Former Gilroy mayor and current Santa Clara County Supervisor
Don Gage will run for mayor in 2012, or perhaps earlier if a
burgeoning recall effort against Mayor Al Pinheiro pans out.
Former Gilroy mayor and current Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage will run for mayor in 2012, or perhaps earlier if a burgeoning recall effort against Mayor Al Pinheiro pans out.
Citing what he described as the council’s continual and childish infighting, Gage said he wanted to return to his hometown political scene after more than a decade in San Jose to help coalesce the council.
“What’s happening right now makes me sick. It’s disgusting,” Gage said of the council’s ongoing squabbles – often prodded by outsiders – and the glacial pace with which the body struggles through budgetary and growth issues. All of this affects morale at City Hall and sets a bad example, he said.
“Morale at the city sucks, and everyone on the council, like anyone else, has personal problems, but they’re not working as a team,” Gage said. “All that does is make people pissed off at the politicians and then they don’t vote. This has got to stop.”
Back in the 1980s and early ’90s, when the city was half its current size, Gage served as a councilman and then mayor from 1991 until 1997, when voters elected him to represent Almaden Valley, Santa Teresa, Blossom Valley, Gilroy, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill and San Martin on the county level. While on the council, the former accountant – who grew up on a small farm outside of town and still lives here with his wife – was known for advocating law enforcement and youth programs. Those two issues are again hot topics among residents thanks to layoffs at City Hall and a generally stressed police department dealing with an increase in violent crime.
“But back then, everyone acted like adults, and there was no whining or crying on the council,” Gage said.
In what some see as a head start, Gage, 64, recently announced plans to relocate some abandoned county trailers down to Gilroy to re-open the shuttered youth center he helped create as a councilman. Former Gov. Pete Wilson eventually honored Gage for his role in the center at Sixth and Railroad streets, but the city closed it down last year because the building is not up to state earthquake codes. A temporary site exists in the Senior Center near Sixth and Hanna streets.
A political earthquake is beginning to stir in Gilroy now thanks to local conservative activist Mark Zappa, who has launched a recall effort against Mayor Pinheiro. If voters recall Pinheiro before his term ends in 2012, the city charter requires the council appoint a successor until voters can elect a permanent replacement in the next available election.
There has never been a successful recall in Gilroy, but Zappa – who was involved in a successful recall 10 years ago in Morgan Hill – enjoys tacit support from a unanimous police union that recently criticized the mayor in a mailer to residents. Although a divided 56-member Gilroy Police Officers Association approved contract concessions last month with the council to save $1.1 million through furloughs and other cuts, both Zappa and the POA have fingered Pinheiro as belligerent toward police and ignorant of public safety issues.
Pinheiro – who said Gage has consistently “proven to the community how much he loves Gilroy” – called the recall effort a “sad day for Gilroy” and labeled criticism from Zappa and the POA as personal and political attacks lacking merit. Once voters fully understand the magnitude of the city’s finances and the council’s desire to maintain services, Pinheiro said voters – 54 percent of whom elected him in 2007 – would vindicate him in any recall vote. Forcing a vote requires 1,800 signatures, which Zappa said he was gathering Monday.
As for his thoughts on Gage, Zappa said he’d have to talk to the Republican first and ask him what his ideas for Gilroy are.
“I haven’t agreed with all the stuff he’s done,” Zappa said, referring to tax issues he did not go into full detail about. “He’s a nice guy, and I’ve known him for a long time, but I would like to see what he stands for now.”
