A year after his defeat, the candidate for Santa Clara’s District 5 city council seat is attempting to oust the council member voters elected.
Last year, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters (RoV), 6,049 voters cast ballots for District 5 candidates, incumbent Council Member Suds Jain and challenger David Kertes. Jain edged out Kertes by a little more than 500 votes.
But although the voters spoke, the results left a bad taste in Kertes’ mouth. He said many who voted for Jain have approached him at the farmer’s market, telling him they don’t want to slog through the remainder of Jain’s term with him helming the district, he said.
“I had a lot of people who voted for Suds tell me that they want the recall,” Kertes said. “Nothing is getting done. People are saying, ‘I voted for the wrong person.’”
Kertes said he has been hearing from residents that many issues are going unaddressed.
He cited a lack of movement on the city’s downtown, the elimination of city baseball fields, paid city parking, noise issues at Santa Clara University and the relocation of Santa Clara Unified School District’s Wilson Adult Education campus.
These issues hurt residents’ quality of life, Kertes alleged.
Additionally, he laid the blame for the city’s salary spending at Jain’s feet.
“I just said enough is enough … I am not going to wait another three years,” Kertes said.
The city needs someone with proven leadership, Kertes said, someone who will listen to residents’ concerns and meet with them regularly. In addition to being a youth baseball coach, Kertes sits on the city’s salary setting commission, which determines how much the city pays the mayor and council members.
Although the city will be on the hook for the cost for potentially two special elections, Kertes said that money is a drop in the bucket.
“If I look at the waste we are doing with the city, we are talking millions. If I am able to prevent millions of wasteful spending, that is a good ROI,” Kertes said.
For the District 5 office, according to the elections code, Kertes needed to gather 60 signatures favoring the recall. He gathered 90 signatures.
In order to recall Jain, 2,050 voters must favor the recall. The recall election must be held between 88 and 125 days from the time the recall is initiated. Unless a regular election takes place during that time, the recall would be a special election.
It’s not just what Kertes is calling unaddressed issues, either. He said Jain has lowered ethical standards, demonstrated by his protection of former Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker, who a jury convicted of perjury last year. Kertes said that unwillingness to turn in Becker makes Jain ill-suited to lead the city.
“Any other city council would have been censured. We should be held as council members to a higher standard,” he said. ”My values and ethics should be stronger than anyone’s. If it were me, I would have said something right away.”
However, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has not charged Jain with any crime.
Kertes is no stranger to allegations. Last year, he bore the brunt of allegations that claimed he colluded to bamboozle his former employer. The case was later settled, clearing him of any wrongdoing.
As a result of the negative attention focused on him for those allegations, Kertes took umbrage with The Weekly’s publication of the lawsuit. He hand-waved comparisons to allegations against Jain and those against him, saying they are “different.”
But Jain said Kertes is just grumbling because he lost, claiming Kertes just wants a do-over.
“My contention is that the people knew all this, and they voted for me,” Jain said. “This is basically all he has against me. He is saying I am unethical … He can make these vague statements and create doubt in people’s minds.”
Jain challenged Kertes’ assessment that city salaries are bloated, pointing to the disparity between City Manager Jovan Grogan and fired City Manager Deanna Santana.
In 2024, Grogan’s total pay and benefits were $536,152, according to Transparent California. In 2022, her last year working for the city, Santana’s total pay and benefits were $785,295.
Adjusted for inflation, Santana’s salary and benefits would have been worth more than $841,000 in 2024, according to the U.S. Inflation Calculator.
Not to mention, Jain added, while overall salaries may be higher, the city’s budget has also grown substantially.
In 2019-2020, the city’s budget was $955 million, according to city budgets. The most recent budget shows the city’s budget is now $1.2 billion.
As for the downtown, Jain said he cannot force a developer to propose development.
Jain scoffed at the notion that his policies are hurting the quality of life.
“My neighbors absolutely love me,” Jain said. “To allege that I have degraded the quality of life is total crap.”
Cost estimates for — potentially two — special elections were unavailable from the RoV. Although the Santa Clara County website doesn’t list how it calculates costs for elections, neighboring Alameda County does.
Alameda County, according to its website, estimates that special elections cost between $23 and $25 per registered voter for a stand-alone special election. One that coincides with a countywide primary election costs between $8 and $10 per registered voter. One that coincides with a general election costs between $5 and $7 per voter.
District 5 has 9,971 registered voters, according to Ballot Box.
So, if Alameda County’s estimates are in the same ballpark as Santa Clara County’s, each election would cost between $229,333 and $249,275 for a special election, between $79,768 and $99,710 for a primary and between $49,855 and $69,797 for a general election.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
Valley Fair Mall had to be evacuated the day after Thanksgiving. Gunshots. Injuries. Fear.
Why no mention of a real danger in the community? Where is the article? Need another week?
Why focus AGAIN on petty rivalries between local politicians?
Are you a silly propaganda rag or is important news your business?
Choose. You are embarrassing yourself, Santa Clara Weekly, in the meantime.
Visitors to Santa Clara would never know what is happening here is they only read the Weekly.
Residents in Santa Clara deserve better.
To be fair, the section the shooting occurred in was not the Santa Clara side. Last time I checked this syndication covers Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. So I am fine with SVV not covering the issue. While the Mall is partly in Santa Clara even our mayor pointed out it was the SJ side. If you want SJ news there are plenty other syndications that cover that.
I find a lot of things on SVV relevant vs gossip columns elsewhere
Never heard a peep from Cox who represents the area where valley fair is / in fact I’m surprised we did not hear from the special advisor to the Mayor
This is not only a bitter vendetta by David Kertes himself but it is also a Mayor Gillmor vendetta against Suds Jain. Suds Jain is facing this because of the effects of the Becker trial and his conviction, but for the really dumbest reasons. The Gillmor Mafia’s Suds Jain Recall effort is driven from their interpretation of the laws not what is actually charged. These are mafia minions who make accusations consistently over items that are not provable. Kertes states he will save money when he clearly does not understand how the city works nor understands how government works. Kertes is the perfect useful idiot that Gillmor needs to do this effort. Kertes bully mentality fits with the Gillmor Mafia and at any moment they could cut him loose if things go south for Kertes. It’s ironic thought that Kertes talks about ethical standards being lowered in the city. The only person that has done that is the person he is working for, Mayor Gillmor. If Kertes is about ethics they he would support the charges against the Mayor and former Councilmember Kathy Watanabe and a slew of others. Yet he only selectively applies ethics like Tom Shanks the ethic expert the same with Mayor Gillmor herself. This recall effort is driven by hate, hate from a sore loser and hate from a out of control Mayor who cannot let go of power. For more goodies about ethics and those that Kertes is saying Mayor Gillmor and his side has more than Suds Jain, read my letters to the editor. https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-to-the-editor-we-dont-need-no-stinking-ethics/, https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-to-the-editor-hey-jude-are-you-listening/, https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letters-to-the-editor-demand-accountability-and-truth/, https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-to-the-editor-the-unmasking-of-the-gillmor-empire/.
Also, Kertes is all about spending more money on a recall all while no one knows how much he is spending to do all these recall efforts. He is willing to put the city is a difficult situation rather than just wait to run in 2028 all because Mayor Gillmor is unhappy. You know for sure with these moves Gillmor is sticking around past her term ending. Notice how the same narratives Kertes spews is the same that Gillmor has talked about for decades. https://www.svvoice.com/letters/letter-to-the-editor-from-roger-re-oct-21-council-meeting/. Also notice how racially driven this is, the same supporters of this recall are the same that said when Suds Jain was elected in 2020 there were too many Indians on the city council. That there makes you cringe about who Kertes supporters are.
In the months leading up to the November 2024 election, reporting about ex-Councilmember Becker was relentless across multiple media outlets, including Silicon Valley Voice, San Jose Spotlight, San Jose Inside, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, NBC Bay Area, and KRON. And, none of it was positive. After reviewing allegations, transcripts, and interviewing witnesses, it was clear that Becker revealed his activity only after the District Attorney’s office subpoenaed Councilmember Jain, and the various media outlets noted that.
Santa Clara’s educated voters heard the allegations against Becker and weighed whether there were other conspirators. After analysis, District 5 constituents decided Suds Jain would be the best person to represent them on the City Council.
Kertes isn’t a good businessman. What “millions of wasteful spending” is Kertes talking about? Jovan Grogan’s compensation isn’t what’s breaking the taxpayer bank. It’s the overbloated salaries, pensions, and benefits doled out to city employees that have Santa Clara in a financial mess. The moment Kertes decides to speak out about that is the moment he loses his precious employee union endorsement. In fact, right now would be a good time for Kertes to test that theory, as employee unions are engaged in closed-session negotiations to secure double-digit, year-after-year salary and pension increases. For many years, Suds Jain has been one of the very few Council members to speak out about the topic.
Throwing good money after bad is what Kertes is asking District 5 residents to do, and there is no ROI in that. Residents shouldn’t sign the recall petition; this is a complete and embarrassing waste of resources.