Meet the candidates for Santa Clara police chief and city clerk

Alongside filling City Council seats, Santa Clara voters will need to pick their next police chief and city clerk on the November ballot.

Santa Clara voters resoundingly approved to keep electing both positions after two measures failed in the March primaries to change them to appointed positions. In March, 72.4% of voters said they wanted to continue electing their chief of police, and 67.6% chose the same for the city clerk.

Here’s a roundup of Santa Clara’s candidates for police chief and city clerk:

Police Chief

The police chief must be a Santa Clara resident and at minimum hold an advanced certificate from the state’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, based on the city charter. The position heads the Santa Clara Police Department, leading 153 sworn and 79 civilian officers across four divisions, according to the department’s website.

Chief Pat Nikolai announced his retirement earlier this year, leaving an open race to fill his position. SCPD Lt. Cory Morgan and San Jose Police Department Lt. Mario Brasil are running for the seat.

Mario Brasil

Brasil may work in San Jose, but he’s lived in Santa Clara his whole life. While there are differences between how police operate in both cities, Brasil said he looks forward to learning how things work in Santa Clara and wants to bring ideas in from San Jose.

In his 26 years on the force, Brasil worked for all of SJPD’s divisions, and said his time providing police security for special events will help him coordinate with Santa Clara’s cultural and community events. He provided security at San Jose State University’s stadium, but recognizes security at Levi’s Stadium is a different beast.

“By no means am I going in there with a torch, going ‘This is the San Jose way’ and pitching my flag in the Santa Clara Police Department. That is not happening,” Brasil told San José Spotlight. “I might walk into Santa Clara thinking they’re going to have to change this and then I listen to what they say. I’m very open minded. If they have a better way of skinning that cat, I’m gonna do it.”

If elected, he wants to improve the department’s transparency by updating its website and utilizing more technology to keep residents informed. He wants to improve responses to retail theft by looking at how San Jose has been handling it. He added that tackling these issues would be difficult without making hiring a top priority.

Brasil was named in a 2017 lawsuit against multiple SJPD officers, alleging the group discriminated against gay men during a lewd conduct investigation. The lawsuit was settled in 2018, and Brasil said in a statement that he and the team did not target LGBTQ+ people during the operation and were investigating illegal sexual activity in general.

Cory Morgan

Morgan has a military background and worked in all the police department’s divisions. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2020 after joining the force in 2007. Before then he spent four years in the Army and grew up in Santa Clara.

“I understand the personnel, the department and I’m ready to lead on day one,” Morgan told San José Spotlight. “That’s partly due to the fact that I’ve spent my entire law enforcement career in the city of Santa Clara, and that’s given me a distinct window in how unique we are as an organization.”

One of Morgan’s highest priorities will be building up the department’s staff. He said SCPD is 20% understaffed and has the funding necessary to hire more officers — it’s just a matter of filling the positions. Morgan also wants to create a proper training center for officers. He said they have a firing range and built a small replica house, but a larger training center will allow officers to prepare for a wider variety of emergencies.

He wants to improve the department’s technology by creating a real time crime center, a team within the department that centralizes information on ongoing investigations. For example, Morgan said that team could access security footage of a crime while officers are dispatched to help gauge the response. The information compiled can then be passed to the detectives after the immediate response.

Morgan is endorsed by Nikolai, the Santa Clara Police Officers Association and Mayor Lisa Gillmor.

City Clerk

The city clerk oversees the use of Santa Clara’s official seal. Many of the clerk’s responsibilities were handed to the assistant city clerk in 2018, including responsibility over city records and allowing public access to records, including minutes for every council, board and commission meeting.

City Clerk Hosam Haggag did not file for reelection. Businessman Paul Tacci, real estate agent Steve Kelly, product manager Poornima Gopi and retired California Highway Patrol Lt. Robert O’Keefe are vying for the open seat.

Poornima Gopi

Gopi was looking for ways to get involved with Santa Clara’s government when she learned the city clerk role was elected. She thought it would fit her expertise, as someone who has worked in software engineering and management. While she’s never worked with the city, Gopi said she’s volunteered at her daughter’s schools, including at Jefferson Middle School.

While entering a new role at the city may be challenging, Gopi said being a newcomer can have advantages, especially in a nonpartisan role such as city clerk.

“I don’t really have much history with the city or the city council. I know that it is good to have history in some roles. But the city clerk, I feel like not having history is better, because then you can go in without any prejudice,” Gopi told San José Spotlight. “You can look at what is happening and see if there are any changes needed. You’re not going to take sides anyway because you don’t know anybody.”

Gopi said she doesn’t want to assume what changes residents might want out of the city clerk’s office, so she’s hoping to learn more about the job after being elected. She wants to prioritize improving the city’s voter outreach and engagement, especially among younger residents and immigrants, as she said first-time immigrant voters may be less knowledgeable about local governance.

Steve Kelly

Kelly served on the Santa Clara Planning Commission for eight years, where he learned to work alongside others for the betterment of the city. He said he was inspired to run in part to help bridge the city’s political tensions and foster collaboration.

Among his priorities is increasing community outreach and engagement, especially young voters. Kelly said during his time as a planning commissioner, he rarely saw residents who were under 50 and rarely heard from renters. He said increasing voter outreach and public engagement can help all city processes.

“If you live here and you rent, your voice should be heard. If you are turning 18 and now becoming a voter, your voice should be heard,” Kelly told San José Spotlight. “If we do not listen to everyone, how can we plan for the future if we don’t plan for a future with our children in it.”

Because the office is in charge of administering elections, Kelly said he thinks nonpartisanship is critical, as well as having a clear understanding of election law. Kelly also said he would want to further commit to the role through extra training. He said this kind of commitment sets an example for the level of engagement voters want to see, after an overwhelming majority said they wanted the position to stay elected in the March primary.

Robert O’Keefe

O’Keefe did not respond to requests for comment.

According to his candidate statement and website, O’Keefe wants to prioritize the city clerk’s role as chief elections administrator, saying it’s important that the role remain nonpartisan.

“My entire career has been dedicated to public service, and I still wish to serve. I have proven leadership skills and vast government administrative experience,” O’Keefe wrote in his candidate statement. “If elected, I will perform my duties professionally, honestly, with high moral values and ethical standards.”

O’Keefe also wrote on his website that he wants to create a voter awareness program, and that his priorities include ethics, transparency and delivering high quality service in the role of city clerk. On Facebook, O’Keefe said he would open office hours for members of the public to foster more engagement.

He previously ran for city council in 2020 against Councilmember Suds Jain and lost. After that, he served one year on the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury, which has since blasted the sitting council multiple times for its dysfunction and handling of Levi’s Stadium.

Paul Tacci

Tacci is familiar with running large scale operations. He’s the CEO of Elevate Wireless, a wireless communications company, and is involved in a handful of other ventures. He’s a newcomer to Santa Clara politics and was looking to get more involved when he found the city clerk role, which he said felt like the best fit. Tacci has volunteered at his children’s schools, most recently serving as president of the Friends of Wilson Preschool nonprofit.

Tacci visited the office while researching the position and said he saw it was well-run. He saw a positive environment — including friendly workers invested in solving problems — but he said some areas could be upgraded. He added that the records held by the city clerk’s office are often important to residents.

“I see the city clerk’s office more as a public servant and providing information to the people,” Tacci told San José Spotlight. “The city clerk’s position and power has been largely curtailed by the city council, but that doesn’t mean the information available and held by the city clerk’s office should be overlooked.”

Tacci said transparency and efficiency are key tenets for his campaign. He wants to digitize more parts of the records acquisition process and look into mobile solutions. He suggested creating a dashboard of information with the status of ongoing city initiatives and upcoming votes that residents could view by topic.

San José Spotlight’s Election Guide for more information on voting in Santa Clara County and other candidates and measures on the ballot. The election is Nov. 5.

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.