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Council Seeks Way to Oust Mayor: MAJORITY WANTS HIM OUT; STRATEGY SESSION SCHEDULED

Posted on: Saturday, 24 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Deborah Lohse, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Jun. 24--Even as Mayor Ron Gonzales shored up his resolve Friday to stay put and fight the felony charges against him, he faces a growing phalanx of council colleagues seeking to oust him and his indicted policy and top budget aide, Joseph Guerra.

"As obstinate as he is about staying there, we are going to be equally difficult about making it hard to stay here," said Councilman Dave Cortese, who signed a petition late Thursday circulated by Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez to bring the matter to a special meeting Wednesday.

Chavez and council members Chuck Reed, Linda LeZotte, Nancy Pyle, Ken Yeager and Cortese have all indicated they will ask Gonzales to leave. Mayoral candidate Reed is pursuing a charter change to allow the council to vote Gonzales out involuntarily, while his mayoral opponent Chavez favors a formal request followed by a dismantling of his office if he fails to resign.

At a special meeting the council has called for Wednesday, all potential approaches are expected to be aired, council members said.

David Vossbrink, Gonzales' spokesman, indicated that the mayor would try to change his colleagues' minds about ousting him before he's had his day in court. He plans to "ask them to really look deep for what's best for this community, and what's best for this council," Vossbrink said.

He said the mayor's assertions that he is innocent should matter. "You have to look at somebody who is innocent, who is being charged with false accusations, and say, 'What's really best for the city in this case?' "

Friday, Reed asked City Attorney Rick Doyle to instruct the council on how it could use an obscure charter provision that would allow the council to vote Gonzales out, presumably by majority vote.

The untested provision in the charter says the council "shall be the judge of the election and qualification of its members, including the mayor."

Chavez, meanwhile, said she didn't think the charter move would work, and is instead asking Doyle how the council can strip the mayor of funding for his office if he resists. She said she had informed acting mayoral chief of staff Jim Webb of her intention to ask for Gonzales' resignation, but otherwise had not been in touch with the mayor's office.

Friday, Cortese requested the city attorney advise the council on how it could effectively fire Guerra by voting to stop allocating funds for his salary from a general fund for city staff expenses.

Cortese said he'd vote for using the charter provision cited by Reed if all else fails, even though he said such a move would probably be vulnerable to legal attack.

Contact Deborah Lohse at dlohse@mercurynews.com or (408) 275-0140.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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