Strange way for college board to name new trustee

The board met on Feb. 8, a week ago Wednesday, to fill the vacancy created by the election of Trustee Maurice Goodman to the Millbrae City Council.

To call the board meeting a fiasco only begins to describe the two-plus hours of parliamentary confusion, meandering and bloviating comments, and even a lengthy discussion about discussions.

Two comments from the meeting jump out.

Trustee Richard Holober, whose 26 years on the board has taken on the aspect of a lifelong sinecure, observed with a certain veracity, “Perhaps we’re embarrassing ourselves.”

Board President Lisa Petrides, chairing the meeting said, more than once, “I’m definitely out of my league.”

She also said, at another point, that “the newspaper” will take a comment out of context. “They always take the stupidest quotes and put them in there.”

She should be comforted by the fact that I have not used the stupidest quotes.

Anyway, and in case you are scoring at home, there were four board members, six applicants and, at one point, there were three votes for college professor and San Bruno Planning Commissioner Marco Durazo, three votes for former Millbrae Councilmember Wayne Lee and two votes for housing advocate and Democratic activist Alexander Melendrez. How four trustees were able to cast eight votes to fill one position is just too knotty to explain.

Of particular note was the way the trustees asked each other about the appropriate way to proceed, until, finally, Lead Deputy County Counsel Tim Fox, apparently called to the meeting via Zoom, waded in and walked them through a process that would result in a clear decision. Even then, they elected Lee twice, it appears.

One more fascinating aspect of the meeting was the number of times the trustees said the job was complex, complicated and difficult, particularly in asserting that some of the candidates lacked experience and background to tackle the tough issues facing the college district.

TOTAL RECALL: The effort to recall San Mateo Mayor Amourence Lee is growing increasingly serious and increasingly problematic for the long-term prospects of the city, which does, indeed, face some important and challenging issues.

None of that should be interpreted as for or against the recall. But there is a reality that any political discord that may be extant in the city of Saint Matthew will only deepen with a recall election, regardless of the outcome.

The five former mayors — Jerry Hill, Claire Mack, Maureen Freschet, Eric Rodriguez and Carole Groom — who recently publicly endorsed Lee’s recall said they “yearn for a return to positive, healthy governance.”

A recall election rarely results in either of those things.

There is an understandable tendency to equate recall with impeachment — an extreme step in response to misconduct in office. But the recall law in California sets no standard. Anyone can be recalled by anyone for any reason — including the modern sin of political disagreement.

Make no mistake, this is not an effort to restore healthy governance. This is a political dispute, a reflection of deep disagreement over a wide range of issues, from growth and development to public conduct and campaign tactics.

Lee’s aggressive attacks on one candidate during last year’s City Council campaign, her unwillingness to look into removing a planning commissioner for alleged misconduct, her hardline progressive politics and her own behavior during the council’s dispute over the mayoralty certainly have energized her political enemies. Her supporters will say it is a waste of money and that she will face reelection in less than two years. It should be noted, Lee was elected citywide and the recall will be a citywide election. Should she seek another term in 2024, she will run in a district.

Neither of these assertions gets to the heart of the matter — there are significant political divisions in the city that have culminated in the attempt at the recall of Lee. She may have contributed to them. She may be the target of them. But they will not be resolved by a recall election, regardless of the outcome.

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.