The clock’s ticking on lame duck San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s final term, which ends in 2022, 16 years after he first became a councilman.
District 6 Councilperson Dev Davis, groomed as the next business-friendly mayoral hope, made business leaders think twice after her “anemic” 2020 re-election bid.
Now, newly elected Councilman Matt Mahan has emerged as the bright star amongst the non-Labor aligned. Mahan acknowledged he’s been “getting a lot of outreach lately,” but insisted he’s focused on his job as District 10 rep for now.
Davis confirms she’s considering running and says she’s “60 to 70%” in.
On the labor side, downtown Councilman Raul Peralez is already 110% of the way there. His mentor, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who served on the council from 1998 to 2006, could shade his run, however. She was trounced in her previous bid for the job by Chuck Reed in a scandal-plagued era that included a $4 million subsidy to the San Jose Grand Prix auto race that Chavez sprang on fellow councilmembers. That prompted San Jose to pass sunshine laws requiring councilmembers to timely agendize matters.
Chavez hopes Peralez will duck out, according to our spies, who say she approached the downtown councilman about delaying his bid.
Peralez clammed up on whether Chavez tried to muscle him out but noted Chavez has been seeking endorsements.
Despite any official news, Camp Chavez’s toe-in-the-water has prompted loose talk of launching an ABC “Anyone But Cindy” campaign to oppose her candidacy.
Peralez said he also expects to face off against former District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, who termed out in 2016. The planning commissioner declined comment. His candidacy would be bad news for Davis, since both share the same Willow Glen base.
I for one hope Mr. Peralez runs and wins on a platform of:
1) Repealing Costa Hawkins and Ellis Act (not sure how he can make it happen, but signaling will be enough) complete his trilogy of the repudiation of property rights
2) Cancelling Rent
3) Forced relocation of whiteness out of affluent areas
4) Replacement of all small business with Google and other TOD boutique shops
5) Defunding of Police and redirection of surplus funds to Critical Race Theory based Ethnics Studies along with cancelling racist science and math graduation requirements.
6) City Corporate Tax
The public trough is always crowded.
Sharpen your elbows, aspirants.
I hope the next mayor runs on a platform of addressing the rise in violence and homelessness. This catch and release of felons isn’t working and we deserve safer streets in San Jose to justify the sky high cost of living. I also hope the next mayor is Pro Union and creates an environment for well paying Union jobs on the Bay Area to help our families have hope amid a rising cost of living
Definitely not Chavez. She just raises taxes and hurts our economy in San Jose more. Pay attention this woman is not for our city but her own political platform.
“The clock’s ticking on lame duck San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s final term, which ends in 2022, 16 years after he first became a councilman.”
Let’s look back at all the accomplishments during Sam’s tenure.
1) We lost claim to being one of the safest big cities in America.
2) Booming homelessness with piles of trash everywhere, people screaming and wandering aimlessly in the streets. Fires burning along all the creeks and rivers daily creating scenes eerily similar to scenes from the movie “Escape from New York”.
Sam’s solutions: #1 Camping trailers parked at Happy Hollow (the amusement park for our young children). That flopped out after 30 days when the city realized it takes hookups to make all the goodies inside the trailer operate. #2 Spend $28,000,000 to build 40 sheds to keep the homeless next to a creek that flooded not so long ago.
3) Exploding crime rates. When’s the last time you or someone you know had their car window busted out and things just taken. When it happened, what sort of response were you given by the police?
4) Graffiti, graffiti everywhere.
5) A city budget teetering on bankruptcy only temporarily propped up by printed money from the federal government.
We could go on and on but what’s the point really. Lame duck is actually being very polite by the author. Sam’s been very lucky though. He’s been paid handsomely for 16 years for what he’s accomplished. Congrats Sam.
Cindy or Raul or Davis (not sure about Mahan yet) – would be absolutely terrible decisions to become Mayor. They would drive this City further into the ground, and are frankly the opposite of what the residents need in leaders.
Raul has been, in my view, a very poor representative of District 3, where I live. And, Cindy has been a life-long politician – from the Council in San Jose to a County Supervisor – and ALL major issues facing the City and County have just gotten worse over time.
We need a Strong Mayor system, and a new leadership, desperately, in this City.
I hope the former Hon. Nora Campos runs. We, on the East Side, have missed her guidance tremendously!
>DAVID GARCIA Apr 10, 2021 @ 8:57 pm
I hope the former Hon. Nora Campos runs. We, on the East Side, have missed her guidance tremendously!
That’s the best laugh I had all day, thanks!
I think that Davis not great, but PERALEZ is a complete idiot, knows zero about economics nor about his non-latino constituents. He knows nothing about business, and has handled housing issues poorly.