By Robert Haugh
An interesting thing happened during the final days of the trial earlier this month when a group of Asian residents sued the City to create new council districts in Santa Clara.
According to sources who attended the trial, it was discovered during testimony that Jeannie Mahan, the sister of councilwoman Patty Mahan, helped the plaintiffs suing the City. Wow.
An expert witness for the plaintiffs, demographer Dave Ely, said during his cross examination by one of the lawyers for the City that Jeannie Mahan drove him around Santa Clara. She helped Ely draw the plaintiff’s seven-district map. That raised a lot of eyebrows on the City’s side when it was said in the courtroom. That was the map that got rid of the directly elected mayor. Some people thought it was politically motivated.
Jeannie Mahan and Patty Mahan sat together during the trial. Interestingly, they sat with the plaintiffs and not the City as we reported.
It looks like the Mahan sisters were working against the interests of the Mission City. Wow. That’s a shame. The lawsuit has millions of dollars at stake for the City. The damages haven’t been announced yet and the City still has the option to appeal.
So if Jeannie Mahan was working with the plaintiffs against the City, is this why Patty Mahan would not vote to appoint a candidate to replace disgraced former Councilman Dominic Caserta? A lot of people watching the trial, thought an appointment would help the City show that the council was ethnically diverse. Of the six finalists for the council appointment, five of them represented ethnic groups that are underrepresented on the council. It was missed opportunity.
Jeannie Mahan has become increasing political recently. As we reported months ago, she was the co-chair of the Santa Clarans for Good County Government, Supporting Caserta for Supervisor 2018. That was an independent expenditure committee that got big contributions from the 49ers and developers to help Caserta’s campaign.
Fortunately for the Mission City, Jeannie Mahan was not successful this year in her political efforts to create seven council districts for Santa Clara or get Caserta elected Supervisor.
[…] Mahan interrupted her colleagues again to say that the five were just witnesses. Coincidentally, Mahan also opposed Measure A. […]
A.B.B.=Anyone But Becker
Becker you are a joke. Why would you run for Mayor? Can you afford to finace a guaranteed loss campaign on your 2 minimum wage paying jobs. I know who wont be endorsing you after your lame answers at the union meeting. I was embarrassed for you. Don’t quit your day jobs.
But you have to admit – AB is so cute. He makes these comments trying to be an adult and is so cute doing it. I can’t wait to see him in candidate Q&A this summer. Sigh…..
[…] Another interesting contributor was Jeannie Mahan. She gave $200. But she made a more valuable contribution. It was discovered during the trial that Jeannie Mahan drove the plaintiffs’ attorneys and demographer aro… […]
Anthony Becker, You are getting so much publicity !!!!!! Too bad its the wrong kind. You could not fit into Gillmor’s shoes if you tried. Maybe you and Jeanie would make a good team. After at all she was the
principle at St Justins school You could teach each other a lot, What a joke that is !!! Why don’t you get off your high horse and admit that you could not come close to our MAYOR.
Becker running for Mayor, I gotta laugh.
His last outing got him a couple thousand votes Citywide. He has no chance. And now getting to know him through his poorly written rants, it’s easy to see he’s just burying himself further.
Patty can back this Blue Packer want to be all she wants, there is nothing there.
I agree with you Monica. How did 7 districts come into play and Becker your explanation is not well thought out.
What about the Mahan Dynasty, do you consider them in the 30 year “same face?”
Planning Commission, how did Becker get that appointment.
MAHAN changed the process when Jeremy Hicks had 4 votes and Becker had 3 votes.
Should the Grand Jury investigate this? Hypocrisy!
Becker, I want to point out that your command of the English language is startling!! Running for Mayor, you need to get your FACTS straight. Maybe consider going to school as another option.
First, the Charter Review Committee was a group of residents who came up with the 2 District map after long discussions to be FAIR to all residents. The city is diverse in every sense of the word. This made it extremely difficult to arrive to this juncture and then present it to the council. SO BECKER, explain how Gillmor was responsible for a gerrymandered map? Think before you answer, I don’t want your head to explode.
Second, deflecting your commentary to Hosam Haggag is a strategy that tells me you are a puppet.
Clearly you stand for the wrong side for what is best for the City of Santa Clara.
I agree with Becker about there being better candidates for Planning Commission than the one chosen. (him)
If Jeanne Mahan has political aspirations in Santa Clara she may find the name has been somewhat sullied by her and her sister.
Even if this is whey Pat and Patty didn’t vote for a council replacement, that is their right. But they didn’t have the right to lead everyone on and at the last minute announce they would not vote. Again, if they took a principled stand they would have been up front about it. That was just mean-spirited and petty.
It seems like the thought of losing the income from the 49ers is overwhelming for the Mahans. Now we watch them try and divide the City for further influence for their 49ers. I don’t think so, I think the Mahan influence is going in the same direction as Miles Barber.
This is terrible !!
Did Hosam Haggag help the city draw maps that eventually was chosen by the judge that in fact gerrymandered every possible candidate to unseat any of the current alliance? YES
Wasn’t it Hosam Haggag that pushed for 2 districts In which his map was the “basis” for the 6 districts and he pushed for it to be adopted by council.
When you post this stuff it’s funny because Lisa and Co are doing the exact same thing you are citing someone else for. How about you write the story on how the city was protecting incumbents and the mayor versus its residents in deciding districts.
Funny how the Hosam Haggag lobby got everything that Lisa and co wanted, but would you report that. NO !
Funny how illegally council voted away the job title and salary of city clerk without voter approval.
Remember this , our city attorney Brian Doyle states that if we did 7 districts it would violate our charter by changing it without voter approval (first lawsuit trumps our charter)
so if that’s the case then why are we not asking voters to change the title? Isn’t that the right way
Now let’s see everyone run to the defense of the status quo
Hossam Haggag was on charter review twice and is behind the entire mapping. Ask Kevin Park too he will tell you the exact same thing.
Gillmor blames Mahan and Kolstad for not appointing a council member on June 12th she blames them for failure to appoint Kevin Park etc. yet she forgets that they clearly skipped over kevin Park for planning commission when he was clearly the next runner up and qualified and they coulda picked him. This whole thing is a sham
For the love of god, Do some proper journalism and also cover the other side of the spectrum here
Because we all know that Hosam is just as involved if not more that Jeanie Mahan. What was the problem if she worked with the plaintiffs ? While Hosam worked tiresly to help defend the city,
Hypocrisy !!!
Gillmor funds your blog, everyone knows and your bias shows truth, be a better reporter cover all the facts.
Seems like Gillmor was working hard for herself and not the people, it is obvious that it’s the will of Lisa not santa clarans.
Wow. Lisa Gillmor has never paid one penny to me in any way, nor have I ever received one penny in any type of compensation from anyone for Santa Clara News Online. Never. Not one penny. I received support to fight w frivolous lawsuit, and I win. And again, Gillmor did not contribute to that either. Your sources and facts are incorrect.
Robert
Fake news to discredit my comments
The truth is out there, proof will come sooner or later
Everyone knows it’s the Gillmor PR machine
I keep having faith that you would actually cover a story that puts her in the spotlight.
Mr Becker I noticed that he didn’t respond to any of your other statements. You must be on to something. Fake news? Yes indeed
Since Mahan made sure that the original vote for planning commissioner was tossed aside in order to favor Anthony Becker, one has to assume that he is now at Mahan’s “beck” and call (pun intended and yes, it’s a bad one!). It saddens me is to see a young man so new to politics display such belligerence, anger and hostility. As a recent graduate of SJSU, I would hope for him to reflect his good education there and cultivate an open mind and a spirit willing to truly serve Santa Clara and its residents – not his own or someone else’s ego. No good can come from a closed mind or a spirit unwilling to bend, Anthony. Take it from an old geezer who knows!
Well said. Tony needs to take your advice = pun and all. Tony has a chance to make a difference for the young folks. Mahan and McLemore don’t have good juju with the community after the 2016 election.
Tony would be wise to stay clear of those 2 in 2018 IF he REALLY wants a future in Santa Clara politics??!! Promises made aren’t necessarily kept.
Anthony Becker, don’t you want 7 districts with a revolving mayor? I don’t understand. But are you running for mayor now?
@ Monica
I wanted it 7 districts with revolving mayor but when they picked the districts in map 3, that gerrymandered me in a cluster of allies. Plus the entire time the city was working dilegently to get the mayor elected, it was all to protect Lisa. I wanted 7, we got 6 and because of all the baggage associated with this I decided it was best we as a city have an alternative to the aristocracy and kleptocracy that now leads our city. A new face after 30 years of the same faces, that’s why I am doing it because we need an honest and upstanding leader.
If you don’t believe me there is tons of material out there about all the dirty work. Not from the weekly, lots of organizations that want people to know the truth about who leads your city.
I’m running because our mayor thinks she can make the rules as she goes.
Hey Tony! I gotta’ suggestion. Go back and watch the last 4 community meetings and watch who created the maps and who drew the lines and why. Oh wait!! You were THERE!! You spoke about the 7 districts! Did you see Mayor and her Co there? There was a ad hoc committee, a demographer and the public input. At the last meeting, the ad hoc committee agreed after the public input to submit the 6 district map to the judge. Looked to me to be very open and transparent.
Before you go pointing fingers and making untrue claims against your opponent (wrappin’ my head around that), go back and watch. Oh I almost forgot, Patti and Jeanie Mahan were at the last meeting talking about how the elected mayor was something only started recently in Santa Clara (major eye roll). So desperate to get that 7 districts in place. You were there! Remember? And the judge made the final decision about districts. NO.ONE.ELSE.
Go back and watch and bring popcorn!
Let’s not forget that Lisa Gilmore was Co-chair of SANTA CLARANS FOR ECOMONIC PROGRESS — the group that BROUGHT us the 49ers and supported Measure J — with Pat Kolstad. Is that why City Attorney, Brian Doyle & Mayor Lisa didn’t remove Kolstad when he MOVED to Washington state and should NOT have remained on our city council too?
If you are going to throw shade, make sure you throw all the dirt onto ALL the people who have screwed up our great City of Santa Clara, Robert!
And, besides, exactly what is wrong with having 7 districts and a rotating mayor … never have seen an unbiased report of that either …
This is terrible. Is Jeannie Mahan being paid by the plaintiffs?
Maybe Jeannie Mahan is actually Standing Up for Santa Clara the right way.
Thanks Jeanne Mahan! Oh, and costing the city millions of tax $$$$ in the process. Maybe if you’re sister spent time addressing the concerns of the council diversity in the past instead of schmoozing the niners we wouldn’t be in this mess. It is obvious what the Mahan priorities are. $$$$ but no sense.