The local man who has been trying to get a Santa Clara council member recalled has announced he is calling off the effort and running for mayor instead.
In 2024, David Kertes ran for District 5’s council seat, losing to incumbent Suds Jain. Less than a year later, Kertes filed papers with the Registrar of Voters to recall Jain.
During his recall effort, Kertes leveled a slew of charges against Jain. Among other things, he laid the blame for — what he called — bloated government salaries at Jain’s feet and claimed Jain acted unethically during former Vice Mayor Anthony Becker’s trial.
However, in a press release issued Feb. 15, Kertes wrote that he couldn’t “in good conscience continue a recall campaign” because throughout the recall effort, he has learned the city’s problems run deeper than just District 5.
“What I found is people were asking me was ‘why can’t you work this out with Suds?’” Kertes said. “What I didn’t want to be was a hypocrite … It wasn’t time to recall someone. It was time for something bigger.”
Many people told him the recall made him look like a “poor sport.” So, he vowed to instead work to be solution-oriented.
With a little more than three weeks to go, Kertes said the recall petition had managed about half the signatures it needed to get on the ballot. However, he said he wanted to respond to what residents were saying — because many said the city’s biggest problem is that the council doesn’t listen to residents.
What they were telling him was that the “dysfunction” is citywide, he said.
“Taking out one person is not going to make that big of a difference,” he said. “When I looked at the bigger picture, it wasn’t just Suds … I can do more as a mayor than getting somebody out.”
Several instances illustrate that city employees and the council are not listening to feedback, he said.
A survey of 400 residents showed that the community wanted to see the city’s July 4 celebration return to Central Park. Instead, the council opted to again have the event at Mission College. Additionally, Kertes pointed to the city’s intention to explore the Agnews site for a new city hall, instead of returning it to the downtown like civic group Reclaiming Our Downtown wants.
If elected, Kertes, a Santa Clara Youth Soccer and Little League coach, said he would work hard to wrangle the city’s spending.
“We have people in the city that are struggling … because they cannot afford $2 million, $3 million homes,” Kertes said. “What does that show? We have some heavy payments … We have to start reeling that in.”
Kertes has already filed papers with the city indicating his intent to run. He cannot begin campaigning until May.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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