Enough of Robert Haugh. The self-appointed sultan of slime has demonstrated that the vicious pit of his poison pen has no bottom. For those who don’t know him, he writes a blog that rarely has anything kind, respectful, thoughtful or inspiring to say. He’s a propaganda volcano, continuously erupting propaganda against any council member or public figure who isn’t a Lisa Gillmor groupie.
When I fired Robert Haugh for cause at The Weekly years ago, I knew he had no chance as a reporter for any person or company with a legitimate reputation. It turns out I was correct.
But like a bad penny, he inevitably turned up again, this time writing a blog featuring all the news that’s unfit to print, favoring Gillmor and her favorites, while smearing just about everyone else — even lifelong Santa Clara booster and activist Mary Grizzle, who, in her eighties, is still a school crossing guard.
He even suggested, when he started his blog, that Gary Gillmor, the current mayor’s father, might support his blog financially, because, “Lisa can’t contribute duh cause council obviously. But nothing stops her dad.”
I strongly suggest our readers consider the lack of credibility or credentials of Robert Haugh.
After nearly 10 years of distinguishing himself for libelous attacks, Haugh has outdone himself with his unconscionable recent attacks on Council Member Kevin Park. Beyond being intentionally disrespectful, detrimental, demeaning and disgusting, his assertions are libelous.
For someone who has had his own experience being charged with a repellant crime that was ultimately dismissed, one that could have ruined his life, you would think that Haugh would want to be sure of his facts and would be keenly aware of the difference between gossip and fact. But … you would be wrong … Haugh doesn’t care. “Empathy” isn’t a word in his dictionary, much less “integrity” or “accuracy.” And, instead of censure, Haugh has company in his attacks.
This is just the latest chapter in Haugh’s scandal sheet. No doubt there’s more to come.
Park has been a leader on City Council, asking questions that are central to navigating the city’s future. He has demonstrated an amazing ability to build consensus, apply common sense and vote for quality decisions. He is trusted and respected by his council peers. He is popular with his constituents and was reelected by a healthy majority.
Robert Haugh is trusted and respected by … who?
His current attacks on Kevin Park may be malicious, unfounded and overblown; however, remember who he works for.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Your Next Mayor – Opinion
Milestones – Incompetence – Opinion
Milestones – The “Story” Continues – Opinion
What Robert Haugh cranks out is not only the slime report, it is a crime. Slime crime is the business that Haugh, Jude Barry and Lisa Gillmor are involved with. Years ago, there was another hateful evil and lying blogger named James Rowen. His Mission City Lantern blog was shut down by a judge thankfully because attorney John Mlnarik took him to court and won. James Rowen had to turn over the keys to his precious hate space that was full of hit pieces. http://www.savesantaclara.org/James_Rowen.php. Even James Rowen has had a run in with the law abusing a transit employee.
While Robert Haugh himself nearly went to jail for inappropriate things with his daughter. Haugh was arrested in a Target, and booked, and spent a weekend in jail at the hotel Elmwood. He preaches about justice, corruption yada yada yet Becker, Caserta, Park and whoever else he goes after never spent a night in jail like he did. The same good ole Santa Clara police union then used the quotes from his blog twice in 2020 and 2022 elections in their mailers acting like he is a legitimate news source. The same police that arrested him because of pretty damning evidence ends up using his quotes and headlines. How disturbing is that by the Santa Clara police union? They really surround themselves with the shady type.
Robert Haugh is no journalist, he never does interviews. Councilmember Suds Jain and others often said he never calls, never records interviews and just writes whatever he wants even if you correct the record. Haugh always doubles down on his lies. This is exactly why Gillmor needs him. It’s to poison the well of Santa Clara. Destroy the names of Gillmor’s enemies like those on Council now. Look at what they are doing to Kevin Park. The other day they throw Police Chief Cory Morgan under the bus, remember Chief Morgan is the son in law of Robert Mezzetti who is the attorney of Lisa Gillmor. Cory Morgan is team Gillmor and was hand selected by the police union. The Gillmor mafia are harassing the police department to divulge records they cannot divulge. This is the same Gillmor Klan Mafia that harassed School Board President Vickie Fairchild for info on closed session discussions over the swim club and Dominic Castera, the same Gillmor mafia that leaks to the Chronicle, the same Gillmor mafia that leaked Castera’s personnel file that now is costing the school district bunches of money, it is a damning pattern of her abusive ways to get info and yet always above the law.
The reality is it is either Jude Barry, Gillmor, her father, or even Teresa O’Neill who are paying Robert Haugh to do all this. The guy is a real loser and needs the money. Sleeping in a bunkbed at mom and dads as described in the court room during his own trial. None of them will be honest or transparent, they are full of it. You ask any of Gillmor’s mafia minion and none, not one will be honest. Ask Special Advisor Kirk Vartan, James Rowen, Tom Shanks and even bully David Kertes if they communicate with her and they never ever give you an answer and change the topic. Ultimate liars. Birds of a feather flock together right.
Robert Haugh needs to be stopped once and for all. His lies damage people’s lives. Both him and James Rowen have harmed lives. James Rowen is Lisa Gillmor’s “phone a friend” who comments on Robert Haugh’s blog under fake names like Matt Dillion for example. Rowen always comments on his actions like filing false Grand Jury complaints. He is so proud of it. Gillmor has a system down that people like James Rowen, Debbie Tryforos, Kirk Vartan, Tom Shanks and more all file these false complaints that are then reviewed by the Civil Grand Jury. The civil grand jury then investigates these complaints all while Robert Haugh writes his garbage highlighting the narrative of those complaints for weeks and months. Then a grand jury report is released and the judge of the grand jury does not change anything if the subjects of the report complain the grand jury lied. Gillmor mafia creates the news, the spin, and the narrative. They sell it to the media, the courts and the general public and say “see, look we were right”. They use this same court system to take out opponents like Anthony Becker and next is Kevin Park. Ever notice Gillmor always accuses people of domestic violence, corruption, abuse and leaking documents? Projection much? It is always the same modus operandi with her, Haugh, Barry, Civil Grand Jury etc. One hand feeds the other, or they scratch each other’s backs. Investigate Haugh, Gillmor Barry. Investigate them all and guarantee they will go to jail or like the mafia and Al Capone, are they ‘The Untouchables”.
Miles, your article exposes what many in Santa Clara have known for years: Robert Haugh’s blog has never been about journalism. It has always been a political weapon. And it is no secret how it came to be. When Haugh was cast off from legitimate reporting, it was Mayor Lisa Gillmor and then Councilmember Teresa O’Neill, another high school buddy, former councilwoman, and school board member, who helped him launch his blog. They saw the value in creating a hit piece machine that could go after their opponents while shielding them from having to get their hands dirty.
From the outset there was a “game plan.” Longtime community member Burt Field has pointed out that Gillmor’s circle openly discussed who they would target and why. Anthony Becker was one. Kevin Park is now the latest. And anyone paying attention knows Suds Jain is next in line. Time will show that Karen Hardy and Raj Chahal will also be added to the list of targets. In Santa Clara, every opposition to the Gillmors seems to have a target on their back. After all, “it is the Santa Clara way,” a phrase Patricia Mahan often used. We can now look back and understand what she meant. She was targeted herself, as was Dominic Caserta, Jamie McLeod, and John Kennedy, both of whom opposed the stadium deal, even while Lisa Gillmor was appearing in TV ads in favor of it. Lisa never showed her hand, but her network of supporters carried out the attacks for her. At one point Becker appeared to be in the Gillmor circle, and then we think he woke up. If only he had played along, his life now ruined by vengeance.
Gillmor’s real strength has always been in using others to do her bidding. Former Councilmember Deb Davis later complained privately that she was pressured and manipulated into following Gillmor’s direction. Patricia Mahan, over time, realized the same thing. Kathy Watanabe was often given cues on the dais, with Lisa announcing how she would not support an item only for Watanabe to “magically” vote the same way moments later. Now, Kelly Cox has stepped right into that mold. She is an eager student, quick to mimic Gillmor’s line, and perhaps does not even see the bigger picture. If she did, she might realize she has walked into a trap with no way out. And her new “friend,” Christian Pellecchia, has already signaled that he will be running in the next election cycle, another cog added to Gillmor’s long running political machine. With the Gillmor seal of approval, you’re not just endorsed. You’re inducted into the family, and in this family, you never walk away. Should you decide to, be prepared to move away or disappear.
Meanwhile, Gillmor’s hands appear squeaky clean. She rarely utters the attacks herself. Instead, she outsources the dirty work to others, Haugh with his blog, allies like O’Neill, and the orbit of political consultants who amplify the spin. It is a textbook case of plausible deniability. Gillmor maintains the façade of statesmanship while her surrogates shred opponents in the gutter. And if you listen to Council meetings, the same allies reliably call in to echo Gillmor’s concerns or push her agenda on projects. It is always the same few voices: Leonne (Lee) Broughman, her former campaign treasurer; Burt Field, her high school friend; Teresa O’Neill, another high school ally and long time political insider; Kirk Vartan, her so called “Special Advisor”; his ally Tom Shanks, the disgraced Santa Clara ethics advisor; along with Debbie Tryforos, David Kertes, and Howard Myers. If they are not calling in, they are penning op-eds, spinning on Facebook or Nextdoor, or feeding the blogs. And let us not forget James Rowen, hiding behind the pseudonym “Matt Dillon,” who continues to push Gillmor’s narrative through fake online identities. And if her friend Kathy Watanabe does not get reinvented as mayor after her school board and council stints, you can bet she will join the Gillmor choir, phoning in to complain about anyone who does not fall in line with the Gillmor reign. The pattern is unmistakable.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Haugh himself once faced allegations that nearly ruined his life, but he shows no empathy for others. Instead, he traffics in rumor, innuendo, and half truths, disguised as “special reports,” with no fact checking, no editorial oversight, and no accountability. And let us not forget: his words have been weaponized by groups like the police union in campaign mailers, giving the appearance of legitimacy to something that is anything but.
We also need to ask how outside media has been drawn into this machine. Lance Williams and the San Francisco Chronicle published repeated hit pieces on Anthony Becker, with details that only an insider would know. How did he get so much information about the inner workings of Santa Clara? Was it handed to him by someone on Council? Is he friends with Gillmor or with Haugh? When the same names and narratives show up across blogs, campaign mailers, and the state’s largest newspaper, it is hard to believe it is coincidence.
We also need to recognize the depth of the Gillmor dynasty itself. Lisa Gillmor and her father, former mayor Gary Gillmor, have been entangled in Santa Clara politics for decades. Few families have held such prolonged influence in one city. Today, Lisa Gillmor is one of the longest serving council members in all of Santa Clara County, a reign built on networks, favors, and surrogates who do the dirty work so she can appear above the fray.
Santa Clara deserves more than this orchestrated slime machine. Residents need real journalism, not propaganda. We deserve leaders who debate issues and policies, not character assassinations carried out by proxy. Gillmor’s strategy may keep her hands clean, but the stain on Santa Clara’s civic discourse is obvious.
What are they covering up? What do the Gillmor family not want us to know about, and who is benefiting from keeping this family run business, also known as the Santa Clara City Council, going?
Robert Haugh has a very small audience that then relays his “news stories” as fact on local social media sites like X, Nextdoor, Facebook. They make plenty of noise. The small audience is the simple usual suspects that Mayor Gillmor has show up to Council meetings are the same most often that comment on the blog. Even Robert Haugh makes his own hateful comments and tracks peoples IP addresses where they are coming from censoring comments that he does not like or agree with.
This motley crew of commenters includes the following, former disgraced City Attorney Brian Doyle who was fired for his negligence and intentional withholding of settlement agreements. He often shows up saying he is some whistleblower or knows the facts. Doyle often does the dirty work of Gillmor without Gillmor doing the lifting. All by proxy. Next you have Burt Field a supposed upstanding community member who used to be the head of Stand Up for Santa Clara a pretend non-profit group that somehow has not been held accountable for deceiving the public. More about that, but first Burt Field made threats to City Council members about removing them from office by recall comparing it to loading a gun. These comments were escalated to the police Chief Pat Nikolai who ignores all of it. Why? Cause they are all good friends and party together, go look at their Facebooks. So Burt Field gets away with it and comments about councilmembers wearing orange some weird reference to councilmembers in jail. Well Burt should get used to that color too cause he would be wearing them if there was a real police Chief and District Attorney at the time who would have charged him for his violent threats.
Then you got the two Debbie’s, Debbie Tryforos who files civil grand jury complaints and then places actual civil grand jurors at councilmembers tables at the Classy Bag Affair, only to have a grand jury report about those councilmembers coming out only weeks later. Debbie comments and shows up to Council meetings, even speaking on behalf of the Special Advisor Kirk Vartan who himself also comments and shows up to council meetings if needed. Then you have Debbie Algeri, the Kathy Watanabe-Gillmor servant who calls in acting like a concerned citizen and comments about police chiefs hiding things about Kevin Park. You got Lee Broughman the Lisa Gillmor campaign treasurer who sounds more drunk every time she calls in. You get the other random people commenting from Dana Caldwell the new Stand Up for Santa Clara president who always says he has nothing to hide which he has plenty to hide with his IRS issues of the fake non-profit.
It is even said that thorn in the side of the city of Santa Clara former disgraced City Manager Deanna Santana is a frequent commenter on the hate space blog. She often is the “city hall insider” that Robert Haugh refers to. She is also a source of Grand Jury Complaints and also threatening and intimidating Councilmember Anthony Becker following her justified dismissal. All of these commenters and council appearances are bad actors, only there to harass anti-Gillmor Councilmembers and try to destroy their reputations. They all create the sky is falling narrative so then they can swoop in and take control. Like it worked out so well the last time where it was constant deficits, and lack of any progress in infrastructure.
The biggest factor about Haugh’s blog that many try to write off like Councilmembers Suds Jain, Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy is that they think he don’t have the reach. Currently Robert Haugh ranks in google searches about the City of Santa Clara. This is something mastermind Jude Barry makes happen on purpose because it ranks high for all his attacks on people like Kevin Park, Anthony Becker and Suds Jain. Additionally, Haugh’s blog is now part of the Newsbreak an app and web based news aggregation platform that delivers local news primarily to users aged 45 and older. This is the demographic that Gillmor, Barry and Haugh want. The flashy headlines that catches their attention. As stated above in my prior comment about all these individuals who make comments etc. Well these same individuals are the ones that share all Haugh’s news stories on platforms like X, Nextdoor, Facebook. The worst one by far is Nextdoor and the reason why is because Gillmor’s mafia army controls Nextdoor. They have all hijacked the supposed neighborhood community group site to benefit their agendas. Most of them, like Debbie Algeri in the Northside, Kirk Vartan in the Southside and even Kathy Watanabe herself all are moderators who moderate what can and can’t be posted. So anything that lies from Robert Haugh or San Francisco Chronicle is shared and allowed and any reports of false information are rejected. Yet when something from Santa Clara Weekly, The Voice, San Jose Spotlight or Mercury News it is flagged and taken down for harassment or false news. Gillmor mafia has their own social media moderation machine that delivers the narrative to Nextdoor readers. This was weaponized heavily in 2020 and 2024 elections. It was a fact candidates like Harbir Bhatia and Anthony Becker would get flagged or suspended Nextdoor accounts because they would defend themselves or correct the false record that Robert Haugh and the Gillmor mafia would spread. The Gillmor side would say that Bhatia or Becker defending themselves and correcting the record was harassment something Gillmor and her mafia always claim while doing it themselves. Until Robert Haugh is called out on these sites like Newsbreak or Nextdoor they will continue to success in selling their lies and hit pieces with no end in sight. So Councilmembers Jain, Chahal and Hardy, wake up and take it serious they are destroying you name and you let them, stand up for yourselves and for Santa Clara. Whether it is the crooked blogger guy, the Pizza Guy Vartan, the racist Hot Dog guy, or the creepy ethics guy, you can guarantee that Gillmor’s narrative will be the word of God and the word of the law.
Remember in 2023, when Robert Haugh wrote this https://santaclaranews.org/2023/04/01/breaking-news-grand-jury-asks-district-attorney-jeff-rosen-to-indict-santa-clara-city-councilmembers/. This was a April Fools joke stating the following, “Late yesterday, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury released a scathing report. According to the Grand Jury: the City Council Voting Bloc has acted like no other governing body in County history by violating ethical standards, the City charter, and normal rules of adult behavior. They asked District Attorney Jeff Rosen to indict Councilmembers Anthony Becker, Raj Chahal, Suds Jain, Karen Hardy and Kevin Park. The latest Grand Jury report was released late on Friday for a reason. According to a source on the Grand Jury, they were concerned about what happened last time when their October report was online days before it was officially released. ‘We learned our lesson and released it after happy hour’ said the juror. ‘We didn’t want someone (cough, Anthony Becker) to leak it to his friends (cough, Erika Towne: cough, Carolyn Schuk) at a biased publication (cough, Silicon Valley Voice). When asked for comment, Becker emailed a response before realizing that he sent it to Santa Clara News Online from Schuk’s personal email account’.
After reading that, you think to yourself, how did Robert Haugh know of an imminent indictment and references Anthony Becker who was then really indicted 14 days later. Robert Haugh was clearly getting leaked info from the District Attorney’s office. Gillmor and Barry knew what was happening to Becker behind the scenes or they would never have mentioned “Becker leaking” to the voice. Special Advisor before Haugh printed that had asked where all Becker’s electronics were so clearly Vartan knew about it before the public knew.
Lastly, two issues, one Gillmor and Watanabe’s response to the Civil Grand Jury in 2022 the report they both leaked, they stated, “Unlike anyone commanded to testify to the Grand Jury under oath and penalty of perjury, the Council majority has never been subjected to the same standard and has no doubt exercised their right to freedom of speech, whether factual or not.” The whole answers by Gillmor and Watanabe is all about perjury, so they knew something ahead of time. It is clear that both Gillmor and Watanabe perjured themselves and the cover up was to investigate others.
And the other big coincidence is that on Jeff Rosen’s website when Becker was indicted they use no other than the San Francisco Chronicle’s publication, Lisa Gillmor’s good friends. https://www.jeffrosen.org/becker-indictment-sfc.
If you look deeper and attended the trial this just reeks of a shady sinister plot to destroy not only one councilmembers life but all of them.
Well butter my biscuit, Miles Barber just went and turned the floodlights on over Santa Clara’s favorite cockroach motel—and wouldn’t you know it, out came Robert Haugh and Lisa Gillmor’s merry band of mud wrestlers, skittering like somebody opened the fridge at midnight.
Haugh’s been parading around calling himself a journalist the way a karaoke singer calls himself Sinatra. What he churns out isn’t news—it’s a swamp stew of gossip, grudges, and good old-fashioned baloney. And Lisa Gillmor, bless her calculating little heart, doesn’t even have to dirty her hands—she’s got Haugh and her cronies to do the spade work. It’s like she opened a political laundromat where her pals drop off the dirt and Haugh spins it till it looks like newsprint.
Now let’s not pretend Miles Barber is some tenderfoot here. He’s been watching Lisa’s one-woman traveling circus for years, and he’s not about to be cowed by a mayor who treats City Hall like her private family business. Barber’s not just calling balls and strikes—he’s pointing out the umpire’s blind drunk and on Lisa’s payroll.
And oh, those commenters. What a collection! Brian Doyle, the “whistleblower” lawyer who blew his own foot off. Burt Field, who thinks civic duty means playing out Wild West fantasies on Facebook. Kirk Vartan, Lisa’s “special advisor,” which is a fancy way of saying “guy who carries her water and spills half of it.” And the two Debbies, who’ve filed so many grand jury complaints I’m surprised the county hasn’t given them frequent flyer miles. This isn’t civic discourse, folks—it’s a Vaudeville act that couldn’t sell two tickets at the Elks Lodge.
Roger nailed it: this isn’t just slime, it’s organized slime. They plant the story, Haugh types it with all the integrity of a broken Etch A Sketch, the police union slaps it on a mailer, and suddenly it’s “breaking news.” Meanwhile, actual reporters—you know, the ones who own telephones—just watch the train wreck and pray their bylines never get confused with his.
And let’s talk about Haugh’s moral compass—or lack thereof. This is a man who’s been neck-deep in his own scandals, dragged through the mud, and still came out thinking mud is a cologne. If irony were a diet, Robert Haugh would be down to his high school weight. If hypocrisy were beer, he’d be a brewery.
So three cheers for Miles Barber for finally calling a skunk a skunk and not pretending it’s some misunderstood housecat. He hasn’t just exposed Haugh’s personal slime factory—he’s yanked the curtain back on Gillmor’s whole Wizard of Ooze routine.
Santa Clara deserves better than this—better than slime, better than smear campaigns, better than a mayor who acts like she’s running the city out of the back room of a dive bar. We don’t need taller boots. We need to kick over the bucket, drain the muck, and send the whole Gillmor mafia waddling back to whatever bog they crawled out of.
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