Tom Saggau of the police and firefighter unions' "No-on-V campaign" saw councilman Pierluigi Oliverio pulling down a "No-on-V" sign. Measure V is a proposed bill that would "limit police and firefighter pay and pension increases".
Oliverio said it was public property, and thus the poster was hung illegally in accordance with SJ law.
Saggau said it was private property, and thus Oliverio pulling down the sign was illegal. To uphold his values, Saggau confronted Oliverio, at which point Saggau reports Oliverio turned his back and sped away. A short while later, about a half dozen off-duty police officers and firefighters "got up in Oliverio's face", brandishing "No-on-V" signs and shouting things at him.
Ridiculous and unnecessary treatment of a harmless act? I THINK NOT.
Oliverio is an elected official. This is not a debate about how you feel on the issue, or whether or not you support Measure V. This is about Oliverio's irresponsible and reckless actions. He physically tried to BLOCK OFF his opposition's views from reaching the public. That is downright ridiculous. It is corrupt. It is dirty. It is everything that an elected official should NOT do. Not to mention that it is a crime. The guy took the sign from a corner of two streets in a residential neighborhood. So even if it's not technically private property (which I think it is), Oliverio knew full well he was trying to eliminate his opposition.
I call for Oliverio's immediate resignation. Something must be done.
1 comment:
Although I definitely agree with you that Oliverio's impulsive behavior was fundamentally improper, I don't agree with the assertion that "I call for Oliverio's immediate resignation. Something must be done." In my opinion, something must be done about the wasted finances on issues as commonplace and banal as a San Jose ballot measure. The problem here stems from the fact that excessive amounts of resources are squandered over issues with little to no value to wellbeing of the community. Over a $1.2 million have been wasted over a city pension ballot measure. Considering that much of this battle is fueled by self-interested firefighters and police officers and that this initiative is most likely going to fail to achieve success, why are so many of our public officials wasting so much time and so many resources? The media should stop publicizing issues as uninspiring and irrelevant as Oliverio's altercation with the police, and we should be incited to anger for the right reasons. We shouldn't be breathing down Oliverio's neck for pulling down some signs in disputed territory, but rather for his trifling of time in such a pointless activity. Besides, if we were to force Oliverio out of office, who would write news for San Jose Inside?
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