Old-school men’s club politics are alive and well in Morgan Hill and Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Martínez-Beltrán is the latest target of their machinery of dismissal and silencing.
Her “crime”? Daring to speak up, to challenge power, and to stand with the people this city’s leadership too often ignores.
Let’s be clear: Yvonne is the only member of this council consistently standing up for the marginalized. She has defended the Hispanic and Latinx community, championed women’s rights, including the right to bodily autonomy, spoken out for the LGBTQIA community, and been the lone voice condemning antisemitic and anti-Islamic attacks in Morgan Hill. That courage is not a liability. It is leadership. And yet, instead of supporting her, the council is considering stripping her of her role as Mayor Pro Tem at the mayor’s request, punishing her for refusing to play silent, grateful understudy in this old boys’ club production.
We know this playbook. Elizabeth Warren lived it in 2017, silenced mid-speech, with Mitch McConnell’s condescending rebuke:
“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
The words meant to diminish her became a rallying cry. And they apply here: Yvonne was warned. She was told to sit down. Nevertheless, she persisted.
Mayor Mark Turner’s actions have made one thing clear: this is not about process, policy, or decorum. This is about control. Turner, a pastor turned politician, has been openly hostile since Yvonne raised concerns about his sweetheart tax deals and his conduct, including unwanted physical contact in front of witnesses during a council meeting. Instead of thoughtful reflection, the response was to attack her credibility, dismiss her complaint as “lies,” and threaten to strip her of her leadership role before the matter was even resolved. That’s not accountability.
That’s retaliation.
And retaliation has consequences. What message does this send to women in Morgan Hill? That if you raise concerns about the behavior of powerful men, your career will be on the line, your name dragged through the mud, and your courage reframed as “bad behavior”? What message does this send to marginalized communities? That their only champion on this council will be silenced the moment she becomes inconvenient to those in power?
Morgan Hill deserves better than this. We deserve transparency. We deserve fairness. We deserve leaders who don’t weaponize their office to punish women for speaking truth to power.
Yvonne Martínez-Beltrán is not being targeted for removal because she failed her community. She’s being targeted precisely because she has succeeded in representing those this council would rather ignore.
That is not a reason to replace her. That is the reason we need her.
Because here’s the truth: women like Yvonne are not going back to whispering in corners. She will persist. She will keep speaking.
And no matter how tightly the old boys’ club clings to its grip, they cannot silence the voices of women and marginalized communities rising in Morgan Hill—because Yvonne Martínez-Beltrán is not standing alone, she is standing with us.
Karen Fitch
Morgan Hill
After councilwoman Yvonne Martinez-Beltran refused to accept his belief that “there is a protocol, and you just need to listen to what I’m saying”, Mark Turner calls for a break. During the break, he lost control, confronted and pushed Yvonne Martinez-Beltran as she tried to walk by to get a refreshment. His behavior is inappropriate and unacceptable and he should resign.
Instead , he launched a retaliatory attack based on claims made by people who embarrassed and TOTALLY discredited themselves by lying about what they saw when they didn’t know a video had captured the incident and shows what actually happened.