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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The mayor of San Jose, California, Silicon Valley's biggest city, surrendered to police on Thursday after a grand jury indicted him and a top aide amid a long-running probe of a city trash contract.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department arrested and then released Mayor Ron Gonzales and his budget director, Joe Guerra, after the pair posted bail. They are scheduled to be arraigned in state court on Monday. The indictment against the pair is under seal.
At least two San Jose City Council members called for Gonzales, a Democrat, to resign.
"I strongly would urge the mayor to step down. These charges will certainly be a distraction to him and to the city administration," council member Ken Yeager said.
Gonzales spokesman David Vossbrink said the mayor "intends to finish out his term."
"He broke no laws," Vossbrink said in a statement.
Gonzales has been under fire since last year when a civil grand jury issued a report blasting him for making a "backroom deal" with a city garbage contractor in 2000 to avoid possible labor unrest among trash collectors and which resulted in a 9 percent hike in city garbage rates in 2003.
Gonzales was first elected mayor in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. He is scheduled to leave office because of term limits at the end of this year.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department arrested and then released Mayor Ron Gonzales and his budget director, Joe Guerra, after the pair posted bail. They are scheduled to be arraigned in state court on Monday. The indictment against the pair is under seal.
At least two San Jose City Council members called for Gonzales, a Democrat, to resign.
"I strongly would urge the mayor to step down. These charges will certainly be a distraction to him and to the city administration," council member Ken Yeager said.
Gonzales spokesman David Vossbrink said the mayor "intends to finish out his term."
"He broke no laws," Vossbrink said in a statement.
Gonzales has been under fire since last year when a civil grand jury issued a report blasting him for making a "backroom deal" with a city garbage contractor in 2000 to avoid possible labor unrest among trash collectors and which resulted in a 9 percent hike in city garbage rates in 2003.
Gonzales was first elected mayor in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. He is scheduled to leave office because of term limits at the end of this year.
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