Ex-Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva running for city council, wants 'second chance'

A former Stockton mayor once accused of misappropriating public money is seeking a return to elected office.

Anthony Silva has filed paperwork to run for the District 2 seat on the Stockton City Council in the March 4 primary election. The seat is currently held by Councilman Dan Wright, who will be terming out next year.

"I want people to give me a second chance, the ones that aren't sure about me, and I want them to send me back to city hall so I can fight," Silva told The Record this week. "I'm a very different person now because I'm a little bit older. I'm more mature."

Silva has remained out of elected office since losing the mayoral race to Michael Tubbs in the 2016 election — Tubbs received 70% of the vote. Silva said he wants to return to city hall to "finish what (he) started" when he was mayor.

"I know I'm going to have a lot of haters, but I'm a warrior for the poor and middle class. I fight for us in Stockton. It's that simple," he said, adding that homelessness and recruiting more police officers would be his top priorities if elected to the city council.

"Right now, the homelessness is obviously still out of control, no matter what people say," he said. "I know there's county funding for this and that, and the new center opening up downtown at St. Mary's Dining Hall, blah, blah, blah ... it could be done much more quicker and efficient. We need to get these people off the streets and the help they need."

Silva also wanted "less tension" between the community and the police force. He suggested recruiting young Stockton residents to fill vacant police officer positions.

"I want the police to come from Filbert Arms, I want them to come from Conway, I want them to come from Sierra Vista," Silva said. "These young men and women who are 19, 20, and 21 ... they can be recruited. They haven't been arrested yet. They can go through these trainings — Delta College has a good program — and we can be sponsoring these folks so our city is policed by our own people."

Silva's history in Stockton

Silva served as Stockton's mayor from 2013 to 2017 and was once the CEO of the Stockton Kids Club, formerly the Stockton Boys & Girls Club. The club was renamed after the national Boys & Girls Club of America revoked the Stockton Boys & Girls Club’s charter in 2013.

Silva was mired in controversy throughout his time in elected office.

In 2015, a gun stolen from Silva was the murder weapon in the south Stockton killing of 13-year-old Rayshawn Harris. A San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office report stated that he failed to notify authorities of the theft of the murder weapon until one month after Harris’ death.

In 2016, the then-mayor was arrested at his youth camp and accused of recording an alcohol-fueled strip poker game involving camp counselors on his cellphone. He was charged with eavesdropping, giving alcohol to people under 21, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and cruelty to a child by endangering their health.

At the time, Silva said he accidentally recorded the strip poker game after walking into the middle and that all participants were at least 18. As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded no contest to giving alcohol to a person under 21, and was sentenced to a year of probation and 40 hours of community service. The other charges were dropped.

In 2018, Silva faced eight new charges, including two counts of grand theft embezzlement, two counts of embezzlement of a public officer, money laundering, conflict of interest, possession of a firearm, and possession of ammunition.

He pleaded no contest to a single felony conflict of interest charge after the prosecution agreed to drop all other counts of financial misconduct and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

The conflict of interest charge stemmed from Silva’s decision to direct $5,000 in public money from a mayoral discretionary fund to the Stockton Kids Club in 2013. Silva was involved professionally with the youth service organization at the time.

The felony conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor and then expunged from his record in 2022.

Three other candidates will compete against Silva for the District 2 seat — business owner Pamela Pettis-Houston, Planning Commissioner Waqar Rizvi, and healthcare worker Mariela Ponce.

The filing deadline for elective offices closed on Wednesday in Stockton. Vote-by-mail ballots will be sent out to registered voters in San Joaquin County during the first week of February.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Ex-Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva running for city council seat