Santa Clara City Government Has Ignored Public Trust for 14 years.

It's Time the People said, "Enough!"

Rebuilding Ethical Leadership, Good Governance,
and Public Trust in Santa Clara Is Now
the Most Important Task of Civic Life.

How Do the People of Santa Clara Want Their Local Government Officials to Treat One Another, City residents, and City Staff?

The people of Santa Clara want a trustworthy City government and Stadium Authority that:

Tell the truth
Do the right thing
Value ethical leadership
Work at all times only for the people's best interests.
Listen to and communicate with the people
Conduct fair election campaigns
Are careful stewards of public money
Provide high quality, affordable City services
Manage the Stadium for the people's benefit
Are accountable, and show evidence of promises kept.

In 1998, the people of Santa Clara said, "Enough!" to the negative political culture that was growing in the City, and was most visible during win-at-all-costs election campaigns.

Through an inclusive public process, City stakeholders decided that they wanted Santa Clara to become "the most ethical city in California."

They reached consensus on the City's core values and then wrote the Code of Ethics & Values and the Behavioral Standards so every official and staff person knew what the values looked like (and didn't look) like in practice. The City also showed residents what trustworthy campaigns looked like and encouraged voters to hold candidates accountable in the ballot box.

The Santa Clara Ethics & Values Program was an all-hands activity. The City promised to work hard to make those values and standards real in the everyday culture of City Hall and in the life of the City. Those goals became part of everyone's job description.

For the most part, the Program worked.

91% of Santa Clara residents said the City was "moving in the right direction."
The League of California Cities awarded the City its first Helen Putnam Award for excellence for the Ethics Code and made Santa Clara's Code Development Process a State model. A few years later, the League awarded the City the Helen Putnam Grand Prize, the only time the City has received this prize, for Enhancing Public Trust, Ethics, and Community Involvement.
The United Nations recognized the Campaign Ethics and Vote Ethics Program as global best practices.

Or do we want to settle for City officials, the Stadium Authority, and Senior City Staff who refuse to do anything to build public trust after they:

Rode $10+M in 49er PAC campaign funding into office, then voted to support every major 49ers initiative with no discussion of apparent conflict of interest