The Dispatch editorial board endorses Al Pinheiro for mayor
Endorsing Al Pinheiro for mayor after his volatile first term, came down to making an optimistic choice. We believe he can, and will, do better.
Pinheiro has made serious missteps as the city’s leader on policy. He tripped on the sidewalk liability issue and fell down when he accepted a policy calling for top-tier city employees to always earn 15 percent more than their subordinates and 10 percent more than the average pay given to their counterparts in nearby cities.
Yet, we still believe Pinheiro can be mayoral timber, a leader who cannot only lead a charge to positively transform downtown – and he has done that – but also one who will insist that the doors of government be open to the public despite the whisperings of city attorneys.
The winds of change are blowing through City Hall. A new city administrator will replace the powerful and controlling Jay Baksa in the coming year, and the city will also have a new police chief. Our hope is that residents also breathe fresh air into the City Council Chambers with the election of Perry Woodward, Bob Dillon and Cat Tucker in the Nov. 6 election. That would immediately alter the dynamic in the Council chambers and would force both Pinheiro and his challenger, current Councilman Craig Gartman, to work in a new environment.
In endorsing Pinheiro, we also give weight to a need for a healthy measure of leadership continuity. With so many changes swirling around the city, someone with knowledge and capability is essential. If Pinheiro can use his considerable listening and coalition-building skills while still following his gut instincts on issues, Gilroy will be well served by a second term.
His energy and focus have made a real difference downtown – brick by brick and, dare we say, water pipe by water pipe, the area has improved. This should remain a focus for the next four years, but hammering out a joint compact with the school district so that school facility needs are inexorably intertwined with future housing development should be atop the agenda.
As a leader, Pinheiro must shed his provincial skin and acknowledge that the city’s top dog is also the most powerful ally the school district can have. This is not to say that the school district’s every whim should be fulfilled, but that City Hall’s energy should be focused on helping to solve the looming school facility crisis.
In addressing the challenger, Councilman Gartman, there are numerous important issues that the Dispatch editorial board has wholeheartedly agreed with him on. Gartman’s voice, in that it is often the lone dissent, is important. And since he is running from a “safe” Council seat with two years left on his term, that voice will not be lost.
The knock on Gartman, that he is manipulative and has difficulty “playing with others,” is to a certain extent manufactured and overblown within the context of a sharp campaign. Yet those concerns linger and we welcome two more years to measure his actions as a councilman – preferably with new colleagues.
It is not easy to be the lone wolf, without the pack to protect you. Give Gartman credit for standing up and for mounting a considerable battle. At the same time, his pro-binding arbitration stance for public safety employees is misguided and smacks of pandering for union votes.
Pinheiro’s stance against it will cost him votes, and yet it’s the right position for the city. Gilroy, and public agencies in general, cannot continue to afford the salary and benefit increases that fire and police unions continue to demand.
In the end, it’s our judgment that Pinheiro’s heart is in the right place, that he honestly wants to do what’s best for Gilroy and that in a second term he will cast away the shackles that hindered him and succeed in becoming a mayor who has earned the respect and trust of residents.
