‘Bad look’ in San Mateo

On Monday, the council was unable to move beyond a 2-2 stalemate, despite trying to do so until about 3 a.m. Tuesday, when it adjourned a meeting that had begun an arduous eight hours earlier. The council was supposed to try again at 7 p.m. Wednesday, a mere two hours after the deadline for applicants who want to fill the council seat made vacant by the election of Deputy Mayor Diane Papan to the state Assembly.

This is initially about the mayor, more immediately about the vacant council seat, and ultimately about who controls an as-yet nonexistent 3-2 majority on a council that will face major development and growth debates in the coming months. The 2-2 split is not conservative versus progressive, as labeled on social media. It is all about growth — those who want to push for it versus those who want to resist it or slow it down.

Most of the time, the title of mayor rotates between councilmembers and is largely ceremonial — the person presides at council meetings, cuts ribbons, gets to deliver a largely fungible “state of the city” address and is the center of attention for a year. Ah, not this time.

In a remarkable confluence of events, the San Mateo council has been completely overhauled. Of the five members who were serving just a week ago, four are gone. Joe Goethals and Rick Bonilla opted not to run for reelection; Eric Rodriguez stepped down after one term; and Papan was sworn into the Assembly the same day as the council meeting. Gone also is nearly 30 years of service on the council.

Lee has three years on the council, a seniority that now looks particularly substantial given that her three colleagues have served little more than 72 hours.

So, Lee came to Monday’s council meeting bedecked in floral leis and crown, prepared to hold a post-meeting party celebrating her new status as more equal than the others.

But the underlying issue is the vacant seat. The council has 30 days to fill the seat — which seems like not nearly enough time now. Absent a decision by the council, the mayor gets the first draft choice. While it appears Lee relished the idea — a reward, perhaps for her heavy and heavy-handed campaigning in last month’s election — her new colleague, Lisa Diaz Nash thought otherwise.

Meanwhile, the other two new members came to the council with prepackaged alliances — Adam Loraine with Lee and Robert Newsom Jr., with Diaz Nash.

The Monday night meeting descended into accusations of dishonesty, racism and being mean. There were announcements of recall efforts targeting both Diaz Nash and Lee. Some flatly declared that blocking the election of a mayor violated the city charter, which it does not, and that it ran contrary to published guidelines on how the council is supposed to elect a mayor, which it does. But guidelines are, you know, only guidelines. They can wilt in the crossfire between two strong-willed women with no reason to compromise.

Maybe peace has been achieved and someone is mayor now. No matter. Monday night’s hootenanny laid bare some significant incisions within the body politic.

Not the least of which is that district elections have wrought a profound change on local politics, including an unprecedented political immunity. Opponents can launch a recall effort to oust Diaz Nash, but it is likely she and her views are completely safe in her district.

So, here we are with a four-member council that appears destined to be split 2-2 for quite some time to come — in a city that is split on some key issues, and now is siloed in districts.

Meanwhile, they have less than 30 days to fill this vacancy or risk looking like petulant buffoons who are unable to get along on behalf of the greater good of the city they are supposed to serve. This is what you would call a bad look.

The only likely outcome is a special election, which would have to be citywide, since the Papan seat is not subject to district lines until 2024. The council is authorized to call an election. But that will take three votes.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.