If there’s one thing that Santa Clara’s mayor seems to lead in, it’s holding a grudge. Lisa Gillmor once again showed a leopard can’t change its spots when she found fault with anything and everything in the most recent FIFA World Cup contracts guaranteeing that Santa Clara’s costs would be covered.
Gillmor is welcome to be upset with FIFA and the 49ers; that’s her prerogative. But we draw the line at her insulting the legal minds of our great city and demanding that Santa Clara consult outside counsel because she believed the city had negotiated a bad deal.
Never mind that the city’s outside legal counsel was dialed into last week’s meeting. Never mind that City Attorney Glen Googins leads a team of outstanding lawyers. Never mind that collectively, they have decades of legal experience and are paid to use that experience to protect one client – Santa Clara.
No. Lisa would rather listen to her loyal legal lemming Brian Doyle. The man Googins ultimately replaced.
Lest we forget that Doyle recently lost a court battle with Santa Clara’s esteemed lawyers when he sued for “wrongful termination.”
We believe the words “unsupported and preposterous” were used in court documents by Santa Clara’s lawyers. They also said, “This case has never made any sense” and called it “absurd.” The judge agreed and tossed Doyle’s case out like last year’s Christmas tree.
Does that sound like a lawyer that the city should be listening to?
Doyle, unaware of his own Keystone Cops bumbling performance as city attorney, spoke twice at city council last week, trying to cast doubt on the city’s lawyers and the outside counsel that advised the city.
It appears that on this legal advice, Lisa would have you believe we need to open up the city coffers to get the answer she’s looking for. Lawyers for lawyers’ sake no matter the cost, all so Lisa can feel like she’s right.
Lisa hasn’t met a Santa Clara dollar she wouldn’t like to spend.
Congrats to the city council majority for standing up to Lisa and for the rights of Santa Clarans.
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