Madison Nguyen takes seat of tarnished Gonzales.

Published Wednesday, April 5, 2006, in the San Jose Mercury News

Council nominates Nguyen to replace Mayor Gonzales on VTA
policy-advice board

By John Woolfolk

The San Jose City Council unanimously nominated Councilwoman Madison
Nguyen to replace Mayor Ron Gonzales as the city's representative on
the Valley Transportation Authority's Silicon Valley Rapid Transit
Policy Advisory Board, which he has chaired since 2002.

Gonzales last week recommended the move after council members
criticized him last month for attending a meeting of the board, which
oversees plans for extending BART to Silicon Valley, a project of keen
interest to the mayor.

Gonzales in January agreed under pressure from the council to resign
from the agency's board of directors and from four other posts as
punishment for his role in procuring a controversial contract
amendment for Norcal Waste Systems.

Council members said they had understood that would mean Gonzales also
would step down from the transit policy board, to which he was
appointed by the VTA. Gonzales last week said that was not his
understanding, but he agreed to resign to put the controversy to rest.