The San Jose City Council voted to strip the committee assignments of embattled gay City Councilmember Omar Torres, who is under criminal investigation after he admitted in a text message to performing oral sex on a 17-year-old.
All of Torres' fellow councilmembers and Mayor Matt Mahan called on him to resign last week, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported. Now that he hasn't done so, he has been removed from his roles with the Public Safety, Finance, and Strategy Support; Community and Economic Development; and Neighborhood Services and Education committees.
Torres, 43, has reportedly said he will not resign.
"Omar Torres is holding his seat hostage and taking away the right to representation from 100,000 residents of San Jose even after the entire council has called for his resignation," Mahan stated in a news release October 23. "While we don't have the tools we need to fully remove him from office as the community has asked us to do, we can and have stripped him from all committees, boards, and commissions. I am looking forward to the day when we have a District 3 leader who is worthy of the trust and respect of the community."
Despite that, the council excused Torres' October 8 absence — which he claimed was due to "illness" — which allows the member to keep his seat on the council. If Torres missed five meetings without the council's excusing his absence, his seat would become vacant.
Councilmember Bien Doan objected to excusing the absence, demanding to see proof Torres was sick, according to the San Jose Spotlight.
Torres was absent again October 22. A phone call placed to Torres' District 3 office October 23 went to voicemail. Last week, an email sent from "your D3 staff" told recipients "please don't hesitate to contact us anytime. You can reach us."
"Our office is, and always will be, a resource you can rely on," the email stated. "We are ready to listen, assist, and take action on your behalf."
The B.A.R. called the District 3 office last week to ask what the meaning of the email was. The person who answered the phone stated "we're not commenting on anything," and abruptly hung up the phone.
Torres was also stripped of his roles with the Arts Commission, Downtown Parking Board, Library and Education Commission, the San Jose Youth Empowerment Alliance, the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency Governing Board, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board, the Santa Clara VTA Policy Advisory Board — Diridon Station, the Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Project, the Team San Jose/Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Schools and City Collaborative. Fellow councilmembers replaced Torres' on those bodies.
Torres has not been arrested or charged with a crime, which Mahan and the nine other councilmembers acknowledged in an October 16 statement holding that though "we all live in a nation in which we are innocent until proven guilty," Torres "has lost the trust of the community and is no longer able to effectively serve the residents of District 3."
Torres represents downtown San Jose and the Qmunity District, the city's LGBTQ neighborhood. Two weeks ago, the San Jose Police Department confirmed it was investigating Torres on suspicion of seeking sexually explicit pictures of a minor online. For his part, the councilmember said the allegations were "entirely false" and part of a blackmail scheme waged against him by a Chicago man he had met online.
In a Snapchat message, Torres stated "when I worked at a site at a college I sucked a student in the control room. Black 17 year old and boom. 9.5 inches at 17," according to a sworn affidavit from a San Jose police officer.
Torres' attorney, Nelson McElmurry, didn't return a request for comment.
Elected in 2022, Torres is the first gay person of color to serve on the San Jose City Council, and only its second out councilmember.
A longtime political aide in the South Bay and Democratic Party leader, Torres previously served as an elected member of the board of the San Jose Evergreen Community College District.
Qmunity District and Silicon Valley Pride officials didn't return requests for comment.
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