Santa Clara resident launches recall against District 5 councilmember

One Santa Clara councilmember could see his name on a recall ballot.

A group of District 5 residents, led by David Kertes, launched a recall campaign against Councilmember Suds Jain Tuesday after receiving more than the 60 signatures needed to legitimize the effort, according to a news release. The campaign argues Jain has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, used questionable ethics, ignored residents’ concerns and pushed for poor parking ideas in his four-and-a-half years of service.

The campaign specifically cites slow movement on downtown’s revitalization, which Jain represents, as well as his stance on getting rid of elections for the city’s police chief and clerk. It alleges Jain failed to report misconduct violations against former Councilmember Anthony Becker — who was found guilty of perjury for lying about leaking a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report — and stood against accountability measures to address the situation. The campaign also cites Jain’s support of high city staff salaries, among other concerns.

Kertes, who works in sales, unsuccessfully ran against Jain for City Council last year. He is the primary funder of the recall effort and expects to shell out $15,000 alongside donations, he told San José Spotlight. The campaign needs to finish city paperwork before Kertes and supporters can start knocking on doors. He will need to gather at least 2,055 signatures within 120 days from the 10,271 registered voters in District 5 for a recall to be placed on the ballot for a special election.

Kertes said the recall is worth the money because of growing discontent in the district due to Jain’s lack of communication with residents. He confirmed to San José Spotlight he would run again if the recall is successful.

“The residents are fed up,” Kertes told San José Spotlight. “We just can’t have another three years. Enough is enough.”

Jain said the recall’s claims don’t hold water. He said he helped pass the downtown precise plan and didn’t do anything wrong regarding Becker — which he was never censured for. He said he thought changing the elections was the right thing to do because Santa Clara is the only California city to still elect its police chief and city clerk.

Jain said it seems like Kertes isn’t over losing the election.

“The allegations in the letter are very, very vague. There really aren’t specifics,” he told San José Spotlight. “The one thing that he doesn’t seem to realize is that I’m unable to do anything myself. Everything requires four or five votes of the city council.”

Residents have mixed opinions about the recall.

Mary Grizzle, co-chair of Reclaiming Our Downtown, said it isn’t true that downtown has suffered under Jain’s watch. She said he helped the city start the search for developer proposals and often hosts community meetings once a month.

Grizzle said this feels like a power grab.

“He has been such a positive influence on the community,” she told San José Spotlight. “To suggest that he is not worthy of being a councilmember… shows how sad our direction is going.”

Howard Myers, who’s lived in the city for nearly 40 years, wants Jain gone because he said Jain doesn’t vote with residents in mind. Myers said he’s been disappointed by Jain siding with the San Francisco 49ers over city interests.

“He has these crazy ideas,” Myers told San José Spotlight. “I just don’t understand — why is he doing this? He’s not listening to us. We can do better.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.