Councilwoman steps down to battle cancer
Announcement comes before vote to switch to district elections to combat lack of diversity on the council
SANTA CLARA » An emotional Santa Clara councilwoman announced late Tuesday she’s taking leave to fight cancer a third time, stunning City Hall where political rivals had reportedly accused her of using her battles with the disease as a sympathy ploy to win votes.
“I have a tumor in my spine. I met with my surgeon today, and he insisted on scheduling the surgery tomorrow,” Councilwoman Patricia Mahan said shortly before excusing herself from the council meeting. “He said it’s a wonder I’m still walking around. It’s that serious. But it’s treatable.”
Mahan, a two-time breast cancer survivor and former mayor, was granted a four- to six-week leave from her duties. The council unanimously agreed to delay its annual priority-setting session until her expected return in January.
But it was an awkward moment
for council members Teresa O’Neill and Debi Davis, who according to a Sept. 27, 2016, email string published by the Santa Clara Weekly, had accused Mahan of touting her cancer battles during last year’s campaign.
In the email sent after the 2016 Santa Clara County Democratic Club’s candidate forum to Davis and copied to Mayor Lisa Gillmor, O’Neill wrote that “Patty pulled out her breast cancer survivor card a couple of times” and that “she is pretty slick in her approach.” Davis emailed in reply that “This sympathy thing is BS.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, O’Neill and Davis appeared to avoid Mahan’s gaze as she
disclosed her cancer had returned, and did not speak. Gillmor responded to Mahan’s announcement Tuesday by saying she is “very sorry to hear this information.”
Some at the meeting demanded O’Neill and Davis be censured or recalled over the emails. Davis did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. O’Neill wrote in a text message Wednesday that she wishes Mahan “all the best” and looks forward to her return in January.
Before leaving the council chambers, Mahan had some choice words for them, and pleaded with her colleagues to “heal the rifts” on the council and “stop all this fighting.”
“This is what the life of a survivor is,” Mahan said. “It’s not a card we play. It’s not sympathy we seek. It’s the constant fear we live with that our cancer will return
and spread. And now for me that threat has materialized.”
Vice Mayor Dominic Caserta, an ally of Mahan’s, said he was “disgusted my colleagues made these vile emails” and that when they had the opportunity “to say ‘I’m sorry’ last night” they “did not do that.”
“Pat Mahan is a fighter,” Caserta continued. “She’s beaten it twice, and I have no doubt we’ll be sitting next to each other again by January.”
Mahan’s announcement came before the council voted unanimously to accept a committee’s recommendation to switch to district elections to address long-standing criticism over the lack of diversity on the council. The changes would need voter approval.
The move comes after a Japanese resident of more than 40 years sued Santa
Clara over its at-large election system, in which the city’s six council members and mayor are elected by all city voters. In the lawsuit, Wesley Mukoyama claimed that the current voting method prevents minority voters from electing people who represent them.
A Charter Review Committee suggested dividing Santa Clara into two districts with three council members representing each district. Each district’s election would alternate between gubernatorial and presidential election years.
But Robert Rubin, a San Francisco civil rights attorney representing Mukoyama, said what Santa Clara is doing is not a true district system — which should have a single council member representing a single district. He said the lawsuit will continue.
“They went from one at-large system to two atlarge systems,” Rubin said Wednesday, adding that most cities have at least five or seven districts. “At-large systems dilute minority voting power. They’re still leaving the Asian-American community unrepresented.”
The lawsuit contended that Santa Clara is violating the California Voting Rights Act, which prohibits the use of at-large systems when voting patterns are racially polarized. Every member of the current City Council is white, though less than half of the city’s population is white.
A measure will be planned for the June 2018 ballot.
The council also accepted a recommendation to adopt a “ranked choice voting” system in 2020. Instead of the candidate with the most votes winning an election, voters rank candidates on their ballot in order of preference. Candidates must receive a certain threshold of votes, dependent on the number of seats being voted on, to be elected
The ranked method is used in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and San Leandro.