By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara City Councilman Suds Jain communicated regularly and often with Charter Review Committee Chair Jeff Houston while the Committee was doing its work, according to a review of Jain’s calendar, emails, and text messages.
Jain’s actions raise ethical issues, according to ethicist Dr. Tom Shanks.
“Jain’s actions are harmful to the public trust, especially in light of past Council actions that were brought to the surface by the Grand Jury,” said Shanks.
“Until they stop denying that they have a public trust problem, they will continue to act unethically.”
Decades ago, Shanks created Santa Clara’s award-winning ethics programs. Those programs no longer exist under this Council.
Houston was Jain’s appointment to the Committee. The Committee was created in July to consider putting a measure on the Santa Clara ballot to change the Charter and eliminate the right of Mission City residents to vote for our Police Chief and City Clerk.
The Committee finished its work earlier this month and recommended to the Council that the City Manager should appoint both positions.
According to Jain’s public calendar, he communicated directly with Houston at least 7 times during the Committee process.
“It is possible that I may have missed a few conversations that I had with Jeff Houston but, for the most part, I believe it is accurate,” Jain wrote in an email to Santa Clara News Online.
“(It’s) certainly more accurate than (Mayor) Lisa Gillmor’s calendar reporting of meetings with Kirk Vartan and Burt Field.”
When Jain was asked for evidence to support his claim, he didn’t have any.
Jain also claimed that making charges publicly without any evidence does not make him a conspiracy theorist.
“I was previous chair of a Charter Review Committee and Jeff had lots of questions about chairing a Charter Review Committee” wrote Jain. “In my opinion he did a far better job chairing than I did.”
But Shanks disagreed.
“Advisory committees need independence, resources, and solid public input to make sound decisions. We now know this Committee had none of these,” said Shanks.
“That compromises the fairness of the process, despite the hard work of Committee members. Councilmember Jain should have trusted the Committee enough to let them do their work without his intervention.”
Jain and Houston talked about a lot of subjects other than chairing a meeting.
They discussed the potential ballot measure language and the controversial survey that was hacked to support the Committee’s final recommendation.
Jain and Houston also discussed items unrelated to the Committee.
Houston asked Jain if he and Jain’s wife Lori would sign nominating papers for Congressman Ro Khanna.
But Jain didn’t seem like he wanted to do so.
Jain also shared with Houston his criticism of District Attorney Jeff Rosen for being lenient on former Sheriff Laurie Smith.
It’s unclear why Jain criticized Rosen. In 2022, Rosen convicted Smith on six public corruption and misconduct charges.
[…] meetings, where Jain was caught communicating with him during the Committee’s deliberations, a violation of public trust according to ethicist Dr. Tom […]
[…] Jain frequently makes claims without evidence to support his beliefs. He recently told Santa Clara News Online that he doesn’t consider it wrong and doesn’t consider himself a conspiracy theorist. […]
[…] Gillmor and Watanabe brought up the lack of independence of the Charter Review Committee, citing an egregious amount of communication between Councilman Jain, and his appointee and Committee Chair, Jeff […]
Hi Suds,
Are you testifying against Becker in exchange for an immunity deal for yourself? It’s a valid question and would appreciate a response.
“The Suds doth protest too much, methinks.” (William Shakespeare, Hamlet, from around 1601)
A classic case of Robert Haugh deceiving his readers. He says “When Jain was asked for evidence to support his claim, he didn’t have any. ”
Here’s the email I send to Robert before he published this super slanted article. This seems like evidence to me. I also included a post on Haugh’s Blog from Burt Field where he admits to meeting with Lisa Gillmor:
————————————————————————–
See the attached email to Kirk Vartan to which he refuses to respond. How did Lisa and Burt organize that illegal press conference in front of City Hall Oct 2020 without coordinating?
I also have no proof that Lisa Gillmor or her father give money to some of her supporters but have heard many rumors to that effect.
Ironic that you make these statements to me when your posts are full of “sources say” comments and inuendos.
— Suds
—————————————————————————
Once again here’s the email I sent to Kirk Vartan to which he never responded:
——————————————————————————
Kirk,
Your linked in profile states that you are an advisor to the mayor.
I was simply pointing out that I believe that the mayor is not complying with City and State policies.
I have sent you only 3 emails on this topic aside from this one. I have received over 160 PRA requests from one person.
That seems like harassment to me. You often state publicly that Councilmembers don’t respond to your emails and
questions. Why?
Since you consider my emails to be harassment, I will stop communicating with you, per your request.
— Suds
From: Kirk Vartan
Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2023 3:21 AM
To: Sudhanshu Jain
Cc: Anthony Becker
Subject: Re: Former San Jose mayor must explain how he complied with records law
Suds,
These notes looks like they are meant to harass me. For example, why copy Becker on this and not anyone one else?
What expertise does he provide?
Please stop harassing me.
-Kirk
On Jul 17, 2023, at 8:39 AM, Sudhanshu Jain wrote:
Hello Kirk,
In case you didn’t see this: https://sanjosespotlight.com/former-san-jose-mayor-sam-liccardo-must-explain-how-hecomplied-
with-california-public-records-law/
A superior court judge is ordering former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo to explain under penalty of perjury how he searched his private emails and texts for messages related to city business in response to a lawsuit from this news organization.
In a ruling issued last week, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Kuhnle said Liccardo must submit a declaration to the court within a
month. The order came after San José Spotlight and the First Amendment Coalition sued the city and former mayor in February 2022 for violating
the state’s public records laws.
Kuhnle said he needs to know more about how Liccardo did his searches—and what kind of training he had to distinguish personal business from
public—in order to make a final ruling on whether the city violated the California Public Records Act.
From: Sudhanshu Jain
Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2023 3:44 PM
To: ‘Kirk Vartan’
Cc: Anthony Becker
Subject: FW: Item 23-814 (Item 8) – Independent Ethics Commission – Public Comment
Hi Kirk,
I think maybe this email got lost somewhere so I’m resending.
— Suds
From: Sudhanshu Jain
Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2023 7:32 AM
To: Kirk Vartan ; Anthony Becker
Subject: FW: Item 23-814 (Item 8) – Independent Ethics Commission – Public Comment
Hello Kirk,
Thank you for being so concerned about ethics in the City of Santa Clara.
I have attached the full extent of responses to my PRA23-545 which is now deemed complete by staff.
I filed this PRA after the discussion you and I had where you indicated that you and Mayor Gillmor talk at least once a month and possibly every week.
This PRA asks for two years of texts and emails and all I got were zero texts and a total of 14 emails over two years :
”I am requesting all emails and texts between Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Kirk Vartan using personal and City issued devices regarding worker cooperatives, electricity rates, Grand Jury investigations, parking, City Manager, and Related Santa Clara between the dates of 5/24/2021 and5/24/2023.”
There were 5 emails from you to the full council and 7 emails from you to Lisa alone and only 2 emails from Lisa.
Can you confirm that this is the full extent of written communications between you and Mayor Gillmor over the past two years? I have attached the California code on retention of records for two years. Perhaps you can suggest what recourse I might have if I don’t believe that all records were produced or that some were deleted. How should the new ethics commission handle this “complaint”?
3
Also I looked at Lisa’s public calendar and found only the following recorded meetings which is far fewer that what I would expect based on the conversation that you and I had. I’ve also attached a memo from Maria Le indicating which meetings should be recorded in councilmembers’ calendars.
====================================================================
5/9/2023 12:30 PM Co-op update Kirk Vartan
3/9/2023 1:00 PM Call – City support letters Worker Coop Legislation Kirk Varta
6/25/2022 1:30 PM Meeting regarding Worker Coops
11/17/2021 3:00 PM Worker Co-Op Workshop Kirk Vartan, Owner, Slice of New York
9/15/2020 11:00 AM
Meeting to Prepare for Workers Cooperative Roundtable
Event hosted by Congressman Ro Khanna (CA-17)
Tom Pyke, District Director, Office of Congressman Ro Khanna (CA-17); Stacy
Shih, District Director, Office of Assemblymember Ash Kalra (District 27); Zen
Trenholm, Program Manager, The Democracy at Work Institute; Hilary Abell,
Co-Founder, Project Equity; Kirk Vartan, Owner, A Slice of New York (ASONY)
Pizza
9/4/2018 10:00 AM Meeting to discuss the Agrihood project Kirk Vartan, Business Owner
08/18/2017 3:30 PM Meeting regarding Worker-Co-Op Kirk Vartan, Business Owner; Marguerite Lee, Business Owner
06/17/2017 10:30 AM Town Hall Discussion
Hosam Haggag, Resident; Kurt Vartan, Resident; Habir Bhatia,
Cultural Commisser and Resident; and Mayuri Restauran
05/18/2017 8:00 PM
Online Townhall Community Meeting Hosam Hoggag, Resident; Kirk Vartan, Local Business Owner;
Public Meeting
04/13/2017 12:00 PM
Meeting regarding Placemaking and community outreach
Council Member Teresa O’Neill; Hosam Haggag, Resident; Kirk
Vartan and Marguerite Lee, Business Owners
3/25/2017 6:00 PM
Tri Village Visioning Dinner to discuss
Winchester/Stevens Creek Blvd. area
Don Weden, Former Santa Clara County Principal Planner; Alex
Shoor, On-Site Senior Manager at Katz & Associates, Inc.; Hosam
Hoggag, Resident; Jude Barry, Consultant, Catapult Strategies;
Ken Pyle, San Jose Resident; Kirk Vartan, Co-chair, Stevens Creek
Advisory Group (SCAG) and Business Owner; Marguerite Lee,
Business Owner; Paul Ring, VP of Development, CORE; Scot
Vallee, VP, Westfield Group PTY, Ltd.; Steve Landau, Steve
Landau, Co-chair, Winchester Advisory Group (WAG); Zach Lewis,
Executive Director of Garden to Table
2/11/2017 11:30 AM Meeting regarding City issues
Council Member Teresa O’Neill, Mayor; Marguerite Lee, Business
Owner; Kirk Vartan, Business Owne
4
Wow Suds, I believe your spectrum is showing.
I have never done this, but Mr Haugh deserves some help. The proper reply here is that Jain has written inane drivel. “I have heard rumors!” Jain accused Haggag of not living in Santa Clara. Haggag received confirmation of his residency from his opponents! This fascination with Vartan is also a sign of silliness. Vartan is a volunteer. So what!
Yes, Jain is a key witness. He caused the disaster.
Suds Jain: Santa Clara’s newest gadfly!
Waiting for Suds to comment that this article makes the readers dumber. I doubt he’ll respond.
When is Suds lying? When his lips or text msgs are moving! Proved $500k+ on his own special interests. Like eliminating elected Chief of Police and City Clerk. Right Suds? Right Miles??
Suds is a washed up handrag in Santa Clara.
Go home to your big historical house, Suds.
Your time is up!
“(It’s) certainly more accurate than Lisa Gillmor’s calendar reporting of meetings with Kirk Vartan and Burt Field” ~ Suds Jain
Nothing says, “I’m guilty” quite as loud as when one says, ya but they did it too!!! It’s like a 10 year old’s defense of throwing rocks.
Wow, another 49er supported council member acting nefariously. I’m shocked, truly, I am. 🤣🤣🤣
Jain has no notation on his calendar regarding an 8 16 communication with Houston and Fleck regarding CHARTER REVIEW. Fleck was disciplined in 1997 for accusing the late Geoff Goodfellow of getting money from architect. Fleck also held fundaisers in 1994 without listing non monetary contributions. Jain has written extensively about how he obiects to citizens using public records act, hid knowledge of Becker’s leaking documents, calls people he disagrees with as dumb
Suds Jain also sent an email to Jeff Houston recommending he got history of charter issues from Byron Fleck!!!
I have it
Isn’t sudsy the person who kept quiet about Becker illegally giving confidential grand jury report to 49ers? Complicit sudsy is now questioning action by the DA? Hypocrite!