SamTrans Board appointments maintain imbalance despite years of criticism

December 15, 7:15 PMSan Mateo Public Policy ExaminerBruce Balshone

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Several years ago the Board of Directors of the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) was roundly criticized for rampant cronyism and stacking the political deck.

One of the legacies of this closed loop of political power was that until recently the SamTrans board was dominated by members from the City of Daly City. In fact, until 2006, four of nine members of the board that oversees the multimillion dollar transit agency were Daly City residents and officials, or approximately 44 percent of the board’s membership.

Although there are now only two Daly City representatives, the SamTrans Board again blew a chance to correct this historic imbalance and broaden the geographic representation on the board when the board reappointed Shirley Harris to one of the two “public” member seats available.

Harris, while known to be an amiable director and active in transit circles, has served on the SamTrans board since the early 1990s. It is difficult to ascertain just how long she has served as SamTrans representatives either have no records or refused to divulge the information when asked – but that is a story for another column.

SamTrans’ peculiar alignment first came to public prominence in the waning days of 2004 when terming out San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin, who had held a seat on the SamTrans Board since 1993 as one of two supervisors on the board, was forced to surrender his seat. His colleagues on the board thought it wise to reappointment Nevin to a conveniently vacant seat reserved for members of the lay public that had been just previously occupied by Nevin’s old friend Al Teglia, both of whom were Daly City councilmembers previously.

Nevin was placed into the public seat without a single member of the public being offered the opportunity to apply or interview for the seat. The stated reason for the sleight of hand was that through Nevin’s role on SamTrans, he also held many positions on regional transit boards such as the Caltrain Joint Powers Board of which SamTrans is one of three transit agencies that comprise Caltrain and his seniority would be lost if he were to be removed.

Nevin’s placement was really a cynical political maneuver designed to help Nevin keep up his public profile while he was out of elective office as he was preparing to run for the State Senate – a race he eventually lost.

Immediately following Nevin’s political play, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors was then in position to name a replacement for a seat reserved for a county supervisor. This seat was coveted by Supervisor Rich Gordon who represents the San Mateo County Coastside and some of the southern portion of the county as well. But his bid to take a seat on SamTrans was thwarted by Nevin’s replacement from Daly City, Supervisor Adrienne Tissier. Supervisor Tissier’s appointment was a rare split among the supervisors with even Gordon calling it an act of cronyism.

Both political plays worked to maintain a huge over-representation for Daly City on the SamTrans Board. Despite howls of protest from both the grassroots and the local press, the political apparatus that really runs San Mateo County just kept rolling along.

Daly City’s representation was finally reduced a year later when Nevin finally resigned again, having to spend more time actually campaigning for his political future. Nevin was replaced by Rose Guilbaut of Burlingame.

A year later, in 2007, Daly City lost another seat when Daly City Councilman Mike Guingona sought reappointment to the SamTrans board as a representative of the county’s northern cities. Guingona’s 10-year term was dependent upon being reappointed by his colleagues in other communities, represented by the mayor’s of the 20 cities in the county.

But Guingona was toppled by South San Francisco Councilwoman Karyl Matsumoto. Through the pitched battle for that seat, it came to light that Guingona had skipped 11 ½ monthly SamTrans meetings during the previous two years. Meaning Guingona essentially missed a years worth of meetings.

Guingona publicly claimed that he had been through a divorce that had diverted much of his time. He did not immediately reveal that he was also hosting a cable television show filmed largely in the Philippines.

Now, in 2008, Daly City retains two seats on the SamTrans Board despite years of protest by other communities that want and deserve to have some representation on the board. SamTrans oversees an annual budget in excess of $160 million a year and plays a vital role in bus, paratransit and train service in San Mateo County.

But once again, logic, good governance and fairness have lost to political cronyism and the status quo. It is a shame that the SamTrans Board of Directors continues to promote a historically unfair, unbalanced and politically unsavory mode of governance.