In 1997, we recommended a promising candidate in a special election for Santa Clara County supervisor in District 1, and we were sorry that she lost. But when the victor in that race later ran for a full term, we were happy to say: Stick with Don Gage. He’s doing a great job.
Today we congratulate Cindy Chavez on her decisive victory over Teresa Alvarado, whom we strongly recommended in Tuesday’s special election for District 2 supervisor. And we hope that, like Gage, Chavez proves our concerns about her candidacy unfounded.
Gage is a Gilroy Republican who we believed would be out of touch with the county’s mission of helping its neediest residents. But he became an effective advocate for the disabled, homeless and others, as well as — more predictably — for fiscal responsibility. It was a powerful combination.
With Chavez, our worry is how she’ll balance the interests of county residents and taxpayers with those of the powerful county unions to whom she is intrinsically tied. Until last fall, she headed the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council.
But as a former San Jose councilwoman and vice mayor, she has the depth of experience and strong work ethic to well represent the lowest-income district in the county. We hope her understanding of county politics and services — particularly the need for a strong Valley Medical Center — will improve what has been a faltering government of late.
Chavez fills the seat left vacant by George Shirakawa Jr., who resigned after pleading guilty to five felonies for misusing taxpayer and campaign money. Poor oversight by county administrators had allowed this to go unchecked for years.
Now the county is grappling with Rural/Metro, the financially troubled ambulance contractor whose payment of long-owed bills this week is unlikely to be the last of its problems.
And like most governments today, the county has seen pension and retiree health care costs soar. Chavez has said pension reform is needed but should be negotiated with unions, not imposed through ballot measures like San Jose’s. She has a chance to leverage her relationship with county employees to help achieve reform that maintains benefits acceptable to unions and affordable for taxpayers.
Chavez says she is not controlled by labor; the movement is simply who she is. We take the point and hope that in her new role, she can help it transition to a sustainable model for public employees.
We base recommendations for political candidates on a wide range of considerations, including interviews, records of public service and other kinds of research. Sometimes voters agree with us, sometimes not.
We never know how the losing candidates would have done the job. But from Election Day on, it’s what the winner does that counts.