San Jose Council to discuss removing Gonzales

Gonzales claims innocence, faces 8 years behind bars

By Jason Bennert, Bay City News Service

June 23, 2006

SAN JOSE (BCN) - The San Jose City Council will consider taking action to remove indicted Mayor Ron Gonzales from office at a special meeting on Wednesday, San Jose City Clerk Lee Price said this afternoon.

Price said the meeting will discuss possibly removing Gonzales from office as well as appointing an interim mayor and other issues surrounding Gonzales' indictment this week on six felony counts.

A majority of the City Council has now publicly called upon Gonzales to resign but the mayor has vowed to complete his term, which ends Dec. 31.

"I believe in my God and know that justice will prevail,'' Gonzales said this morning in his weekly appearance on a Bay Area radio show.

"I know I will be proven innocent because I know I'm innocent.''

Earlier today, San Jose City Councilman Chuck Reed called upon the council to take legal action against Norcal Waste Systems to recover $11.25 million that a grand jury has alleged the company received as part of "secret and illegal agreement'' with Gonzales.

"Even though the council majority approved (the money) there were material facts that weren't disclosed,'' Reed said.

The attorney representing Norcal said the company has done nothing wrong and would fight any city action.

"We certainly hope the city won't take such action because there's no legal basis for them to do so,'' Norcal attorney Bill Goodman said. "We're confident they wouldn't prevail.''

If convicted on all charges, Gonzales faces eight years in prison, Santa Clara County prosecutor Julius Finkelstein announced today.

The mayor's aide Joe Guerra faces a possible sentence of five years and eight months in prison, Finkelstein said.

Gonzales and Guerra, along with Norcal Waste Systems, are named in a grand jury indictment alleging they conspired in a contract deal that led to a 9 percent hike in city garbage rates in 2003.

Norcal received a total of $11.25 million in excess of its original contract proposal as a result of "a secret and illegal agreement between defendants Gonzales and Norcal,'' according to the indictment.

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