Quintero is top pick in San Jose District 5 race
When Magdalena Carrasco was elected in 2014 to the San Jose City Council, we cheered on her promise to bring fresh, ethical leadership to the neglected residents of her East Side district. Carrasco largely delivered on that promise, but now she is termed out, and five candidates with a wide range of backgrounds are vying to replace her.
Alum Rock School Board trustee Andres Quintero is the only District 5 candidate with the character, experience and balanced approach to help forge compromise on the council when it attacks the divisive issues of public safety, homelessness and affordable housing. District 5 includes Alum Rock to the north and Reid-Hillview Airport and Mount Pleasant High School to the south.
Quintero has the endorsement of the South Bay Labor Council, which gives us pause. But he has demonstrated a willingness to stand up to the California Teachers Association and advocate for fiscal responsibility during the Alum Rock district's challenging salary negotiations. He also showed his independence by approving the renewal of two charter schools over union leaders' objections.
And on April 14 he courageously voted to turn Cesar Chavez Elementary School into an early learning center for children in preschool through kindergarten next year, against the objections of some parents. Quintero said the decision saves the district $1 million, helping it deal with severe financial challenges due to declining enrollment.
Quintero's integrity shone through when he stood up to the “Alum Rock Three,” who had crafted a level of dysfunction on the Alum Rock board seldom seen in California. The Santa Clara civil grand jury recommended in 2018 that trustees Khanh Tran, Esau Herrera and Dolores Marquez resign from the board for “failing to meet its governance standards and fiduciary responsibility.”
Quintero was a voice of reason amid the chaos. He opposed the Alum Rock Three's push for millions of dollars of contracts with Del Terra Real Estate Services. In two scathing audits, thenstate Auditor Elaine Howle found the board failed to use a structured process to select the most-qualified firm for construction projects, and the district allowed Del Terra to essentially oversee its own work, resulting in weak quality control.
Quintero teaches political science at Evergreen Valley College and is a member of the Latino Leadership Alliance Board of Directors, which works to ensure the Latino community has a voice on regional issues.
The other four candidates in the race are San Jose Planning Commissioner Rolando Bonilla, former San Jose City Councilwoman and former state Assemblywoman Nora Campos, Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee Peter Ortiz, and H.G. Nguyen, founding president of the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Santa Clara Valley.
Bonilla has the political experience and knowledge of issues to make him a strong candidate. But his unacceptable behavior during the San Jose Spotlight candidate forum this month should remove him and Ortiz from consideration. Bonilla instigated an embarrassing, dirty-laundry exchange with Ortiz, interrupting Ortiz in the middle of his 30-second rebuttal to Bonilla's comments on leadership in the district.
The two then hurled personal insults at each other and failed to heed the moderator's call for order. Bonilla yelled, “This is who you are, Peter,” while holding up a report of Ortiz's arrest in 2012 even though charges were later dropped. Ortiz fired back by alluding to unproven abuse accusations in a 1999 custody case between Bonilla and his ex-wife.
In a subsequent interview, Bonilla was unapologetic and admitted he planned the exchange, saying that people in District 5 “respect someone who stands up for himself.”
Voters should also reject Campos' effort to return to the council. San Jose was fortunate to break the stranglehold that she and her brother had on the seat for more than a decade. She has a history of doing the bidding of trade unions and lobbyists. When she last ran for office in 2016, her campaign was bankrolled in part by a $500,000 contribution from a Big Oil political action committee.
Nguyen is a political newcomer who has never held office and does not have backing to challenge her competitors.
Quintero is the smart choice in this race. We recommend him to voters in the June 7 election.