January 23, 2009

Cortese continues public service

By Bill Highlander
Editor

Forty years after Dominic Cortese became a Santa Clara County supervisor, he swore in his son, Dave in the Board of Supervisors’ meeting chambers Jan. 12. Dave Cortese carries on a tradition of public service be-gun by his father that stretched for decades at the county and in the California legislature.

Dave Cortese was 12 in 1968 when his father was first elected as a supervisor. There has been a Cortese in public service ever since. Cortese was a trustee for East Side Union High School District for two terms and then served District 8 on the San Jose City Council for eight years and is now beginning a 4-year term as a supervisor. His former constituents still make up a large part of the County’s District 3 and Cortese says he will continue to represent them well.

The hallway of the County’s headquarters teemed with well-wishers as they gobbled the appetizers and the Voinam Lion Dancers and the Los Montoyas singing trio entertained them.

The chambers were jam packed with every seat taken and standing room only. The fire marshal moved the rest of the crowd into an adjacent room, the old boardroom, to watch the ceremony on TV.

Brian Adams, the emcee, read a long list of elected officials in attendance. The elder Cortese prompted the younger several times during the administration of the oath, but the new supervisor calmed down during his remarks as he talked about the hard work to be done.