Councilman Perry Woodward has the 2012 city elections earmarked,
even though the date’s two years away.
Councilman Perry Woodward has the 2012 city elections earmarked, even though the date’s two years away.
“I have been thinking about (running for mayor) for the last year,” said the fourth generation Gilroyan who is a licensed commercial pilot, avid backpacker and fly fisherman. “Mayor (Al) Pinheiro said he isn’t going to seek re-election. Without Pinheiro’s leadership, we’ll need a strong leader to take us forward. That is my reason for running.”
When informed of Woodward’s intentions to run, Pinheiro said 2012 elections haven’t crossed his mind.
“We have so much city business to take care of between now and then,” Pinheiro said over the phone Thursday. “I’m not focusing on who’s going to run … those things are so far ahead.”
Woodward explained the public filing he completed Monday and turned into City Hall. He disbanded the existing campaign committee left over from his 2007 council run. Now he’s free to form a new committee and acquire a number through the Fair Political Practices Committee in Sacramento.
When the time comes, this will allow him to get the ball rolling on fundraising and endorsements.
“Councilmember Woodward has closed his campaign committee for his Council election and opened a new committee for the mayor’s race in 2012,” explained City Clerk Shawna Freels. “The nomination period for the 2012 election won’t open until July of 2012, so he has no other process to go through to qualify for the ballot, etc., until then.”
For now, said Freels, the new campaign filing allows Woodward to fundraise and expend funds to campaign for the 2012 mayoral seat.
Pinheiro explained Woodward could choose to disband his old committee at any time.
“Woodward is a very sharp individual. He strategizes on the things that he does. Leave it to Perry to start strategizing. This is his call. He’s free to do whatever he wants to do,” said Pinheiro.
Councilwoman Cat Tucker was also surprised.
“We had a talk, and he had he said he hadn’t decided yet,” she said. “I’m sure whoever runs and gets elected will be fine. I wasn’t thinking about that at this time.”
The 42-year-old attorney has been a partner at Terra Law LLP in San Jose for the past 10 years. Prior to being elected to City Council in 2007, his public service included six years as a judge pro tem for the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
The husband and father of two daughters – one 4 years old, one 2 – earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in economics and a law degree from Santa Clara University. He met his wife, a lawyer from Palo Alto and general counsel for a high-tech company in Silicon Valley, at law school in 1995.
Woodward doesn’t remember her exact words when he told her he was considering running for mayor, but said she’s 100 percent behind it.
“I’ve been here my whole life. I want Gilroy to be as fine as a community as possible,” said the California native, who’s great, great grandparents moved to Gilroy in the 1800s and are now buried in the St. Mary’s cemetery on First Street. “I’m going to live out my years here.”
Woodward serves on the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board of Directors, representing the cities of Gilroy, Milpitas and Morgan Hill, and views his spot on the VTA board as an important assignment that contributes to his understanding of Gilroy’s needs.
“It gives us a voice in regional affairs … and everything with the management of traffic congestion in Santa Clara County,” he explained.
He said Caltrain has a number of far-reaching implications for South County, and expressed concerns for Gilroy “getting railroaded by a state agency with a lot of money and its own agenda.”
Gilroy’s regional voice is one of Woodward’s top concerns. He emphasized the city’s need for strong representation as it tends to get pushed to the back of the line as a result of being smaller than neighbors to the north.
“Lets face it – we’re a long distance from the county building … and the center of political power in this county.”
From working in San Jose, he’s noted there’s a sense of community in the Garlic Capital compared to larger cities.
“You go into a store in San Jose and it’s just different,” he said. “Here you go downtown, you see neighbors and people you know … it’s a great place.”
After he was elected to city council, Woodward said one of the accomplishments he’s been pleased with was getting an open government ordinance drafted.
“As Chair of Open Government Commission, I continue to push for transparency in all city dealings,” he said. “It’s very important to me. I’ve been a champion of transparency.”
As far as top priorities are concerned, he spoke of creating a long-term sustainable budget and dealing with obstacles such as city furlough days. Gilroy has made it through the budget crisis, he said, but that doesn’t address what’s coming in the future.
“We need to prepare ourselves for that, and take steps so Gilroy is a city that is a model for others.”
Downtown revitalization, additionally, is a short-term goal. Though the economic downturn has stalled progress, he said a goal is to wrap the job up, should he step into office.
The rule of local governments, he said, is going to be more important than ever.
“I think Perry would be a good person,” said former Councilman Craig Gartman. “I don’t think Al’s going to be running again. It sounds like Perry would be a good person to be our next mayor.”
Having worked closely with Mayor Pinheiro over the years, Woodward said he has a grip on the commitment the job requires, and anticipates 20-hour workload devoted to doing it right, on top of a day job.
“Somebody’s got to do it,” he rationed. “Given my background, I can be a strong voice regionally to chair the council in a way that moves us forward.”
