Prosecutors close bribery case against former mayor

SAN JOSE — A bribery case against former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales has been officially closed after prosecutors said Friday they will not pursue an appeal or another grand jury indictment over the alleged corruption involving the city’s garbage contract.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr said winning an appeal seemed unlikely and launching another grand jury investigation would probably not produce any new evidence to bolster the case.

A judge in June dismissed the criminal case against Gonzales, his former budget director Joe Guerra and Norcal Waste Systems Inc. over what he found to be faulty grand jury instructions based on an overly broad interpretation of the bribery law.

Prosecutors alleged Gonzales and his aide brokered a backroom deal with Norcal in 2000 that resulted in the hiring of Teamsters, instead of lower-paid union workers, and then shadily passed off the extra labor expenses in a garbage rate hike that cost taxpayers an additional $11.25 million.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge John Herlihy ruled that prosecutors mistook ordinary political maneuvering for bribery.

"He interpreted the law more narrowly than we had and it’s unlikely that a court of appeal would overturn his ruling,” Carr said.

However, Carr, who took on the top prosecution post earlier this year, stood by her predecessor’s decisions that led to the grand jury indictment of the mayor in 2006.

"The only way to get to the truth was to get testimony under oath,” she said, adding that she believes the public still benefited from the prosecution by exposing details of what happened.