Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Saratoga Mayor Don Wolfe staffs a booth for Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse during a recent trade show.

Caped Crusader

Don't let Don Wolfe hear you call Saratoga 'pond scum'

The Saratoga City Council has seen plenty of controversy in recent years. With litigation over development at Nelson Gardens and the Williamson Act, Measure G and slow growth, more than one budget crisis and the ever-raging Saratoga Creek lawsuit, it's been a tough few years for councilmembers. As part of that council since June 1994, Don Wolfe has had plenty to say, popular and unpopular, about issues that have come before the council.

But like or hate what Wolfe, now Saratoga's mayor, says, no one can deny that Wolfe enjoys being a councilmember.

Or that Wolfe can be a stubborn man.

"I'd call him adamant," John Wolfe, Don's fraternal twin, says. John tells of a time the two Staten Island natives were racing for the same team in school, running through Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.

"I remember falling down, and he was kicking me, saying, 'C'mon, you have to get up! We gotta finish the race,' " he says. "I finally convinced him to finish it without me, but that's what he was always like--very determined."

"What John didn't tell you was that he's done the same for me plenty of times," Wolfe laughs.

He makes few apologies for what he calls his tenacity. To Wolfe, it's his job to say what he thinks.

"I feel obligated to make observations that are formed in my conscience," he says. "And I think that's why people want us on the council. I think it's important to argue strenuously for what you think is right, and that is democracy dignified."

And it's his job to get involved, an attitude taught to him and his three brothers by their father, an engineer for the New York City Board of Education and an Irish Catholic Democrat who was nominated for Congress in 1928.

"He gave us the attitude that responsibility is the price you pay for the space you occupy as a citizen," Wolfe says.

Wolfe's father didn't make it to Congress. And Wolfe didn't stay a Democrat.

John Wolfe says he may be the only Democrat left in the family. "Although I think all our ideology is conservative," he adds.

But Wolfe did stay active, eventually changing his party affiliation despite the fact that many of his friends were Democrats.

"I just found I never voted for a Democrat," he says. Wolfe also participated in campaigns and even admits--with a smile--to voting for Goldwater.

Wolfe, who has a degree in business administration, wound up in California in 1977, moving to the state from Florida as a regional manager for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In 1991, he and his wife, Judy, sold their home next to Archbishop Mitty High School and bought a condominium on Big Basin Way. He works as the executive director of Silicon Valley Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.

"That feeds the family," he says.

CALA is composed of officials from local businesses and trade associations. The group works to build public awareness about the costs of frivolous lawsuits to taxpayers.

Wolfe is also co-host of TCI Cablevision's weekly half-hour show Issues Today, which tackles local government issues and, according to Wolfe, explains how government decisions affect everyday life.

Wolfe says that once in California, he began to research his new home state; once in Saratoga, he read up on the history of the city and the meaning of its name, which has itself led to a few lively, if not humorous, discussions among councilmembers who believe "Saratoga" is an American Indian word for "pond scum," and Wolfe, who believes--and has the research to back it up--the actual translation is "place of swift water." True to his nature, Wolfe says he is determined to make this translation official. "I hope to pass a proclamation," he says, citing numerous sources which back up his meaning of the name.

It's that determination that has won him many supporters in town. The determination with which he sought to improve local business through the Saratoga Business Development Council has led plenty of local merchants to credit him with much of the success of business in recent years. His leadership on that committee, some say, has also led to more commitment by merchants to work harder together.

"He has been extremely helpful," says Sheila Arthur, executive director of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. "He's been just really great in bringing residents and merchants together once a month to discuss progress."

But that's not on the front burner of Saratoga's government stove right now.

Now, with Measure G policy again making headlines and the Saratoga Creek lawsuit still raging on in the courts, the council has other things on its mind. And so does Wolfe, although what's on Wolfe's mind is not always popular with some residents, as evidenced at a recent council meeting at which Wolfe and residents who are supporters of those suing the city over the condition of Saratoga Creek exchanged verbal jabs. At that meeting, Wolfe called one speaker "the Master of Mendacity" and another "the Deacon of Discord."

At a March meeting of the council, Wolfe cast the lone vote against a decision to reverse policy on Measure G, Saratoga's slow-growth initiative passed in 1996. The policy had been to allow developers whose projects would require a change in the city's general plan amendment to choose whether to go directly to a public vote or go through the city's planning process first. Although the rest of the council supported denying the choice and forcing developer Barry Swenson to go through the Planning Department first, and taking another look at the policy, Wolfe said he thought it wasn't fair to change the rules of the game after Swenson had already followed them.

"On some issues, Don can't be moved," Councilmember Paul Jacobs says. "He sticks pretty close to his point of view, but he compromises when he has to."

Vice Mayor Jim Shaw, who is affiliated with those involved in the Saratoga Creek litigation and who was a vocal critic of decisions made by Wolfe and the council in previous years, says, however, that he personally finds Wolfe very cordial and civil, despite basic differences of opinion on some issues. He also says their differences do not keep the mayor from working with Shaw.

"I think there have been issues when we feel the same way, and we don't have any problems coming together," Shaw says.

And, he says, you always know where Wolfe stands, even if his opinion hasn't been pleasantly communicated.

Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, says he thinks Wolfe is good at building consensus. "I find him to be firm, but always willing to build consensus in terms of policy," he says. "He's a realist. I think we'd all like to be in a position of getting our way, but that ended in the third grade."

Jacobs says Wolfe's determination on some issues has put him in direct--and abrasive--conflict with others who may be equally determined. And he has caught heat over it. "But that's part of the job--catching heat," he says.

And Wolfe, who even as a planning commissioner caught heat for his role as the director of government affairs for the Building Industry Association of Northern California, knows it. During his campaign, many people questioned Wolfe's ability to be impartial in planning decisions because of his paid position with the trade association--accusations Wolfe strongly denied.

"It's more edifying than I thought," he says of being a councilmember. "I didn't fully appreciate the responsibility that is in the hands of policymakers to represent all factions."

But Wolfe also says it's worth it.

"Some may see being a councilmember as a thankless job. It's not," he says. "It gives me the opportunity to thank the community that has been so good to me."

And does Wolfe plan to seek office further up the local governmental ladder?

He smiles.

"If I never move further than Saratoga," he says, "I would have done enough."

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