JEERS: For the news that the Gilroy firefighter’s union
contributed more than $11,000 to candidates in the last two City
Council elections and, more importantly, that those figures were
masked from voters before the election due to a loophole in
campaign-reporting laws.
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
JEERS: For the news that the Gilroy firefighter’s union contributed more than $11,000 to candidates in the last two City Council elections and, more importantly, that those figures were masked from voters before the election due to a loophole in campaign-reporting laws. It’s time to change Gilroy’s laws so that voters understand when candidates like Dion Bracco and Craig Gartman receive significant contributions. Even locally, money is the mother’s milk of politics. Voters should be able to trace who’s taking a drink before they press the button in the voting booth.
CHEERS: For the news that the Gilroy School Board will consider a policy that would effectively ban teachers from not speaking in the classroom on the Day of Silence. There are better ways to support an awareness of gay and lesbian suffering,. Teachers should direct their passion for the cause in a way that will further tolerance and understanding.
CHEERS: For the new head football coach at Gilroy High School, Rich Hammond. The 26-year-old, who doubles as a math teacher, is enthusiastic by all accounts. He finished playing for San Benito High School in 1997, but if he can match the record he led Santa Clara High School to last year, 9-1, we’ll forgive him.
JEERS: For the city of Gilroy, which continues to refuse to release information about mismanagement in the Santa Teresa road-widening project. Eventually, it will all become clear, but it’s a shame the city has to hide information from its residents. Remember, councilmen, those are the residents who have had to endure the lengthy project that now has no end in sight.
CHEERS: For San Jose City Councilwoman Nancy Pyle who has, thankfully, replaced a disgraced San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales on the Coyote Valley Specific Plan Task Force. Pyle initially seems much more rational and inclusionary. Hopefully she is also less beholding to developers.
CHEERS: For the Gilroy High School basketball teams. Boys and girls play today in CCS tournament action. The boys play Milpitas High School at Independence High. Game time is 2:45pm, and the girls take on Carlmont High at Milpitas High at 4:30pm. Keep going, Mustangs, the season has been magical.
JEERS: For Gavilan College, which lost an arbitration decision to former softball coach Tim Kenworthy. What is the problem at Gavilan? The pattern is consistent in athletics. A coach is hired to build up a program, things go along swimmingly for a few years, then everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Accusations and bad feelings flow. In the end, many student-athletes look at Gavilan with a wary eye, and the college suffers for it.
3 JEERS For the nitwit or nitwits who vandalized Erin Kinkel’s memorial message, which greets Gilroy High students on the way out of the student parking lot. Have you no shame?
