By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara News Online (SCNO) reported that the Yes on Measure B Campaign was falsely using former Police Chief Frank Vasquez to support their campaign
Then, SCNO reported that Santa Clara City Councilmember Karen Hardy created a Facebook ad using former and deceased Police Chief Donald “Manny” Ferguson.
Another former Police Chief noticed our reporting and he’s not happy either.
Charles Arolla wrote in a comment on yesterday’s story that Hardy is falsely using his endorsement. SCNO confirmed with him that he posted this comment:
I have both Messaged Karen West Hardy and Commented regarding her post on February 6th which is an ad for the passage of Measure B on the March 5th Special Election to make Santa Clara’s Chief of Police a position appointed by the City Manager.
I am not in favor of the passage of Measure B and have never endorsed its passage or given the measure’s proponents my permission to use my likeness or any quote. I have posted the following to her, which you may repeat on your Facebook page:
“Karen Hardy: Please remove my likeness and quote from this and ANY ads and endorsements proposing the passage of Measure B. I am not in favor of converting the position to one appointed by the Santa Clara City Manager; and the information you have created in this Measure B ad published on February 6th on your Facebook Page is false and misleading. Please remove my image and quote immediately.” Charles Arolla, Chief of Police, Retired.
It looks like Hardy’s ad is still on her Facebook page as of 5 p.m. yesterday.
But Arolla’s comments on her Facebook post were deleted or blocked. Hmm.
Apologies, but ‘Good Order and Discipline’ is so elitist and stupid… as quoted…
“Apparently, you were an enlisted man. Every officer you called “sir” had to meet high educational and training standards before being commissioned by the U.S. Congress and they served at the pleasure of an elected body of Congress and the President of the United States.”
That’s why unpopular officers like you would get fragged (or eliminated by ‘friendlies’ in combat) in Viet Nam.
Don’t lean into your elitist education in basket weaving as your savior.
One more thing….
An elected police chief provides TRANSPARENCY the 49er 5 and Jed wish to cover up… Kudos to the Santa Clara Police Force… They are the BEST!!!!
Please review the public information provided by an elected police chief:
https://www.santaclaraca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/79345/638433394340170000
BEST DARN POLICE BLOTTER IN CALIFORNIA!!!!
Now look at our neighbors’ public information….. GARBAGE!!!!
Sunnyvale:
https://www.sunnyvale.ca.gov/your-government/departments/public-safety/public-safety-services/crime-statistics
(Sunnyvale Cops sold their soul to LexisNexis… who “softens” crime)
San Jose:
https://www.sjpd.org/records/crime-stats-maps
(San Jose Cops did the same….)
Cupertino:
https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/departments/public-safety-programs/neighborhood-watch/crime-summaries
(Cupertino Cops did the same….)
Is it that JED and SUDS (and Park) wants to BURY the truth of CRIME near his House of Ill-repute???
Viva Santa Clara!!!
https://twitter.com/jedyork?lang=en
We await Jed’s cordial response…. expect crickets… silence is violence JED!!!
Ha!
Where did Mr. BOLD TEXT come from recently?
And why promote stripping Santa Clara Citizens from their RIGHT TO VOTE!!!!
Suds & Jed–two of many peas in an evil pod.
Perhaps Mr. Bold Text is SUDS—UNHINGED in reality.
In sum:
1. Elected police officers/sheriffs ARE ACCOUNTABLE (so they may be called out).
2. APPOINTED POLICE CHIEFS GET AWAY WITH CRIME!!!! (because–they DO NOT stand ACCOUNTABLE–please don’t offend Jovan!!!)
@ Howard et al ..
My transparency puts me at a disadvantage since I can’t do any cute research on you.
It was not research but just reading news that led me to the article about a presumably honest police chief being fired by a possibly crooked mayor. The connection seemed obvious.
Nice of you to do all that research for us on elected vs appointed, but let’s follow it to it’s logical conclusion.
You believe you have demonstrated elected police chiefs are less honest than appointed ones. If we extend that to other public officials, such as the elected mayor accused of misusing funds, then you prove the mayor should have been appointed instead of elected.
And carrying your point farther, you have shown that elected officials in general are less honest and looking at our political landscape you may have a point.
The current proposal is to have an appointed person appoint the chief. But elected people appointed the appointer. Shouldn’t the council members be appointed also. Certainly there is good reason to wonder if that might not be better than some of the members we now have.
Then you would have every level appointed by a higher level, thus keeping everyone honest. But what about the highest level, who would appoint that position? Certainly not the people, they can’t be trusted.
You may think this absurd, and it is. Carrying a hypothesis to it’s logical conclusion to show its absurdity is demonstrating reductio ad absurdum. If we buy what you say we will be ruled by appointed people vs elected people. Not the America I want to live in, thank you very much.
You may argue that you only want to apply it at one level but on what grounds can you claim that?
What grounds to apply it at one level? Howard, as a Vietnam Veteran and someone who has lived in this area a long time you’ve not only seen the ‘grounds”, you’ve actually lived it.
The head of every branch of armed service – Chief of Staff U.S. Army General Randy George, Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Air Force Chief of Staff David Allvin, Chief of Space Operations General John Raymond, and Chief National Guard Bureau General Daniel Hokanson – are all full-time, highly credentialed and scrutinized leaders. They are not elected to their highly responsible positions, they are interviewed, nominated and confirmed by elected officials but they are APPOINTED.
Apparently, you were an enlisted man. Every officer you called “sir” had to meet high educational and training standards before being commissioned by the U.S. Congress and they served at the pleasure of an elected body of Congress and the President of the United States. Furthermore, for good order and discipline, soldiers could not raise money internally or from outside entities to threaten command staff and choose their own leaders. Doing so would be considered a mutiny or treason. Yet junior police officers interfering with the selection of their superiors and taking money from outside entities is exactly what the junior rank & file in Santa Clara’s Police Department are doing. Santa Clara PD has more officers convicted of crimes than any other police agency in the Bay Area.
In your civilian life you’ve seen firsthand in Santa Clara County the cities of Sunnyvale, Campbell, Morgan Hill, San Jose, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Gilroy, Mountain View, and Milpitas have always APPOINTED their Police Chief and there have been minimal political scandals in those cities. You can’t contest that the only two entities in the County that have long-standing controversies between police leaders and councils/supervisors is Santa Clara County’s Sheriff and City of Santa Clara’s Chief of Police.
Former Santa Clara Chiefs of Police who have consistently spoken out against how badly politics and insufficient requirements have hampered their ability to improve the police department. As military veteran, well-educated professional, and hopefully someone who is engaging publicly for the better of the community, I would think your first inclination is to look for change, not perdurantes mala consilia.
You of all people should know this measure is about accountability and eliminating politics from policing. VOTE YES on Measure B!
OMG! Well thank you so much for proving my point. First you indicate appointed people are more honest and I can extrapolate that to mean all should be appointed. But not good enough, you want our civilian life to replicate the military!!
Again, thanks but no thanks.
What are your thoughts about a police chief being fired for political reasons? By someone elected, to boot?
I will stick to a representative republic vs a govt structured like the military.
It is no secret I used to be in favor of appointed chief but, again, that was when I trusted our city govt. No longer, I want some separation. We have had enough of being run by jed york.
No and A and B.
What could go wrong? An Illinois town mayor fired the police chief amid corruption scandals. When you are in charge of who is investigating you it easy to get rid of them.
“Henyard is embroiled in a growing number of controversies, the reports say. From inquiries about her lavish spending to a lawsuit alleging she improperly terminated the village’s police chief, the mayor’s troubles are piling up.”
https://ijr.com/town-already-7-million-debt-ordered-release-spending-records-mayor-allies-lavish-purchases/
Howard, it’s good to see you leveraging your private university, graduate degree training in doing some research! Since your criticism is of both a town mayor and its police chief, let’s compare them individually.
Dolton, IL has a population of 19,957, and the City of Santa Clara 127,647.
Dolton’s Mayor is suspected of spending lavishly on business trips for herself and associates while refusing transparency with the town’s accounting books. Santa Clara’s Mayor is also accused of doling out lavish salary increases and benefits to employees who align with her personal/political aspirations.
In an interview with San Jose Spotlight, retired Police Chief Mike Sellers had this to say: “Our city [Santa Clara] has been subjected to a level of hatred and nastiness that has never been seen before. It is being compounded by your lack of leadership, honesty and transparency,” he told Mayor Gillmor in a 2017 speech on the matter. “This unnecessary burden is affecting the fine men and women that serve this great city.” https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-police-chief-mike-sellers-will-retire-before-term-ends/
(2019) Harvard University’s Michael Zoorob analyzed a novel dataset of more than 5,500 Sheriff elections from across the US to provide the first systematic account of the electoral context. In South Carolina, nearly one in four Sheriffs have been accused of breaking laws, ranging from driving drunk to corruption. Sheriff misconduct is so pervasive that can be hard to miss. An exploration of campaign financing in Sheriff races unwittingly discovered “how often sheriffs were found guilty of crimes during or after their careers as sheriff, for offenses ranging from corruption and tax evasion to indecent exposure and murder”. If the Sheriff is directly accountable to the people, why is he so-often badly behaved? Answering this question requires a systematic examination of electoral supervision for Sheriffs – of what kinds of bosses are citizens. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379422001068
In addition to the Harvard Study, there were also two other studies from University of Virginia School of Law and Hofstra University that studied and compared elected versus appointed law enforcement leaders. All three of those studies were submitted to the 2023 Charter Review Committee and Santa Clarans for public review.
Let’s bring it back to California where there are 356 Police Departments and 58 Sheriff’s Departments.
Do you know how many sitting appointed police chiefs have been indicted and/or convicted of crimes? None. Do you know how many of those appointed police chiefs are better credentialed than Patrick Nikolai? All of them.
Do you know how many sitting elected police chiefs/sheriffs have been indicted and/or convicted of crimes? So far 3. Lee Baca, Laurie Smith, and Randy Waltz. A few days ago, I provided hyperlinks to those cases, I’m sure you recall reading them!
According to data compiled by the Santa Clara Civil Grand Jury and PoliceScorecard.com, the city of Santa Clara’s Police Department has the highest number of officers accused of crimes in the entire county and the lowest educated police chief. There is a direct correlation between the two. Nikolai is retiring in December and word has it there will again be only one candidate on the ballot of Measure B fails. That candidate has no law enforcement management experience and would result in the same bad experience that we’ve seen with Nikolai. Retired police chief Steve Lodge warned us about this, and Santa Clara voters should heed that warning and Vote YES on Measure B.
Steve Lodge, Letter #1 October 26, 2016
“With the focus on the presidential election, I worry that we may be distracted from a local election that will directly impact our families.
I am speaking of the election of Police Chief. Our current Chief, Mike Sellers, is running for re-election after four successful years as Chief. Crime is down. Hiring new police officers is up. Santa Clara – the only city in the state that elects the chief, has created the opportunity for a first line supervisor, who does not qualify for advancement beyond his current position, nor the opportunity to run for chief in any other city, to run for chief.
Chief Ferguson hired Mike. Chiefs Vasquez and Arolla recognized Mike’s abilities and promoted him through the ranks. As your Chief for 10 years, I also promoted and mentored Mike, as did Chief Kyle. Mike’s opponent [Patrick Nikolai] did not seek advancement or mentorship. I encourage you to vote for Chief Sellers.” https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-from-steve-lodge/
Steve Lodge, Letter #2 November 9, 2016
“Unions were created to protect workers from oppressive and unlawful practices by employers. I was a POA member for much of my career. But sometimes, under the guise of supporting the worker, the union goes to far. We saw this when the POA fought to get binding arbitration, but the Santa Clara voters were wise enough to see that it was not in the best interest of our city and voted it down. Despite that loss, our police officers are amongst the best cared for in the industry.
In this election we see another example of the union going too far. They have raised over $70,000 from developers and other wealthy opportunists from outside Santa Clara to promote their candidate. Is that the role we want our police officers to play? Previous Chiefs Vasquez, Arolla, Kyle and I all agree with our 24 years experience as Chief of Police, Mike Sellers is the most qualified to continue leading our department.” https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-from-steve-lodge-2/
@Howard et al
Re-reading the quote from Steve Lodge it occurs to me it is confusing and misleading when applying it as you have. Yes, it was regarding an election 8 years ago and he was supporting his favorite candidate.
But why did you use this quote? To make it look like Steve Lodge supports Measure B?
While I was serving on a Charter Review Committee we discussed if we should look at this issue. Steve Lodge was there and speaking directly to me he made it very clear he was opposed to changing this from being an elected position. Using disjointed quotes does nothing but cloud the issue, which is apparently the purpose. If he had changed his mind I would expect a new quote and not an unrelated one from 2016.
To whom is using the so-called “Suds Jain” non de plume, I pray that whoever it is… is not the Real Suds Jain.
This response is to someone identified as “so-called” Suds Jain—the writer under “Suds Jain” cannot be the Real MIT-educated Suds Jain as the Real Suds Jain could not be so stupid to set forth illogical and dumb arguments for an appointed police chief.
Point 1. So-called Suds Jain cites “svvoice” of some type of authority or source of grounded truth. Santa Clarans know that rag is nothing but excrement and paid-for propaganda for Jed York.
Point 2. So-called Suds Jain states: “I think everyone is missing my point. In RUSSIA, there is often only one candidate and potential opposition candidates are PRESSURED to drop out if they are not left to rot in prison.” Perhaps the city council and Anti-Santa Clara Suds craves and envies the power to PRESSURE an APPOINTED police chief.
Point 3. While former Soviet Union, now Russia, is diverse in ethnicity, so-called Suds Jain cites “RUSSIA” and implies that the Russian people of a certain ethnicity are too stupid “elect” a police chief. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot—where is the evidence of this? Please inform us of the selection of Moscow’s police chief, or would he rather just denigrate the ethnicity of Russian peoples?
Point 4. So-called Suds Jain pushes for an APPOINTED police chief. Perhaps he’d agree with the appointment of Wolf-Heinrich Helldorf who in 1935 WAS APPOINTED—as a NAZI—Berlin’s police chief. Helldorf had the rank of SA-Oberführer, and later assumed leadership of the Schutzstaffel (“SS”) in Brandenburg. ***He was NOT ELECTED by the people***–the citizens did NOT have a VOTE in stopping future atrocities. So-called Suds Jain pushes to take away the rights of citizens and place that decision into the hands of corrupt politicians…kinda like during the rise of the NAZIs.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/wolf-heinrich-von-helldorf
Possible future Headline of SF Chronicle on Santa Clara…
… an APPOINTED Berlin police chief was responsible for this:
[Appointed!!!] “Berlin Police Head Announces ‘Disarming’ of Jews–”
https://www.nytimes.com/1938/11/09/archives/nazis-ask-reprisal-in-attack-on-envoy-press-links-shooting-in-paris.html?sq=Helldorf&scp=2&st=p
Point 5. “Interesting that Matt Dillion is calling me out for being unethical while he refuses to use his real name.” What a petty point. So-called Suds Jain CANNOT win his case based on facts but rather would rely on smearing an individual citizen’s name who offers credible and cogent reasons for electing a police chief. Shameful!
It is DISGRACEFUL that shady and corrupt so-called representative of our City want to strip citizens of their rights!!!!
God Save Santa Clara from Evil Suds Jain and the other 49er 5!
Day 1. Suds Jain didn’t respond to any points.
Rather, a poster today under ‘so-called’ Suds Jain paranoically rattled off a litany of names attributed to some “James Rowen.” Sounds like this “James Rowan” lives in Suds’ head rent-free.
There is concern Suds in Unstable. Mentally unhinged.
So-called Suds writes and provides arguments so much like Humphrey Bogart’s character in this link. (“everyone is telling lies…” especially about strawberries…)
https://youtu.be/KekChFdIe00?t=84
Apologies to the Real Suds Jain if this not the case.
Interesting that Matt Dillion is calling me out for being unethical while he refuses to use his real name : James Rowen, a person who was forced to take down his blogs for slandering a political candidate and he now uses multiple aliases thinking that he can avoid being called out for libel by doing so. He still owes hundreds of thousands of dollars for that libel case.
I think everyone is missing my point. In Russia, there is often only one candidate and potential opposition candidates are pressured to drop out if they are not left to rot in prison. In 6 out of the last 9 elections, there was only one candidate for police chief. Dan Winter was pressured by the POA to drop out.
Gosh Suds your choice of words are so gauche. James Rowen called out an equally unethical candidate like you. Someone who was suspended. A former candidate who ran against Hon. Teresa O’Neill and made disbarraging and unwarranted comments about her in public.
https://www.svvoice.com/santa-clara-attorney-suspended-by-state-bar-for-improperly-charging-clients/
You both get what you deserve from Rowen and anyone else who sees your unequivocal hate of the City of Santa Clara and anyone who stands up to you.
Just leave.
Eddie Kirk
Retired Policeman who supports No on B!
Was Winter threatened with prison?? I cannot believe this. Jain is comparing the POA to Putin!
The binding arbitration election was pretty fierce. But at no time did the POA harass or bully any of us. Indeed Nikolai always was respectful. I hope no one in the POA has a Ukranian heritage or I see a written petition coming.
Kathy, If Cory Morgan is the only person on the ballot in November and no one but you votes, your single vote would get him elected.
Suds, it is not fair to compare Santa Clara to Russia! I am for voting for our Chief of Police, and you’re against that. We are both allowed to express our opinions. This is not Russia!
https://norcalpublicmedia.org/capital-public-radio-latest-news-rss/here-are-california-organizations-supporting-ukraine
This is best to answer suds jain’s insult to santa clara.
Oh look now, shape shifter James Rowen is using another of his many aliases to hide behind. He has many more to recycle: John Galt, Andrea Orsini, Stan Garcia, Diane Torres, Samson Agonistes, Samson Agonistes, Stalker Suds, Bill Nighy, Smeagol Suds, Mrs. Peel, Perry Mason, Bobby G., Margaret Gellhorn, Mr. Burns, Dionysis
Hey Suds!
You give James
Rowen 2 much
credit. 😂😂
This is a perfect example on why we need to continue to elect our police chief. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely – Lord Action.
I refer your readers to this 1994 article in the San Jose Mercury news stating the views of Santa Clara Chiefs of police at that time voicing support for Appointment.
https://cdn.svvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/26124315/1993-mercury-vote-on-elected-police-chief.pdf
The Police Officers Association (POA) which is a special interest group spent over $325,000 in the 2020 election to support its favored candidates and to oppose others. POA is spending very heavily to oppose Measure B.
https://www.svvoice.com/follow-the-money-police-pac-spends-50000-opposing-appointed-police-chief-appointment-supporters-spend-300/
Remember if the POA gets its way, we will have another Lieutenant with no management experience as our next Chief of Police this coming November. Just like in Russia, there will be only one candidate on the ballot for Chief.
Get the facts: appointpolicechief.com
Comparing the POA to Russian is filthy. I campaigned on opposite sides of the POA six times from 1994 to 2020. I regard them as strong willed and sincere. I think they are decent, heroric people who face having put they life on the line everyday. I disagree with them politically but honor them personally. To compare them to soldiers who pillage the Steppes is wrong. This is not 1994. The question is Measure B. Vote No.
Jain is an unethical political golem
Karen Hardy appears to have posted a screen capture on her personal Facebook page but she did not create those images or create “a Facebook ad.”
The images are official photos of publicly elected police chiefs made available in the public library and the quote attributed to Arolla appears in a letter he wrote to the 2023 Charter Review Committee which is published in its entirety by the City of Santa Clara for open public review: https://www.santaclaraca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/81697/638303005306830000
These public domain photos and quotes are not being used for commercial purposes therefore no permission to use them is required. For decades the quotes have been referenced numerous times by public media but have never been previously questioned until this election cycle and only on this SCNO blog. https://www.svvoice.com/elected-vs-appointed-police-chief-a-subject-that-comes-up-regularly/
In addition to the screen capture image, Karen provided her interpretation of the images and content which is a protected First Amendment right that we all enjoy. In fact, as you can see in the hyperlink above, former Santa Clara Mayor Gary Gillmor, former City Manager Donald Von Raesfeld, and former City Attorney Brian Doyle all supported changing the City’s Charter for the City Manager to appoint a police chief and City Clerk. Their quotes are in the public domain and can be referenced as well if someone chooses.
Councilperson Karen Hardy is now taking plays from Jed York. His new Wide Deceiver “Goofy Hardly” is spreading dishonest statements from former dead police Chief”s. Personnel foul on Hardy, unsportmen like conduct for lying to the public. And she is teaching our children, unbelievable. No wonder our schools test scores are low.