Mid-Life Crisis Hits San Jose -- And Its Mayor

SAN JOSE, Calif.--If this city were a person, it would be a middle-aged man on the tail end of a spiraling career who, having just gone through a mid-life crisis, buys a glitzy new house and tries to hook up with younger women, then lies to his family about it. In other words, San Jose would be our current mayor, Ron Gonzales.

Until recently, most of San Jose associated scandal with Gonzales due to his soap opera-like affair with a young intern. Now Gonzales has been indicted on charges of felony bribery, conspiracy and misuse of public funds for a deal he made with Norcal Waste Systems, a garbage company. This latest scandal fits right into the narrative of San Jose in the post-dot-com era. Just like that mid-life crisis guy who still goes to dance clubs to reclaim a lost past, our city was destined for public disgrace.

Before the dot-come crash, we were the storied city that had moved from orchards to computer chips. Every region in the world seemed to want to be at our speed. There was Silicon Alley in New York, Silicon Forest in Portland, even Silicon Hills in Texas. Back then, in the late '90s, our new Latino mayor was addressing the Democratic National Convention and being talked about to succeed Gray Davis as governor of California.

After the crash, our economic and political blueprint lost its allure, and so did our mayor. But once famous, it's hard to go back to being known as a San Francisco suburb (as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called us at a mayors' conference earlier this year). We have been desperate to save face ever since.

The Norcal deal with Gonzales was a result of the obsession with appearances that has become a strategy for governance in San Jose. In 2000, Gonzales and his aide struck a private deal with Norcal Waste Systems -- the mayor would help get the city to pay an extra $11.25 million to Norcal to cover Teamster wages. Investigations say that Gonzales later convinced the city council, which did not know of his agreements with Norcal, to raise garbage rates to cover the cost.

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