[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 188 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 RECOGNIZING THE DEPARTURE OF THE HONORABLE JOE GOETHALS FROM THE SAN 
                           MATEO CITY COUNCIL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 5, 2022

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize my good friend and 
colleague, Councilman Joe Goethals, upon his departure from the San 
Mateo City Council after nine years. He began his public service on the 
San Mateo Public Works Commission and as a Director on the Peninsula 
Health Care District Board. During his time on the council, he served 
on the Emergency Services Council, the Grand Boulevard Task Force, 
Peninsula Clean Energy, the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department 
board, and the San Mateo County pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Services 
Group. He served as Mayor in 2019.
  When he first ran for city council in 2013, he noted that he was a 
prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, and that 
by that time he had already handled over 50 cases and appeared in court 
in 25 jury trials involving such violent crimes as murder, rape and 
kidnapping. Since then, he's worked in the offices of both the Alameda 
and San Mateo County District Attorneys.
  Today, Joe is in private practice as a trial attorney handling 
criminal defense, murder, sexual assault, wrongful death and personal 
injury cases. As a city councilman, prosecutor and defense counsel, Joe 
sees all sides of the criminal justice system.
  We live in special times when people question whether our nation will 
splinter and whether we can continue to live under one body of law. I 
want to take a moment to speak about Joe Goethals the attorney because 
from this discipline, combined with public office, he created an 
unusually authoritative perspective on public policy.
  In a 2020 Facebook post, he reposted an image of a man with a ball 
and chain and the word ``addiction'' on the ball, with the man reaching 
for a key that had ``hope'' as its name. In 2021, as protests broke out 
throughout the country Joe, his colleagues, and the Board of 
Supervisors established a pilot program teaming mental health 
professionals with police officers to help people in crisis. Joe noted 
at the time, ``More than half of the county jail are individuals 
suffering from some form of mental health issues. Interventions like 
this I support very much because (mental) health professionals are a 
proven solution to reducing incarceration in favor of treatment and 
diversion.'' His validation, coming from both a seasoned prosecutor and 
defense attorney, meant that residents of San Mateo could have an extra 
measure of assurance that public safety was enhanced by mental health 
interventions. To borrow a concept from our shared faith, Joe was 
teaching from the catechism of justice.
  As a councilmember, Joe Goethals was on the dais as San Mateo tackled 
some of its most difficult problems. The city has since initiated major 
public works projects to fix a flooding problem in the North Shoreview 
neighborhood, a major intersection problem at El Camino and Highway 92, 
and a significant deficiency in the city's sewage treatment system. 
During Joe's years on the council, thousands of new housing units were 
created, and the city cooperated with the county to establish at least 
two hotels as new shelters for the homeless. Joe and his colleagues 
spurred businesses towards financial health despite the pandemic by 
approving outdoor dining downtown.
  Born and raised in San Mateo, Joe grew up along Aragon Boulevard as 
part of a family of five children. He was outstanding in Little League 
and coached right through law school. For first through eighth grade, 
he attended St. Matthew's Catholic School, later moving to St. Ignatius 
College Preparatory High School in San Francisco, and ultimately 
attending Santa Clara University for both undergraduate and law school. 
Upon graduation with an undergraduate degree in Combined Sciences with 
an emphasis in microbiology, he was honored with the Santa Clara 
University Richard J. Riordan Award for Public Service. He actually has 
two graduate degrees, having attained a Master's in Public Health from 
San Jose State University before his J.D. degree. He served for five 
years in public health after his undergraduate studies. As a law 
student, he won the Honors Moot Court competition and a scholarship to 
Oxford University for the summer.
  Joe and his wife, Sharon, have three girls Samantha, Ellie, and 
Charlotte. Although they have lived in different locations in recent 
years, they have always called San Mateo home.
  It is time to bid adieu to a passionate advocate for sound 
government. America lost a champion Little Leaguer when Joe was forced 
to retire from coaching. It's losing a champion public policymaker as 
he steps away from elective office, hopefully for only a short time. 
Now, his family will regain the full-time attention of a loving father 
and husband. Life is both complete and expanding its joys for Joe 
Goethals, the boy from Aragon Boulevard who swung for the bleachers and 
hit a grand slam.

                          ____________________