Following Friday’s surprise news that Gilroy City Councilman Peter Arellano is exploring the possibility of joining the 2012 mayoral race, Don Gage, Santa Clara Valley Water District director and former Gilroy mayor said he’s thinking about dropping his name into the pool of candidates.
Why? The commute would be infinitely better, for starters.
“It takes four gallons of gas in my truck,” joked Gage, a Garlic Capital native who drives 58 miles roundtrip several days a week between his Gilroy home and Water District headquarters in San Jose.
On a more serious note, Gage said he’s giving the bid for mayor “consideration” because “I’ve been watching all the shenanigans that have been going on, and have been getting a little sick about it. I’ve had enough of it.”
There has been too much “bickering” and “digging into everybody’s past” among City Council members as of late, Gage said. Couple that with people asking him to run for mayor and the prospect of returning to work in his hometown, Gage – who told the Dispatch last week he did not intend to run for mayor – might be having a change of heart.
Being as Gage would have to resign from his position at the Water District (he cannot hold both offices at once) Gage also reiterated he is not attempting to leverage a salary bump at his current job.
The window to file papers with the city for mayoral candidacy is in August. Gage said he would need to have his mind made up by June at the very latest.
“I’m keeping all my options open,” he said Monday. “I was born in this community and I hate to see stuff that’s going on continue…[City Council] has been bickering for a long time, and they don’t get anything done.”
Gage worked at IBM for 30 years beginning in 1967. He was elected to Gilroy City Council in 1981, and later served as mayor from 1991 to 1997. In 1997, he was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors representing District 1 which includes Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. He was then elected to the board of directors for the Santa Clara Valley Water District in November 2010; his term ends in 2014.
