December 16, 2005

J. Manuel Herrera enters San Jose’s 2006 mayoral race

J. Manuel Herrera, board president for the East Side Union High School District, announced his entry into the San Jose mayoral race at a community event at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel-Club Regent on Dec. 7.

J. Manuel Herrera

He joins councilmembers Dave Cortese, Chuck Reed and Cindy Chavez in the race.

Herrera, a native son of San Jose, has served as a board trustee for the East Side Union High School District for 16 years. He is also an adjunct professor with San Jose State University, board trustee for the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and a program administrator with the Silicon Valley Conference for Community & Justice.

Herrera’s campaign for mayor will focus on three fundamental themes.

Re-inventing, transforming modern day politics
“Modern day politics is broken, but there are innovative ideas and new technology for ‘We The People’ to re-build and re-invent politics from the bottom-up,” says Herrera in his campaign literature.

His campaign for mayor will champion two new initiatives: “The People Speak,” to reclaim political campaigns from toxic, attack-style politics, and “Citizen Town Hall,” to shift the focus of policy-making from insiders and special interest groups to We The People.

Lift Education Up to a New Threshold of Opportunity and Achievement
“Education is a portal and gateway to the American Dream, especially in San Jose and Silicon Valley, with its rich foundation of native and immigrant communities,” says Hererra. “Education must be raised to a new threshold of opportunity and achievement, but it will require the same type of multi-sector, public-private collaboration that succeeded with regional transportation measures, strategic initiatives that go beyond the parochial efforts of the local education community.”

Herrera says his campaign for mayor will challenge the people of San Jose to envision a renaissance in public education, based on greater accountability and innovative strategies for educational success.

Re-Imagine culture, identity of San Jose
San Jose is among the oldest and newest of California cities, with its culture and identity still a work in progress. San Jose has staked its civic character on buildings and classic elements of culture, which are important. But San Jose has a special place in the universe as the 10th largest city in the nation and the self-styled capital of Silicon Valley.

Hererra envisions a San Jose defined by a higher order of leadership in the global village, a city his campaign for mayor Herrera intends to lay out a strategic “local community-global village” agenda whose purpose is to re-define civic and community culture in San Jose.

“The choice is between politics as usual, or a whole new way of thought and action that more faithfully represents the heart and soul nature of We The People,” adds Herrera.