SAN JOSE COUNCILMEMBER Bien Doan wants proof that his colleague Omar Torres was sick earlier this month, causing him to miss a City Council meeting amid an ongoing police investigation into child sexual misconduct.
Late Monday, Doan urged councilmembers to deny Torres’ request to have his Oct. 8 council meeting absence formally excused on Tuesday. Excusing Torres — who’s under criminal investigation for soliciting sex from a minor — would allow him to keep dodging meetings without vacating his seat under the city charter. Torres claims “illness” as the reason for missing the meeting, according to his excuse request.
Mayor Matt Mahan and the rest of the council already wants Torres out and unanimously called for his resignation in a joint statement last week.
“I do not approve of Councilmember Omar Torres’ attempt to prolong separation from the City of San José and will not vote to support his continued participation in official City business,” Doan wrote in a memo for consideration on Tuesday. “Councilmember Omar Torres has failed to make any meetings of elected obligation since the news broke on October 3, 2024. Should Councilmember Omar Torres be able to submit proper medical documentation to the Clerk, then the Council can reassess at a later date.”
Torres’ attorney, Nelson McElmurry, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Torres has missed one council meeting already — and missing the next four, without council approval of his absences, would mean his seat could become vacant after Nov. 19 at the earliest.
“I do not approve of Councilmember Omar Torres’ attempt to prolong separation from the City of San Jose and will not vote to support his continued participation in official City business.” Councilmember Bien Doan
Torres is also dodging his other elected obligations, most recently a city finance committee meeting on Thursday. He was also absent from VTA’s Oct. 3 board meeting the night the scandal went public, as well as a news conference the following day about Spartan Keyes Park. The mayor’s office is now attending District 3 neighborhood meetings in Torres’ stead.
On Oct. 10, Mahan’s office hosted a contentious public outreach meeting for District 3 residents about a proposed homeless safe sleeping site on East Taylor Street.
The scandal has taken multiple turns since going public on Oct. 3. Torres at first dismissed the investigation as political retaliation and extortion. A week later, new police filings forced Torres to acknowledge lewd texts about minors while dismissing them as “role-play.”
The revelations appalled his colleagues and constituents. But for a week, the San Jose police union was the only organization calling on Torres to resign. The San Jose Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Downtown Association, the Vietnamese American Organization and Jean Cohen, head of the South Bay Labor Council which endorsed Torres’ 2022 council run, have all followed the City Council in calling on Torres to resign.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.