A man sitting on a couch inside an office
District 3 San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres in his City Hall office. File photo.

San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres has been a public no-show despite refusing to step down over a child sex crime investigation. Now critics are calling on the City Council to remove him.

Mayor Matt Mahan has argued with at least one person online over whether the council has that kind of power. He and other councilmembers say their hands are tied by the city charter, which states the embattled District 3 councilmember would have to miss five consecutive council meetings without an excused absence before his seat is deemed vacant. Torres has missed one council meeting already — and missing the next four would mean his seat could become vacant after Nov. 19 at the earliest. But Torres could remain in office if his colleagues agree to excuse just one of those absences. Torres has already requested that.

Councilmembers will decide whether to formally condone his Oct. 8 absence at their next Oct. 22 meeting — possibly extending Torres’ ability to skip public meetings and community appearances while maintaining power. Torres is also dodging his other elected obligations, most recently a city finance committee meeting on Thursday. He was also absent from VTA’s Oct. 3 board meeting the night the scandal went public, as well as a news conference the following day about Spartan Keyes Park. The mayor’s office is now attending District 3 neighborhood meetings in Torres’ stead.

Councilmember Bien Doan said he will vote against excusing Torres from missing meetings. Mahan and the entire city council already want Torres to step down. They unanimously called for his resignation on Thursday — nearly a week after police filings revealed Torres exchanged text messages about sex with minors and texted a photo of an 11-year-old boy Torres said is autistic, with descriptions of the boy’s genitalia. The council’s joint statement said Torres has lost his constituents’ trust.

“Prolonging the resignation only harms our ability to govern, and further negatively impacts the residents of our city, who deserve complete and honest representation,” Doan told San José Spotlight.

Other councilmembers’ positions are unclear.

“I have not considered it yet, but will be thinking through the decision,” Councilmember Sergio Jimenez told San José Spotlight.

Councilmember Pam Foley said the charter limits the council’s reach and that “we must wait for those thresholds to be crossed.”

“However, upon assuming office we each took an oath to discharge the duties upon which we were about to enter. It is clear to me that (Torres’) actions do not align with that oath and he is unable to fulfill his obligations to the residents of District 3 and the city of San Jose,” Foley told San José Spotlight.

Mahan didn’t respond about how he’d vote when asked about Torres’ request to have his absences excused.

Nelson McElmurry, Torres’ attorney, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Torres claims “illness” as the reason for missing the Oct. 8 council meeting, according to his excuse request. But the past two weeks tell a different story.

The scandal has taken multiple turns since going public on Oct. 3. Torres at first dismissed the investigation as political retaliation and extortion. A week later, new police filings forced Torres to acknowledge lewd texts about minors while dismissing them as “role-play.” The revelations appalled his colleagues and constituents. But for a week, the San Jose police union was only organization calling on Torres to resign. The San Jose Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Downtown Association and the Vietnamese American Organization have all followed the city council in calling on Torres to resign.
Keep our journalism free for everyone!
His absence leaves a void that Mahan’s office is pledging to fill by attending neighborhood association meetings and other gatherings within Torres’ district. On Oct. 10, Mahan’s office hosted a contentious public outreach meeting for District 3 residents about a proposed homeless safe sleeping site on East Taylor Street.

At a Wednesday community meeting among Torres’ constituents, Mahan pledged his office would dedicate more of its constituent services to District 3 while Torres was absent.

“Our staff will be paying particular attention to District 3 and trying to be more present at neighborhood meetings and just be here for you all to help with constituent services,” Mahan said at the meeting.

Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Comment Policy (updated 5/10/2023): Readers are required to log in through a social media or email platform to confirm authenticity. We reserve the right to delete comments or ban users who engage in personal attacks, hate speech, excess profanity or make verifiably false statements. Comments are moderated and approved by admin.

Leave a Reply