Will Chavez’s Bombshell Bomb?

Cindy Chavez dropped a big one over the weekend, accusing Chuck Reed of knowing about the secret union deal with Norcal two years before other councilmembers approved an extra $11.25 million for the garbage contract in 2004. Reed, of course, voted against the deal, but now Chavez—who voted for it—is basically claiming that she wouldn’t have made such a bad decision if Reed had told her the magical secrets that allowed him to make a good decision in the first place. Reed says he had no insider info, but rather figured out a no vote was in order using only common sense and the same packet all of the councilmembers received. Grand jury transcripts reveal Reed talked to subcontractor California Waste Solutions in 2002, but there’s no sugggestion in the documents that Reed knew who promised what—or anything about Gonzales’ secret deal. So is anybody buying this new offensive, other than the Merc? Hard to say, but certainly the likely reason for the bizarre charge is to take heat off Chavez—who just about everyone thinks had to know something, given her labor ties. Her grand jury testimony reveals that she met with Norcal and Teamsters representatives in October of 2000, just before Gonzales made his $11.25 million promise. But no one has pointed any unsubstantiated fingers her way, not even Reed. “I never accused her of wrongdoing,” he said of his opponent. “Because they were all just rumors.” Both Reed and Linda LeZotte, who also voted against the deal, called Chavez’s tactics “ludicrous.”