Goodnight Drunk Task Force...

Well, we said it would be six months until San Jose's Public Intoxication Task Force (the Drunk Task Force) set up by Mayor Reed and Councilmember Campos came to some conclusion... We didn't expect this to be the conclusion, however.

Seven members of the Task Force symbolically resigned on the eve of their final meeting. Expressing frustration with the constraints placed on their investigation, seven members joined forces to walk out. The latest blow up in the Drunk Task Force drama got Watch Dog to look back to see how events unfolded…

10.08: The Merc broke the news, San Jose arrests a disproportionate number of Latinos in San Jose.

11.08: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed joined forces with Councilmember Nora Campos to form the Public Intoxication Task Force. Councilmember Sam Liccardo, channeling the President-elect, expressed the opinion that task forces were “…the place where good ideas go to die…”

1.09: San Jose Drunk Task Force member/De-Bug Silicon Valley’s Raj Jayadev said perhaps the Task Force was where good ideas went to die. Jayadev then expressed the hope that it was within the Task Force’s power to make it work…

3.09: The honeymoon for the Reed/Campos Drunk Task Force was officially over. Reed, Chief Rob Davis, and City Manager Debra Figone ignored and replaced the Task Force with the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equity. Task Force member/ACLU leader Skyler Porras called the move an “end run” around the Task Force. Watch Dog predicted a big blow up…

4.09: Following weeks of bickering the Task Force flashed a (figurative) finger to their bosses saying they didn’t like the way they were being treated…

5.09: The San Jose City Council officially tossed their Drunk Task Force baby under a bus approving the Consortium.

And here we are, the Drunk Task Force, the brain child of Mayor Reed and Councilmember Campos is left with only three members: Rod Schisler (Hunters Video Bar), Jorge Wong (Asian Americans for Community Involvement), and Kathy Cordova (Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley).

Farewell, Rev. Jeff Moore (NAACP), Raul Colunga (La Raza Roundtable), Alfredo Morales (La Raza Lawyers Association), Pete Carrillo (Silicon Valley Latino Democratic Club), Raj Jayadev (Silicon Valley DeBug), Walter Wilson (African-American Community Services Agency), and Skyler Porras (ACLU).

Watch Dog hates to say I told you so… but...