Panelists from local organizations were looking for answers on issues pertaining to ethics, economic development and leadership at the Feb. 6 forum.

City council members Cindy Chavez, Dave Cortese and Chuck Reed, East Side Union High School District board president J. Manuel Herrera and local businessman Michael Mulcahy, all running for mayor, had varying views.

Panelist Gloria Duffy, Commonwealth Club of California CEO, asked each candidate to tally up their leadership strengths for the public. She also likened the role of mayor to that of a CEO, noting that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were CEOs before taking office.

Mulcahy, a managing partner of Willow Glen-based SDS NexGen, said, "I see the mayor more as the chairman of the board, whose job it is to set vision and set direction."

Herrera and Chavez said being mayor is much more than being a CEO.

For Herrera, the post requires an intuitive sense of listening to constituents and working collaboratively. Chavez pointed to her seven years on city council and working with neighborhoods through the city's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, which includes parts of North Willow Glen and the Gardner neighborhoods.

"[CEOs] don't have many constituents; they have one--the rate of return," Chavez said.

The candidates then weighed in on issues ranging from the development of the Coyote Valley to BART extending into San Jose, to the city's ability to exercise eminent domain to funding a baseball stadium and the Grand Prix.

Reed and Mulcahy criticized the $4 million subsidy recently approved for the Grand Prix. To Reed, the money could help solve the city's pressing problems, including the loss of funding for parks and community centers. Reed disagreed with "policy by surprise," last-minute staff reports that leave the council with little time to weigh issues before voting on them. He sited the Grand Prix subsidy as an example.

Mulcahy concurred, "We really didn't know about it, and we should have."

The candidates also tackled the question of how to recoup the 200,000 jobs lost after the area's economy crashed five years ago.

Reed said the area needs to become "the best in the world" for innovation, since the valley's former manufacturing economy can no longer compete with neighboring states or other countries. Chavez pointed to strategies she's currently working on to help businesses succeed, such as the Counter to Council program, a group working to streamline the planning process.

Cortese, Mulcahy and Herrera all want more methods in place to encourage small and local businesses to thrive. For Herrera, this means reaching out to large and small businesses equally.

"We do it for the big hands in the valley, but we really need to provide Nordstrom service to the small people of San Jose," he said.

Reed, who emphasized open government during the forum, said he had the "independence and integrity" to be mayor, while Chavez touted herself as a "problem- solver." Cortese saw focusing on ways to improve San Jose for future generations as an integral part of being a mayor.

Mulcahy, a Willow Glen resident making his first foray into the public spotlight, focused on his position as an "outsider" to reform the city.