San Jose council can’t be bought — but you are welcome to try

After declaring they can’t be bought for a mere $470, San Jose City Council members tacked up a “For Sale” sign on their doors. All but Mayor Sam Liccardo, Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco and Councilman Don Rocha voted Tuesday to eliminate the city’s gift o

Sharks tickets, 49ers tickets, rounds of golf, dinners at (fill in favorite white-table-cloth restaurant) — bring ’em on! “Appreciation” will be proportional to the gift.

This was unexpected, and the discussion was weirdly short for a major ethics change. The council should think again on June 27.

Instead of taking the usual final-adoption vote a week after initial approval of an item, members should reset a more modest gift limit that’s in line with other major cities in California.

It’s not just council members who were affected by the local ordinance. It covered some city employees as well.

If it isn’t restored and adjusted, City Manager Norberto Duenas will have to take separate action to institute reasonable gift limits on key employees.

The state gift limit of $470, which is adjusted every other year for cost of living, is for gifts from a single source — but there’s no limit on the number of developers, lobbyists or other favorseekers who can bestow $470 gifts to an individual council member.

Most smaller cities follow the state law rather than enforcing their own, but larger ones, with the exception of San Diego, set stricter standards. Oakland’s limit from one source is $50 a year. San Francisco caps gifts at $25 each, but you can take four from a source in a year. Los Angeles’ limit is $100.

San Jose staff had recommended a $250 limit per source starting in 2019. We’d prefer $100, but $200 would be better than $470.

The amount may be a pittance to council members, but not to many constituents.

For San Jose residents who have to choose between filling a prescription and buying enough food before the next paycheck, $470 is a fortune.

San Jose’s last corruption scandal in 2005 involved then-Councilman Terry Gregory, who accepted gifts — a case of Opus One wine, to be precise — in excess of $470. Old timers will recall the light rail transit mall construction scandal of the 1980s, when a corrupt contractor lavished gifts, including Apple computers and houseboat cruises, on city employees who were overseeing the project.

Liccardo argued strongly against the new, permissive gift limits. He says he’ll revive the ordinance for discussion at the June 27 meeting.

We hope council members who jumped on the $470 bandwagon will roll back their gift expectations and join the mayor, Carrasco and Rocha in taking the high road.