The first order of business for the new San Jose City Council when it convenes in January should be reversing Monday’s decision to appoint councilmembers to two vacant seats rather than letting voters decide.
At stake is the political direction of the Bay Area’s largest city for at least the next two years. Districts 8 and 10 together represent roughly 200,000 residents. The voters there should decide who fills the two seats — not a handful of councilmembers seeking to push a labor-driven agenda.
Let’s be clear. This isn’t about saving taxpayer money. There should be no price tag on democracy. This is all about whether labor has the votes to thwart newly elected Mayor Matt Mahan’s priorities.
District 8 and District 10 voters already gave an indication of their intent when they backed Mahan over labor-stalwart Cindy Chavez in the mayor’s race. Hundreds of residents also made their desire for a special election known Monday when they packed the City Council chambers demanding an election.
The council consists of the mayor and 10 members elected by district. Two of the district seats will be vacant because Mahan will give up his to become mayor, and Sylvia Arenas has been elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
The new council — minus the two vacant positions — will consist of five labor-backed members. If the new council appoints a labor-backed candidate to fill even one of the vacant seats, it would give labor control of the council for the next two years.
If that’s what the voters want, so be it. But that should be the voters’ decision. For labor members from outside the two council districts to force their choices on the residents there is outrageous.
If the new council is concerned about District 8 and District 10 residents not having representation on the council until a special election could be held, the council could appoint interim members who would serve until the election is held and who would agree not to run for office.
The last five times the City Council faced this issue it opted for letting voters decide. In the latest example, in 2015, the council opted for a special election following the resignation of former District 4 Councilmember Kansen Chu, who was elected to the state Assembly in 2014. The council appointed Margie Matthews in January 2015 to serve in an interim role in District 4 until Manh Nguyen won election on June 23.
The council took similar approaches in 2007, 2005, 2001 and 1995.
The last time the City Council appointed someone to fill a vacant seat was in 1994, when Councilmember Kathy Cole was recalled. The council chose Alice Woody to serve out the term until 1997. But the council only made that choice because the city charter required that the council fill the opening rather than hold a special election.
The City Council unanimously agreed that the charter should be changed to make elections an option, arguing that voters should make these choices. We agreed, saying a charter revision should be proposed for the November 1994 ballot and that “voters would be crazy not to approve it.” San Jose voters did just that, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin.
The concept is simple. Let the voters decide. Any other approach is undemocratic.
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.