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Newly-appointed San Mateo County Supervisor Carol Groome is a spry 64 years old
The members of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors appointed San Mateo Councilwoman Carol Groome to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors crated when former Supervisor Jerry Hill was elected to the State Assembly. The appointment process has been derided publicly by local elected officials, local newspapers editors and even by the county’s Republican and Democratic parties as well as the League of Women Voters and even the Sierra Club.
The showdown that occurred was and is an example of the gulf between the county’s elected leadership and the emerging leaders of tomorrow.
Now that the Supervisors have abandoned a democratic process and continued its tradition of machine politics, each supervisor may each individually pay a political price should they wish to continue their careers. What it also may lead to is a new class of would-be leaders being motivated to take over sooner rather than later.
What was more interesting is that the leading contender for the supervisorial seat, Rod Hsiao, a member of the San Mateo County Board of Education, is an Ivy League educated, Asian American who would have been the first Asian American to serve as a San Mateo County Supervisor. But as expected, the county’s political machine sought the status quo
Recently, two other major examples of this drift came to light.
The San Mateo City Council
The first was the discussion of who will replace Carol Groome on the San Mateo City Council now that she has been appointed to the Board of Supervisors. The less than democratic appointment of Groome, which has been perceived by many as a stunning and blatant bit of insider trading that would make the Governor of Illinois proud, has a trickle down affect that may have much the same impact.
With the early rumors of Groome’s likely appointment, two candidates stepped forward to demonstrate their interest in her San Mateo city council seat. The first to make his ambitions known was David Lim, a member of the City’s Community Relations Commission. The second was Richard Hedges, a city stalwart who has been on more commissions and community organizations than can be easily cataloged.
What was interesting about the two candidates, however, is the generational and demographic differences. Hedges is well into his sixties and Caucasian. In contrast, Lim is Asian and not yet 40 years old.
But therein lies the conflict. The average age of the San Mateo City Council member is a little over 65 -- the oldest being John Lee, who will soon turn 78, and the youngest being Brandt Grotte, at a spry 53 years of age. And yes, every member of the City Council is white.
According to the US Census Bureau, over one-third of San Mateo is non-white, and those populations are likely to grow. As the demographics shift and as new populations emerge, the City’s leadership must do a better job of embracing such change. To date, the city’s leadership has done a poor job of reaching out and cultivating leaders in emerging communities. But if the old guard fails to do so, it may not be long before they are escorted out of the halls of power for their unwillingness to share. While Hedges may have the inside track, an appointment of more of the same may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of minority voters.
Old vs. New in South San Francisco
A second example of the divide between the new and old guards occurred in the City of South San Francisco on Dec. 11. On that evening, two new members of the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees, Judy Bush and Maurice Dupra Goodman, were sworn in, replacing two veteran members. The new board also elected a new president, likely the youngest among them, Liza Normandy.
One of the first actions taken by the new board was to halt the renewal of the contract for the district’s Superintendent Barbara Olds. The move stunned some in the crowd, although it was likely some of the crowd was invited to be stunned.
Among those who spoke to criticize the board was former Assemblyman and now citizen Gene Mullin. The former legislator praised Olds’ contributions to the district and chastised the board for failing to appreciate her abilities and experience.
Mullin may have had a point - or he may not have, the internal workings of school districts are at times murky – but what Mullin did do was draw a contrast between himself and the new, emerging leaders. Mullin painted himself as an older, former elected official shaking his finger at the upstarts who dared to do something different, to chart a new direction and, yes, fire one of his contemporaries.
Whatever the motives or perspectives, it is clear that the older generation of San Mateo County leaders is, in general, badly out of touch with their younger and newer counterparts and may find themselves shown the door sooner than they may have imagined.
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