Post #70 - March 3, 2022 - By Fred Bates
Sam Liccardo is the mayor of the City of San Jose. He is perhaps the most corrupt mayor in all of America, and certainly its most contemptible and biggest hypocrite. This is not hyperbole. This entire blog has been devoted to exposing the corruption of Mayor Liccardo in one form or another based on the role he has played in a cheating scandal involving the San Jose City Attorney's Office, the US District Court in San Jose, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals during the litigation of three lawsuits I filed against the City of San Jose. I have discussed Mayor Liccardo's corruption and hypocrisy in many of my prior posts. However, he has now elevated himself to America's most contemptible mayor and the biggest hypocrite of all time based on his call for Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith to resign in August 2021. Mayor Liccardo called for Sheriff Smith's resignation based on allegations of mismanagement of the County Jail; and because of a scandal involving the issuance of CCW permits by the Sheriff's Office. What makes Mayor Liccardo so contemptible is that he has engaged in corruption and egregious misconduct of his own for the past several years. Based on his misconduct alone in the cheating scandal noted above, he should resign or be removed from office.
In December of 2021, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury accused Sheriff Smith of corruption and willful misconduct. The counts against Smith allege that she ran a pay-to-play scheme that traded concealed weapon permits (CCW) for campaign contributions from VIP's while ignoring CCW permit requests of non-VIP's. The counts also accuse the Sheriff of accepting Sharks hockey game gifts and failing to report those gifts as required by law. And lastly, Sheriff Smith is accused of not cooperating in an internal affairs investigation surrounding the treatment of inmate Andrew Hogan.
The grand jury accusations against Sheriff Smith pale in comparison to the corruption and willful misconduct of Mayor Liccardo and San Jose city officials during litigation of the lawsuits I filed against the City. Ironically, my lawsuits resulted from the denial of my CCW privileges by the City after I retired from the police department. Mayor Liccardo played a major role in several criminal acts and other willful misconduct committed by three police administrators and the San Jose City Attorney's Office. The criminal acts and other misconduct include the following: obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice, perjury and subornation of perjury, tampering with a witness, bribery, fraud, fraud on the court, and failure to appear in court after being subpoenaed. As you can see, many of the crimes by Mayor Liccardo and San Jose city officials are felonies, whereas the accusations brought against Sheriff Smith by the Grand Jury are civil violations. Certainly, the accusations against Sheriff Smith, if true, does not warrant removal from office. Furthermore, the denial of my CCW privileges by San Jose city officials was discriminatory, punitive, retaliatory, and was done with the intent to cause me emotional distress and financial loss based on my disability and race. I am black/African American. The actions of Mayor Liccardo and San Jose city officials were not only racist, but they undermine our judicial system and democracy itself. The Grand Jury, after interviewing nearly 70 witnesses, does not claim that the actions of Sheriff Smith were racist or that she attempted to undermine the judiciary or democracy.
In a complaint letter dated October 16, 2014, I requested that the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury open an investigation into the criminal misconduct and corruption of Mayor Liccardo (who was at that time a councilmember) and the rest of the San Jose City Council. Chuck Reed was the mayor of San Jose. Just as my requests for investigations with San Jose city officials and the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury refused to take any action on my complaint. Mayor Liccardo's calls for Sheriff Smith to resign and the accusations of willful misconduct and corruption by the Grand Jury appear to be nothing more than a political stunt. While going after Sheriff Smith for potential civil violations that are weak and insubstantial, corrupt local politicians and the media in the Silicon Valley have protected Mayor Liccardo by intentionally ignoring his years of corruption and hypocrisy. The list of corrupt and hypocritical conduct by Mayor Liccardo in his political career is long. He has been accused of violating election laws. He failed to disclose that his wife owned a condo near Google development; and he has been accused of violating public records laws. It is without a doubt, however, Mayor Liccardo's most corrupt and hypocritical conduct relates to his prior attacks on the city's police officers. He has implied that they are systemically racist and dishonest; and said that he would support a police department policy requiring automatic termination for an officer that lies during an administrative investigation. Mayor Liccardo took these positions while he was at the same time directing the City Attorney's Office and two police administrators to make completely false claims in court documents in order to justify the bigoted and racist denial of my CCW permit. We should also remember Mayor Liccardo's disgusting attempt to destroy Officer Phil White's career for making statements critical of the scandalous BLM movement.
For his history of corruption and hypocrisy, and in calling for Sheriff Smith to resign, Mayor Liccardo is contemptible and lacking in character. He is quick to call for others to pay the ultimate penalty (resignation or termination) for their alleged misconduct: but he refuses to hold himself accountable. For Mayor Liccardo, this is all about power. Who can forget his attempt to extend his term in office and increase his powers with his push for a "strong mayor" initiative? From the standpoint of politics, Mayor Liccardo is cocky and has lived by the sword. One day he may also die by the sword. Please read the links below for more details:
