Willow Glen Resident

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Campos, Pyle question Cortese on Evergreen project involvement

By Monica Heger

Accusing a colleague of impropriety can quickly turn into a heated "he said, she said" argument, as demonstrated at the May 9 San Jose City Council meeting.

Councilwomen Nora Campos and Nancy Pyle asked the council to look into Councilman Dave Cortese's communications with developers and lobbyists in the Evergreen Visioning Project, a large housing development proposal for the Evergreen area that is headed by both Cortese and Campos.

The women believe that Cortese may have violated the city charter and tainted the Evergreen development process. They claim Cortese had private meetings with lobbyists and developers of the project. They also believe Cortese influenced city staff about the number of housing units in the project's design.

Campos and Pyle brought the issue of Cortese's communications with lobbyists to the rules committee at a May 3 meeting, adding it to the agenda just 15 minutes prior to the meeting. Their memo recommended the issue be brought to the attention of the full council for discussion and possible action.

Cortese maintains he did not unduly influence city staff or meet privately with developers or lobbyists.

Cortese, along with Councilman Chuck Reed and Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez, are all mayoral candidates.

In a Mercury News article about the issue, deputy planning director Laurel Prevetti said Cortese did not influence her and that the planning process had been very open. In the article, lobbyists asserted the meetings in their reports were public task force meetings, not private meetings.

Councilman Ken Yeager made the motion at the May 9 meeting to reaffirm the city's formal policy of investigating a council member.

"We have steps in place for how to proceed with these kinds of allegations," Yeager said. "You can't be frivolous about these types of decisions."

Yeager's motion passed unanimously.

If Campos or Pyle wants to pursue the issue further, they will have to take their accusation back to the rules committee, and it must be on the rules committee agenda at least 24 hours before the meeting so Cortese has ample time to prepare a defense. Then the rules committee will recommend whether the council should proceed with a full investigation.

Councilwoman Linda LeZotte questioned the process.

"I'm concerned that I received late memos from my colleagues," LeZotte said. "I am particularly concerned that the process was not followed."

Reed questioned the timing of the accusations, with the mayoral primary just weeks away.

"I'm dismayed and disappointed at where we find ourselves today," Reed said. "The timing creates suspicion and distrust."

About 20 people spoke on behalf of Cortese, commending his integrity and, like Reed, voiced concern about the timing of the accusations.

"I find it very difficult to be here," said Sylvia Alvarez, a member of the task force and Evergreen Elementary School Board. "I find it shocking that you are making accusations that Cortese has not been open."

Carlos DaSilva, also a member of the Evergreen task force, called the accusations dirty politics. "These accusations are not based on facts," DaSilva said. "Campos had ample time to bring these issues up in the past."