By Tracey Kaplan
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE — The San Jose City Council was poised Tuesday to approve a recommendation by the police department and city manager’s office to oppose Proposition 47, the sentence-reduction measure on the Nov. 4 ballot — until Councilman Ash Kalra and several community activists and clergy implored them not to.
In the end, the council tied 5-5, meaning the city will stay neutral and not take a position to endorse or reject the measure. Councilwoman Rose Herrera was absent.
The interesting thing about this otherwise merely symbolic City Council vote is that members of the Rules committee on Oct. 1 had supported the staff recommendations re the six measures on the ballot, including opposing Proposition 47. So it looked like the city was likely to come out against it.
The Rules Committee includes Mayor Chuck Reed and council members Madison Nguyen, Pete Constant and Pierluigi Oliverio.
But what a difference three weeks made.
Tuesday, Reed and Nguyen switched sides, voting with Xavier Campos, Kalra, Don Rocha to support the initiative. Reed even said he was motivated in part by the racial inequities of the justice system. Community groups whose representatives spoke in favor of the measure Tuesday included Silicon Valley De-Bug and PACT. Kalra said a female minister also was among those urging the council to endorse it.
Voting against Prop 47 were council members Constant, Oliverio, Kansen Chu, Sam Liccardo and Johnny Khamis.
In a brief phone interview after the meeting Tuesday, Kalra said he was happy the city isn’t opposing the measure and glad the council had the discussion. ”It’s not about being soft on crime,” he said. “It’s about being more intelligent.”
To read the agenda item, go to http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/36080
To see Kalra’s memo on the subject, click on http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/36080
To read the arguments against Prop 47, go to: http://www.votenoprop47.org/
Proposition 47 was written by liberal San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and is backed by conservatives Newt Gingrich and B. Wayne Hughes Jr., the otherwise right-wing Christian millionaire whose father founded Public Storage.
Former San Jose police chief Bill Lansdowne supports it, as does Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
But virtually every law enforcement agency from police chiefs to sheriffs to prison guards in the state opposes it.