Dave Cortese

David D. "Dave" Cortese (born 1956) is an elected official who is a lifelong resident of San Jose, California USA. He is currently serving on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, representing District 3, which includes San Jose, Milpitas and Sunnyvale. Before being elected to the Board of Supervisors, he served as a Councilman and Vice Mayor for the City of San Jose. Cortese served for eight years as a trustee for the East Side Union High School District in San Jose. Cortese ran for mayor of San Jose and won the primary, losing the general election to District 3 councilmember Sam Liccardo.
Dave Cortese won a seat on the Santa Clara County Supervisors in 2008 with 56,845 votes, or 54.87%. He was reelected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2012 with 40,360 votes, or 100%.
In his current term on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, his accomplishments include securing funding for more school crossing guards and an evaluation of "hot spots" of pedestrian and bicycle accidents and fatalities in order to improve conditions. He helped form an anti-Human Trafficking task force by sponsoring an $850,000 budget item. The money is evenly divided between the Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's office, which make up the task force with multiple other local agencies. As of October 1, 2014 the task force showed measurable results according to Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith.
In his first term, his accomplishments included: securing funding for transportation projects, including the BART to San Jose extension, upgrades to the County's expressway system, extending VTA Light Rail to Eastridge Mall, and improvements to HWY 101 and the Tully Road, Capitol Expressway, and Yerba Buena interchanges; approving a new ambulance service and protecting farmland and open space, as well as introducing new Sunshine Laws.
Cortese attended Bellarmine College Preparatory high school (1970–1974). He received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, Davis and his Juris Doctorate from Lincoln Law School (1991–1995)
He is the son of former Santa Clara County Supervisor and California Assembly member Dominic L. Cortese and Suzanne Cortese. Cortese's paternal grandfather, Vince Cortese, Sr. was an immigrant farmer from Italy who found success in agriculture and commercial development. His maternal grandfather Ed Donovan was a civic leader and executive of General Motors Credit Corp. who served as a Santa Clara city councilman in 1949 and 1950. Dave Cortese has a wife, Pattie and four children.