison Nguyen to be vice mayor, three weeks after she won a surprisingly close race to hold onto her District 7 council seat.
The move seems to confirm a shift of loyalties for Nguyen, a onetime ally of the South Bay Labor Council. She was the swing vote in the council’s decision to put Measures V and W on the ballot—a move SBLC vehemently opposed.
Reed’s nomination may also create a buzz at the Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber supported Nguyen’s opponent, Minh Duong, a furniture-store owner with a somewhat sketchy business history.
The press release from the mayor’s office is below:
San Jose, Calif.- Mayor Chuck Reed has nominated Councilmember Madison Nguyen to succeed Vice Mayor Judy Chirco, whose term on the City Council expires at the end of the year.
“Madison has been a strong supporter of my budget and fiscal reform initiatives,” said Mayor Chuck Reed. “I value her advice and she will be a key person in finding solutions to the serious problems we face.”
Madison Nguyen was first elected to represent District 7 on the San José City Council in 2005, becoming the first Vietnamese American to serve on the council. Councilmember Nguyen currently serves as Chairwoman of the Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee, and is a member of the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force, San Jose/Santa Clara Water Treatment Plant Advisory Committee and Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Policy Advisory Board (BART).
Prior to her election to the City Council, Councilmember Nguyen served as the President of the Franklin-McKinley Board of Education and also taught Sociology and Vietnamese American Culture at De Anza College and Evergreen Valley College.
According to the San Jose City Charter, the Vice Mayor is to be elected by the City Council at its second meeting in January, which will fall on January 25, 2011. Since Vice Mayor Chirco’s term expires December 31, 2010, Mayor Reed has designated Councilmember Nguyen to serve as Vice Mayor Pro Tempore from January 1, 2011 until January 25, 2011.
It is hoped that ALL city council members will develop life skills during their tenure on the city council.
When council members are term-limited out, they can seek a higher level of crookedness.
Or, they can join the private sector and lobby the next generation of crooks.
SJI,
I hope at some point you were going to post the results of this study showing SJPD uses force appropriately and in less than 1% of all arrests.
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16686922
Haha, Reed isn’t hiding his personal agenda and playing dirty politics with this pick is he! They both have their own personal aspirations that do not include making san jose better. And the sentence of her being on the board of public safety and the gang task force, um let me think… didn’t Chuck Reed cut the gang task force and the Fire Department cut 5 engine companies with plans to cut 3 more engines by the end of the year!! On certain emergencies during the day its not unusual to have 10-12 empty stations for more than an hour! Glad measure V past because they said it will save Fire Engines, I guess not, Chuck Reed lied to us again. And thats is a fact you don’t hear the news reporting. Seeing both of them and their decisions during their terms so far I don’t trust them one bit.
Please review this…. This will be her first act as Vice Mayor, it will be to clean up the “Team San Jose” fiasco.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_16706397?source=rss&nclick_check=1
I am not sure of the entity responsible for releasing the results of the audit on the Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, when few people are paying attention to the news. Maybe it was just coincidental timing, or maybe it was planned by Deb Figone, Chuck Reed, Pete Constant, et al, to get the least attention possible for a huge monetary loss they are directly responsible for by Team San Jose.
“Despite these problems, Team San Jose’s seven-member executive team, headed by Fenton, received tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses in fiscal year 2009-10—even though the group ultimately generated the largest net loss in its six years managing San Jose McEnery Convention Center and several downtown theaters.”
They are $750k in the hole before the year is out AND THEY GET BONUSES???!!!
Dan F. makes about $325k/year, travels a lot, eats, drinks, gets hotel rooms on the city’s dime in addition to his salary, and the “Team” has NEVER met its goals.
“One of the reports released Wednesday notes that while Team San Jose CEO Dan Fenton and some board members were aware they would not meet their budget numbers in fiscal year 2009-10, they did not know they were obligated to inform the city council.”
WHAT?!! They get all this dough from the city and they DIDN’T KNOW they had to report a $750k loss to the city?? More likely they didn’t want to report it.
Why is this degree of ineptitude allowed to continue? Why, ‘cuz it’s not any of their money. It’s just taxpayer dollars…and we wouldn’t want to ruin our “relationships” would we?
The city dept. that is supposed to keep track of this needs to be replaced, as well as Team San Jose’s management team in its entirety. They’ve had more chances than they would have had in the private sector to get it right.
I told you guys they were grooming her for Mayor. Her move to right right/center on public employee union-related matters is more evidence of the same.
http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2010/1030/20101030__chuckreed1~1_VIEWER.JPG
Madison for Mayor? I don’t know. She’s alienated so many people that she doesn’t have a solid base of support.
Her flip-floppiness shows that she’s an opportunist. I certainly want a Mayor with a little more integrity.
“Madison for Mayor? I don’t know. She’s alienated so many people that she doesn’t have a solid base of support.”
She isn’t even solidly supported in her own district, let alone city-wide.
So, Chuck makes her vice-mayor, which will help her build a city-wide presence.
JMO,
Very well said and probably true. I’m surprised that Council Member Pyle wasn’t chosen instead. She’s earned it. She’s served the longest of the Council Members left and, even though at times she wanted to explore a different way to achieve the same goal, she has supported the Mayor’s agenda,
Reed has shown no skill at being a kingmaker. “Elevating” Nguyen is unlikely to make her anything more than what she is today, a struggling councilmember representing a fractured community. Reed’s backing brings little political weight to the game. In fact, more often than not, his support has been a negative.
Nice Article. Please Read…..
http://www.mercurynews.com/scott-herhold/ci_16750980?nclick_check=1
Madison has struggled to get to where she is today. In her initial terms, she was trying to push an agenda to help the community on the east side of San Jose. Her opponent saw it otherwises and the people in the community are the biggest looser. Now she is in a better position to help the community.