Willow Glen Resident

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Council members consider new guidelines for office budget funds

By Monica Heger

San Jose City Councilman and mayoral candidate Chuck Reed, the most vocal critic of city hall's ethics problems, has now found himself on the receiving end of that criticism.

Sparked by a recent discovery that Reed used taxpayer money to reimburse himself $39,000 in expenses, including memberships to veterans' clubs and dinners at fundraising events, the council discussed the practice of expenditure reimbursement and the most appropriate way to use their accounts.

Reed has repaid the city, and expressed regret for his actions.

"I am disappointed in myself," Reed said. "I should have held myself to a higher standard."

Reed said he asked for city reimbursement because he believed he should not accept free meals from organizations.

"I have tried to avoid accepting gifts for food or entertainment, and that's part of how I've spent my council office's budget," Reed said. "If the council thinks that's something we shouldn't do, then that is something I will adhere to."

Reed said he also used his council budget for memberships to organizations, such as a lifetime membership to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He admitted his actions were in error.

"It's the appearance of getting a personal benefit that I should avoid, that we all should avoid," Reed said. "It's legal, but it's not a sufficient standard."

Reed suggested clearer guidelines be established for how and when council members should spend their office budgets, and he suggested that officeholder accounts be abolished. Officeholder accounts are funded by private donations. Council members are allowed to establish an officeholder account up to $10,000.

Ciouncilwoman Linda LeZotte agreed officeholder accounts should be reduced and that more time should be spent educating the public on how their taxes are being spent.

"We can either spend taxpayer money to do our jobs or ask people to donate to our accounts, and I'm not comfortable with that," LeZotte said. "I would rather spend the time educating the public that some of their taxpayer money is going to be spent for us to do our jobs. I don't believe that outside of an election cycle we should be asking people to put money in our office holder accounts."

Vice mayor and mayoral candidate Cindy Chavez, who has long been a target of Reed's criticism, found the tables turned. She said while there is some ambiguity in the rules on how council members spend money, there is also a great deal of clarity.

"We already have rules on the book that should have stopped what occurred," Chavez said.

Chavez said it is never appropriate to donate money to a political organization, regardless of what the money is being used for. Chavez also said the practice of writing a personal check and then getting reimbursed for it is deceiving because it leads the organization to believe the council member is personally contributing. She suggested that practice be abolished.

Other council members agreed the rules surrounding their expense accounts needed to be clarified. Councilman Ken Yeager suggested the practice of spending taxpayer money for advertisements and memberships should be prohibited.

The council did not take any action on the matter, and no timeline was set for establishing new guidelines.