Tom Patti got a nice going-away present Tuesday as part of an emotional farewell to the member of the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.
The board voted to rescind a 2022 censure vote against Patti for violating its Code of Ethics by making derogatory comments toward a rival supervisor at the time and treating her with disrespect.
A censure is a largely ceremonial slap on the wrist in which a governing body makes a show of its displeasure at a member’s conduct. It is not accompanied by any suspensions, loss of pay or other more tangible punishments.
Board Chair Miguel Villapudua, who also is leaving as his term finishes, offered a motion to rescind his vote — which was the deciding nod in Patti’s censure. Saying it represented heated politics at the time, the outgoing supervisor said the time had come to put it aside.
Patti, a Republican who joined the board in 2016, said “it feels like a little bit of housecleaning” and was an appropriate action. He joined four other supervisors in supporting the move. Supervisor Paul Canepa, who was not on the board when the 3-1 censure action was taken, abstained.
The 2022 action against Patti was followed by a second censure vote a month later over another alleged ethics violation. The second vote failed, however, with the nature of the alleged violation not being made public.
Patti, who was defeated in last month’s general election in a bid to become Stockton’s next mayor, remains critical of the episode.
“We have a weaponized ethics code that was abused by some members of the board,” he said Tuesday.
Earlier in the meeting, he was gracious in an emotional goodbye to the supervisors, saying: “I owe an unending debt of gratitude.”
Patti said he accepts that those who try to bring about change will face criticism — “especially for challenging the status quo,” noting that politics is both tough and unforgiving.
But, he added, “our work is bigger than any single one of us.”