Politics is a sector fraught with unsavory decisions, hypocrisy and many actors who make us all at some point say: How the hell did that person get into office?
On this last point, we had a moment just recently in San Jose where a group of councilmembers and political staffers were caught venerating Tammany Hall, perhaps this nation’s worst exemplar of graft and corruption. To anyone who knows the story of Tammany Hall and its infamous leader Boss William Tweed, it was a political organization that stole north of $1.5 billion in 2025 dollars from the people of New York City. The organization valued loyalty and the blind pursuit of power over the integrity of democracy and civic institutions.
Away from the transparency of the public, Peter Ortiz, Domingo Candelas and disgraced former Councilmember, felon and child molester Omar Torres chose Tammany Hall as the moniker for their private conversations. This is troubling for several reasons. It begs the legal questions regarding potential Brown Act violations that the city attorney should investigate for the good of the city. But on a deeper philosophical basis, it makes us all question the motivations of current Councilmembers Ortiz and Candelas. Why choose a corrosive political machine as your symbol instead of something that seeks to uplift and bring out the best of our community?
Based on the reporting by San José Spotlight, when the text threads are further examined a pattern emerges. Between horrific racial slurs, disparagement of whole neighborhoods and wanting to emulate a politics of corruption — Tammany Hall seems to be a fitting wrapper for conduct that should make your stomach churn if you care about wanting the best leaders possible in our city. As a Latino, I find this is even more disturbing and destructive to a community that struggles every day in pursuit of everything from economic mobility to now the basic right to exist here in a state that is under siege from a federal government that has lost its way. Ortiz and Candelas should know better. Latinos need to work twice as hard, twice as long and are held to higher standards in venues like City Hall.
What Ortiz and Candelas have done is cause the entire Latino community an embarrassment that shows us putting each other down instead of working to lift each other up. Diversity needs to be a value that is curated and not a brand that is used as a punchline during a speech.
It was legendary basketball coach John Wooden who wrote: A man’s character is what he does when no one is watching. The people of San Jose just got a glimpse of what several councilmembers are saying about their constituents in a venue they thought was shielded away from the eyes of the public. It is not a pretty picture. It’s one bereft of not just the moral courage to seek a better vision for our city, but of basic civility and decency that should be table stakes for the public’s trust. The people of San Jose haven’t heard an apology from Ortiz and Candelas and that’s the bare minimum that should be expected of them.
As Mayor Matt Mahan has requested, the city manager should release the full transcript of their messages and the people of San Jose, the South Bay Labor Council and other political backers of Ortiz and Candelas should hold them accountable. San Jose deserves better. The broader Latino community deserves to have leaders who respect them. But we have the power to hold Ortiz and Candelas accountable. I for one will work to remind voters of their actions, I’m hopeful others will too.
Jonathan Padilla is a former political consultant and Democratic Party leader and current tech entrepreneur.
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