San Jose councilmember Omar Torres removed from appointed positions

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose City Council, unanimously along with the mayor, voted on Tuesday to remove Dist. 3 Councilman Omar Torres from all his council-appointed positions as councilmembers debated how to handle Torres' recent absences. This amid allegations of child sex crimes against Torres. 

However, the council did not vote unanimously to accept Torres' excuse of absence from previous meetings due to illness. Mayor Matt Mahan said that reason has run its course going forward. 

"Councilman Torres has recently been absent from all committee commission board meetings that I'm aware of over the last two weeks," Mayor Mahan said. 

Torres' peers continue to call for his resignation. They say this case is affecting the city's ability to govern. 

Despite being missing in action for two weeks, councilmembers voted 8 to 1 to accept Torres' prior absence on Oct. 8. District 7 Councilman Bien Doan was the only one who broke ranks on that vote. 

"I made it very clear that it is my moral fortitude that I cannot support his absence at this point," Doan said. 

Torres has gone into self-imposed exile following details of a San Jose police investigation into alleged child sexual abuse. 

In an email earlier this month, his attorney says the 42-year old was exchanging sexual fantasies and feelings when describing sex acts involving children. 

All of his council peers and the mayor insist Torres resign as the police investigation proceeds. 

Councilman Torres is holding his seat hostage at this point and is denying representation to 100,000 San Jose residents," said Mahan. 

"We're very vibrant, we're full of dreams and issues. We need constant representation," said Elizabeth Chien-Hale with the San Jose Downtown Residents Association. 

The scandal that's put a stain on the government of the largest Bay Area city is also impacting Dist. 3 business owners.

"We're all talking about it in our district. Somebody needs to say what we're all thinking," said Melissa Reyes, a San Jose business owner. She says the chatter in District 3 is that it's time for Torres to go, sooner not later. "We need representation for District 3. She said she believes Torres cannot represent his constituents and that he has too many personal problems going on.

Alex Stettinski with the Downtown San Jose Association said he was shocked but agreed with the mayor that it's time to move on. 

Political experts say the council's acceptance of Torres' absence is more legal positioning than a sign of political weakness. 

"Trying to force someone out of their job is not easy to do," said Saint Mary's College executive Vice President and Provost Corey Cook. "Obviously what they can do is bring political pressure, they can start to remove him from committees for example to weaken his political power to try to get constituents maybe to put some more pressure on him, but ultimately they don't have a lot of resources to try to remove him from office." 

The mayor said District 3 residents could try to recall Torres but that would take time and cost a lot of money. They are going the political persuasion route and will try to get Torres to resign from office.

The mayor said if Torres continues to use sickness as an excuse for his absence going forward, he'll want to see something more concrete like a doctor's note. Torres' whereabouts are unknown. 

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Instagram, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU