The purpose of this page is to set forth the historical process in which Santa Clara County (California) Public Defenders have been selected. It is difficult to conceive of a more divisive and contentious manner in which the Board of Supervisors has selected the Public Defender. Since Sheldon Portman, the Public Defender has always been an import to Santa Clara County. The facts will speak for themselves.

The first Public Defender of Santa Clara County was R. Donald Chapman who in a relatively short period of time was appointed to the Superior Court bench (he became a Superior Court Judge). His second in command, Sheldon Portman, succeeded him in 1968. Sheldon Portman held the position of Public Defender for nearly seventeen years until he was sacked by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors for having spoken out. We will come back to this. Mr. Portman was sacked in 1986.

Every selection of Public Defender after the departure of Sheldon Portman has been bitter, divisive and extremely contentious.

In 1986, Philip H. Pennypacker was named interim Public Defender. He was a resident of Santa Clara County, a County Bar President, and is a very-well respected attorney in private practice.  He also promised office reorganization and accountability.  The selection process took approximately six months and was a bitter and divisive process. The office allegedly divided itself into three factions, one group which supported Assistant Public Defender Grant Armstrong(who is still in the office), another faction which supported Chief Assistant Norwood Nedom (who has since retired), and a group which supported Acting Public Defender Philip H. Pennypacker and the reforms he envisioned. The Board of Supervisors opted to duck the controversy and bring in a Public Defender from out of County, from Los Angeles, Stuart R. Rappaport. Whether a person liked Mr. Rappaport or not, no one can deny the fact that he brought calming qualities to an office resistant to change. He was bright, he was charming and he had a finely developed sense of humor. He was the oil that the troubled waters of the Office of Public Defender in search of calm needed from an administrative though not fiscal perspective. Unfortunately, Mr. Rappaport himself caused controversy when he, in an effort to curry favor with the Board of Supervisors, proposed a savings of $2 million dollars by significantly slashing the salaries of over 60% of attorneys in the office while he and his administrators (including Armstrong and Nedom) would enjoy substantial pay increases (10-15%). His plan proposed no office reorganization nor accountability. His proposal was quickly shelved when his numbers were questioned by Deputy Public Defender Zacharias B. Ledet.

Stuart Rappaport retired in 1995, and the selection process again opened. The selection process again was again bitter and contentious. Unlike 1987, a significant majority of the attorneys in Public Defender's Office supported one of two in-house candidates, Assistant Public Defender Grant Armstrong (who has held the position for over 20 years) and Assistant Public Defender Mary Greenwood. Those two individuals were front runners over an out-of-county candidate who was eventually selected, José Villarreal. Mr. Villarreal was the Public Defender in Fresno County at that time and had resided there a significant amount of his life. He had deep roots in Fresno County and still does.

The process which occurred during the selection of Public Defender in 1995 was significantly different than that which occurred in 1987. A vicious whisper campaign commenced against Mr. Villarreal within the Public Defender's Office. This whisper campaign questioned everything about Mr. Villarreal. These whispers assigned to Mr. Villarreal almost every conceivable shortcoming and labeled him as unfit for the job. Some attorneys in the Public Defender's Office became so panicked by the rumors that they began conducting their own investigations concerning Mr. Villarreal, calling the Public Defender's Office in Fresno and making inquiries. The Public Defender administration at the time did little to silence this whisper campaign.

This pernicious whisper campaign was exemplified at the farewell dinner for Stuart Rappaport in 1995. On that date, candidate and former Chief Assistant Public Defender Norwood Nedom mocked Mr. Villarreal in a roast for Mr. Rappaport. In that roast, Mr. Nedom "joked" that Mr. Villarreal was so unfit to be Public Defender in Santa Clara County that Mr. Villarreal was desperately searching to be Public Defender in remote counties such as Modoc. All Public Defender administration as well as a number of members of the Board of Supervisors were present at that time.  This controversial campaign led to the publication of a critical guest editorial in the San Jose Post Record which Thomas Spielbauer wrote.

Woody Nedom has since retired.  However, his "jokes" about the Hispanic Jose Villarreal are to be viewed in a different, and less innocuous, light given the letters he wrote to the San Jose Mercury News.  

In 1995, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors thought differently. In 1995, the Board named José R. Villarreal Public Defender of Santa Clara County. Two years later, the board extended his contract. Since then, his contact has been extended even further.

It is rumored that Mr. Villarreal may retire in the next several years. If history is to act as a guide, the Public Defender's Office is again posed to undergo another bitter, divisive and contentious selection process. Unless, of course, the manner of selection is changed.

Your probable reaction by now is surprise. You did not know about this turbulent and unsavory history of the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office. One would have expected a different philosophical perspective from an office of attorneys whose mandate is to represent the disenfranchised and to fight to protect constitutional rights.

What about Sheldon Portman? Sheldon Portman committed a mortal sin in 1986. He spoke out against the Board of Supervisors arguing that the resources that the Board wanted to give him were insufficient for him to do his job. In 1986, he did what a Public Defender is suppose to do, he advocated on behalf of his clientele. His reward: He was fired. How easy it would have been for Mr. Portman to have remained silent and have protected his salary.

When is the last time you heard of the District Attorney of Santa Clara County, the Sheriff of Santa Clara County, or the Assessor of Santa Clara County being fired for vigorously doing his job? Why then the Public Defender of Santa Clara County?

The Public Defender of San Francisco is elected, not appointed. Some people say that San Francisco is different from Santa Clara County. That is true. It is. Santa Clara County has a far higher educated, literate and informed electorate than any other county in California.