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Quetzalcoatl |
Silicon Valley |
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| Send FReepmail if you want on/off SVP list | |
| Silicon Valley Slang | |
Mercury News Editorial
Mayor Ron Gonzales seized on the charges by Terry Gregory's former chief of staff to launch a proposal last week for a tidy, closed-door investigation into the beleaguered council member's alleged ethical lapses.
But the city council has an obligation to confront the mayor with a couple of raw realities:
• Key players won't testify without the tug -- and protection -- of a subpoena, which the mayor's investigator can't get.
• An investigation laundered through Gonzales will be suspect, given the pattern of duplicity and obfuscation from the mayor's office.
The solution is a hybrid: a panel of council members, who have the authority to subpoena people and place them under oath, working in conjunction with an investigator.
The notion of an independent investigator has merit. Any charges of harassment in the workplace demand swift, thorough and private fact-finding. But most of the charges in the explosive memo by Gregory's former chief of staff, Craig Mann, have to do with Gregory's alleged conduct in the community. The fact-finding on those issues should be public.
That Mayor Gonzales can't see this is of little surprise. When allegations about Gregory's possible ethical and criminal violations first surfaced, Gonzales dismissed them, saying they were a matter for the constituents in District 7 to resolve.
Subpoena power is essential to a thorough investigation.