Politics

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan on Jan. 6 named newly-sworn-in District 1 Councilmember Rosemary Kamei—who started her political career in Morgan Hill—to serve as the city’s vice mayor.  Prior to her election in June, Kamei served as a Morgan Hill planning commissioner, a trustee of...

The Nov. 8 ballot will be filled with choices for candidates and issues at every level of government. Two local organizations and the City of Morgan Hill aim to help local voters become informed by sponsoring three public candidate forums in the coming weeks.  Candidate...

Mayor Mark Turner delivered his annual State of the City address March 11 at the Granada Theater in downtown Morgan Hill, where he painted an optimistic picture of the city’s growth while raising concerns about state overreach and a looming budget shortfall. The hour-long speech...

The Nov. 5 general election is just over one month away, and many voters will begin filling out and returning their ballots by mail and in person next week.  Early voting starts Oct. 7, when voters can cast their ballots in person at the Santa...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a stack of bills Aug. 16 aimed at curtailing organized retail, property and auto theft in California. Newsom appeared at a Home Depot in San Jose with state, business and law enforcement officials, signing 10 bills that he said go “to...

Nearly six days after Election Day, longtime Morgan Hill City Councilmember Larry Carr made a statement accepting the results that show a widening gap separating him from challenger Gino Borgioli, who holds a lead in the race for City Council District A.

More than a dozen city council district map proposals, submitted by residents and a professional demographer, are available for public review on a website created to set up the new election system.The draft maps can be viewed at drawmh.org, which provides a wealth of map drawing tools and demographic information about the City of Morgan Hill.Citizens can review the submitted draft maps and offer suggested changes, or create their own maps depicting four council districts equal in population, according to Morgan Hill Communications Manager Maureen Tobin. Residents can submit maps until Aug. 14.The city council is scheduled to approve an official four-district map in late August or early September. The map they approve will take effect with the November 2018 council election, and remain in place at least until the 2020 U.S. Census is completed.The five-member (including the mayor) Morgan Hill City Council approved the change from the current at-large election system to the new district-based system at their June 7 meeting. The change was a response to a demand letter from an Oakland law firm that claims the at-large system is in violation of the California Voting Rights Act because it limits the influence of minority groups.Under the by-district system, the city’s four council members will be elected by voters within the council district in which they reside. The mayor’s seat will continue to be elected on an at-large, citywide basis, according to city staff.By approving the change, the council aimed to protect the city from a potentially costly civil rights lawsuit. But it also forced the city to fast track the process of notifying the public and creating four new districts equal in population, without gerrymandering.The draft maps posted on drawmh.org include 10 “population balanced” maps with four districts each containing roughly 9,500 Morgan Hill residents. Seven of these were created by Morgan Hill residents. The other three were drawn by National Demographics Corporation, with whom the city contracted for $43,000 to help with the districting process.Also posted on the website are three maps created by residents that are not population balanced, and two maps that depict a single district.

Ballots and other information contained in the Santa Clara County vote-by-mail packet will be sent to more than 1.04 million local voters starting this week, according to election officials. The packets for the Nov. 5 general election are being mailed to every active registered...

Running for the Morgan Hill Unified School District Trustee Area 2 seat are James Dill and incumbent John Horner.  Horner is running for his second four-year term on the MHUSD Board of Trustees. His professional experience started out as an engineer and manager in the...

Three new Morgan Hill Unified School District trustee-elects—Jennifer Marquez, Rebecca Munson and Veronica A. Andrade—are on their way to being elected to three seats on the local board of education.  Mary Patterson, the only incumbent in the Nov. 5 elections for three trustee areas on...