Bowing to pressure from those who support an open, Democratic and transparent government, San Jose Mayor-elect Sam Liccardo is now pulling the reins, a tiny bit, on rushing to appoint a campaign supporter of his as a replacement for the open District 4 seat. But it’s not enough. Community leaders and good government advocates are outraged at the way the Mayor-elect seems to be starting off his mayoral career with hard ball, power-grabbing tactics that go against everything democracy stands for.
Liccardo filed this memo on tomorrow’s council agenda asking the council to conduct the appointment vote at a special meeting Friday December 19th, adding an extra two and a half days’ notice (to the two days already given) of the open seat appointment. We’re not sure we can say it any louder in print: THAT DOESN’T HELP. Sunshine rules were still waived for no reason, skirting the minimum 10 day notice of public appointments, and NO community outreach has been done in District 4 to inform the constituency that the City is looking to appoint a replacement.
Yes, we are continuing to criticize Liccardo’s tactics in this matter because his disingenuous, piecemeal suggestions on how to make the council whole again simply go against the well-thought out, democratic process of including the community in its decision.
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