The wrangling over how to fill Omar Torres’ soon-to-be vacant seat on the San Jose District 3 City Council began when Mayor Matt Mahan said a proposal to name a replacement before the end of the year ” reeks of politics.”
The District 3 seat will become vacant on Nov. 27 — potentially shifting the balance of power between unions and businesses — after embattled Torres submitted his resignation following his arrest last week on child molestation charges. The case is unrelated to another sexual misconduct investigation in which residents and political leaders were already calling for his ouster.
Municipal leaders have two options: an appointment or a special election.
While District 2 Councilman Sergio Jimenez has urged the city to put new leadership in place by early 2025, Mahan — who favors a special election to replace Torres — said the City Council should first understand and weigh your options before making a decision.
“I firmly believe that voters should choose their representatives and that there is no better selection process,” Mahan said. “I understand that an appointment is quicker and cheaper. This doesn’t make things any better.
City leaders have been aware of a possible vacancy since last month, after Torres became the target of a police investigation into child sex allegations.
Despite the start of a recall campaign and calls from the San Jose Police Officers Association, the City Council and prominent political and business organizations. Torres has maintained his innocence and affirmed his desire to remain a member of the council.
However, that came to a screeching halt last week when a relative came forward and detailed years of sexual assault in the 1990s, including after Torres turned 18 and the victim was a minor. Police said Torres, 43, admitted to the crimes during a phone call with the victim under the supervision of law enforcement.
With the seat expected to become vacant in two weeks, city leaders have two options: an appointment or a special election.
Research conducted by the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, or SPUR, found that the city has faced vacancies eight times in the past thirty years and has gone the special election route in most cases. case.
The Council bucked that trend two years ago, despite overwhelming public support for a special election, when seats in Districts 8 and 10 became available after then-Council members Sylvia Arenas and Mahan won elections for other positions.
At the time, Jimenez, Arenas and District 6 council member Dev Davis wrote a memo arguing for the nomination, citing low voter turnout and a potential price tag between 7.6 and 11, $4 million for the two districts. Ultimately, the Council’s progressive majority opted for appointments, despite then-Mayor Sam Liccardo’s comment that the move “brings shame to our city.”
Jimenez made a similar argument in asking the city council to set a special meeting before Dec. 27 to make an appointment.
“Following the 2022 election, the City of San Jose deliberated at length about the process for filling a vacant Council seat,” Jimenez wrote in a memo that will be heard at Wednesday’s Rules Committee meeting. “After careful analysis, the Board chose to proceed with the most efficient and cost-effective process: an appointment. With the recent resignation of Omar Torres, it is crucial that constituent services and representation for District 3 residents be addressed and restored as soon as possible.
Jimenez’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Although the exact costs of a special election have not yet been determined, conservative estimates suggest the price tag could be at least a few million dollars. A special election would also mean that District 3 could go several months without representation. If none of the candidates obtains 50% of the votes in the primary, the city will have to organize a runoff.
District 4 council member David Cohen and District 9 council member Pam Foley joined Mahan in asking the city to first discuss its options instead of voting on a predetermined method for filling the seat.
Despite the drawbacks, many neighborhood leaders have spoken out in favor of special elections.
“There is only one way to restore confidence in our political system for D3, and that is for us to take ownership of it through direct elections,” said Tim Clauson, president of the Vendôme neighborhood association. “A mayoral appointment would not restore ownership of D3, because that is simply delegating our problem to people who don’t even live here.”
The last two city council appointments produced mixed results in this year’s elections. While District 8 Councilmember Domingo Candelas — aided by opponent Tam Truong briefly accused of criminal fraud — appears headed toward victory, George Casey has built an insurmountable lead over District 10 Councilmember Arjun Batra.
Residents in favor of a direct election pointed out that the circumstances of the vacancy in District 3 differ from those in Districts 8 and 10.
“The upcoming vacancy is the result of widespread rejection of the council member by D3 voters, our City Council and by his supporters – not a vacancy caused (as in the 2022 appointments) by a (council member) popular moving to another elected office,” said resident Irene Smith, who lost to Torres in the 2022 general election. “The only way to address this widespread rejection of Torres is to rebuild trust through a electoral process. Any form of mayoral appointment could very easily become a backroom deal that strips our district of its independence and sovereignty.”
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