Ron Gonzales

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Ronald R. Gonzales
Ron Gonzales
63rd Mayor of San José
In office
1998 – 2006
Preceded by Susan Hammer
Succeeded by Chuck Reed
Born 1951
California
Political party Democratic
Spouse Guiselle Nunez
Profession Mayor / Politician

Ronald R. Gonzales (born 1951) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 63rd Mayor of San Jose, California. Gonzales was the first Hispanic Mayor of San Jose since California became a U.S. state in 1850.

Gonzales grew up in the Santa Clara Valley, and graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. From the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, he served in local government, first on the city council of Sunnyvale, California, including two terms as mayor, and then as a member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. After leaving the board due to term limits, Gonzales was an executive at Hewlett-Packard.

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[edit] Political Career

Gonzales served as a two-time mayor and member of the Sunnyvale City Council from 1979 to 1987. He then served for eight years (1989-1996) on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

In 1998, Gonzales was elected Mayor of San Jose, being sworn in during 1999. Early in his first term, Gonzales began new programs designed to attract young teachers to the city's schools, including home purchase assistance programs. Gonzales has also pushed for BART to extend to Downtown San Jose, and has advocated using San Jose Redevelopment Agency funds in areas outside Downtown, including the King and Story neighborhood. Gonzales had an affair with an intern, Guiselle Nunez, whom he later married.

Gonzales was reelected as mayor in the March 2002 primary election. His second, and final, term as San Jose mayor ended in 2006. On January 28, 2004, while delivering the State of the City address, Gonzales suffered a stroke. He returned to his duties on February 16 of that year. Gonzales stayed out of the race to succeed him and did not endorse or campaign for either candidate running in the November 2006 run-off election. The winner was Chuck Reed - who won a clear majority of the votes over the vice-Mayor of San Jose, Cindy Chavez.

[edit] Private Sector Experience

Gonzales worked as Program Manager for ten years at Hewlett-Packard where he led a national initiative to create partnerships with local school districts and universities.[1]

[edit] Education

[edit] Political notation

Ron Gonzales was elected the first Latino Mayor of San Jose since California's Statehood. Gonzales became one of the first Hispanic mayors of a major U.S. city in 1998, and was listed among the nation's "Most influential Hispanics". He addressed the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Mayor Gonzales launched into a speech extolling the virtues of California's famed "Silicon Valley" in general and San Jose in particular. [2]

Gonzales received the Community Impact Award in June 1999 from the Asian Law Alliance,[3] as well as the Point of Light Award, a national honor given to individuals who have made significant contributions to their community.

[edit] Censure

In June of 2005, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury issued a report stating that Gonzales and his top aide, Joe Guerra (Joseph August Guerra, III), offered secretly to pay garbage hauler Norcal for higher recycling-worker wages, then persuaded the city council to pass a rate hike covering the cost without telling them the specific purpose for the hike.[4] In December of 2005 a 46-page Initial Report of the Independent Investigator, found that Gonzales misled the public and the city council and "at the very least" violated city policies in his dealing with Norcal. The Norcal deal violated the charter's ethics provisions and other guidelines. The deal resulted in a 9 percent garbage rate increase in 2003.

On December 8, 2005, Council member Dave Cortese called for Gonzales's resignation stating that "Given the nature of these allegations – a lack of disclosure to your council colleagues, your fellow policy makers, I urge you to consider how you could possibly carry out the day-to-day duties of your office in any type of effective manner. Your every interaction with fellow elected officials and members of the private sector would come under extreme scrutiny. Social causes and public interest projects would be reluctant to seek your endorsement for concern of guilt by association." [5]

On December 9, 2005, Council member Chuck Reed filed papers to allow the city council to remove Gonzales from his office as mayor. On December 13, 2005, the San Jose City Council voted to censure Gonzales for his dealings in the garbage scandal. On January 11, 2006, the mayor resigned from several committees that he chaired. The resignations were part of an act to atone for the scandal.

On August 11, 2006, The Santa Clara County Grand Jury transcripts[1] were opened to the general public about the indictment of Ron Gonzalez, Joe Guerra & NorCal Waste Systems.

[edit] Arrest

Gonzales and his aide, Joe Guerra were indicted by a grand jury on June 22, 2006. He surrendered to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office for processing that morning and was arrested.[6] At a ceremony that night, Gonzales said he would not resign despite the council's call for his resignation. Gonzales was charged with the following crimes:

  • Penal Code 182(a)(4) Felony conspiracy to cheat and defraud
  • Penal Code 165 Felony bribery
  • Government Code 6201 Felony stealing, destroying, altering records
  • Penal Code 182(a)(1) Felony conspiracy to misappropriate public funds
  • Penal Code 424(a)(1) Felony misappropriation of public money


On June 28, 2006, the San Jose city council voted 8-3 (Gonzales, Williams, and Nguyen opposed) to pass a resolution asking Gonzales to resign. The council also voted to open the mayor's calendar and phone logs to the public and freeze his personnel budget. Gonzales said he planned to stay in office until his term ends. [7] Gonzales did complete his term as mayor as he said he would.

[edit] Civic organizations

Gonzales founded of The Role Model Program, an effort that recruits adult role models to visit local middle schools[2]. He also chairs the National League of Cities Youth, Education, and Families Council overseeing the League's policies related to the betterment of youth and families across the country[3], and was a founding board member of Downtown College Prep, Santa Clara County’s first charter high school, which focuses on the academic success of high school students from the San Jose central city area.

[edit] Critical

Ron Gonzales had an affair with then-25-year-old staffer Guisselle Nuñez who resigned and whom he later married. The city council did not censure and employee policies were reviewed.[8]

On June 12, 2000, Mayor Ron Gonzales announced his opposition to Calpine's proposed Metcalf Energy Center, a 600 megawatt power plant in South San Jose in an area known as Coyote Valley.[9] Despite his opposition, the Metcalf Energy Center was later approved by the California Energy Commission, which had the authority to override San Jose's local zoning rules.

In 2002, Mayor Ron Gonzales created the Silicon Valley Leadership PAC [10] and started collecting donations for this fund. In March of 2004 Gonzales announced he would stop collecting donations because of controversy about the fund.

Gonzales was critized for a contract with Cisco Systems after an auditor sent a memo to the mayor's office. [11]

On January 10, 2006, the San Jose city council voted 8-3 (Cortese, Reed, Yeager opposed) to approve a $4 million subsidy for the San Jose Grand Prix. Documents about the subsidy were only made public on the city's web site one day before the council meeting. [12]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Biography of Ron Gonzales" New York Times
  2. ^ "Passing the Torch" The First Session of the 43rd Democratic National Convention August 15, 2000
  3. ^ Asian Law Alliance Celebrates 22 Years ALA Newsletter June 1999
  4. ^ 2004-2005 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report
  5. ^ "San Jose councilman calls for mayor's resignation" Mercury News article December 8, 2005
  6. ^ "San Jose Mayor Indicted", KNTV-TV, June 22, 2006, url accessed June 22, 2006
  7. ^ "San Jose council in favor of Gonzales' resignation" by John Cote, San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 2006
  8. ^ "Gonzales admits to relationship with staffer" Willow Glen Resident September 13, 2000
  9. ^ "Mayor Gonzales Opposes Proposed Calpine Power Plant in South San Jose" Office of Mayor Ron Gonzales press release June 12, 2000
  10. ^ California Secretary of State Campaign Finance Information Silicon Valley Leadership PAC Filings 2001 - 2002
  11. ^ "Cisco at center of city contract controversy" CNET News.com August 4, 2004
  12. ^ "$4 million car race subsidy approved" Mercury News article January 11, 2006

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Susan Hammer		 Mayor of San Jose
1999—2006		 Succeeded by
Chuck Reed
Preceded by
Tom Legan		 Santa Clara County Supervisor, 3st District
1989—1996		 Succeeded by
Pete McHugh
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../r/o/n/Ron_Gonzales_876a.html"