Sexism was on full display Monday night as the male members of the West Valley-Mission Community College (WVMCC) Board appointed another man, Steve Landau, instead of a more qualified woman, Randi Kinman. Kinman was the only applicant for the open seat on the Board who had experience in the Community College arena, having served for twenty years as a Community College community liaison. But qualifications were not to interfere with the WVMCC decision.
Conservative Board Member Chad Walsh campaigned behind the scenes for Landau, a protégé of Republican former San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant. San Jose Councilmember Piereluigi Oliverio, a longtime Kinman foe, weighed in as well, sending to Board Members a seven-year-old Mercury News article that briefly described the San Jose City Council’s vote not to reappointment Kinman to the Planning Commission.
Although every insider knew at the time that Kinman’s removal from the Planning Commission was the result of Oliverio’s opposition, the Mercury article contains the line “City Hall insiders speculated that she grew unpopular with the council because staff members complained she was disrespectful.” This fine piece of journalism may strike many as the sort of thing that often happens to assertive women, but the good old boys on the WVMCC Board needed little more. One of them, Karl Watanabe actually criticized her for continuing to speak when Chad Walsh started to interrupt her to clarify something, assertive behavior that would never be questioned in a man.
So chalk up a win for WVMCC Board Members Chad Walsh, Karl Watanabe, Robert Owens and Jack Lucas, who wanted Steve Landau because he is one of their own. But let’s not forget how that win came about the next time these good old boys are up for election.
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