The deputy city manager who was led out of San Jose City Hall by security is getting a six-figure severance check in exchange for not suing.

Alex Gurza, who was unceremoniously canned in December by then-City Manager Ed Shikada — who himself was facing the ax at the time — signed an agreement that will pay him $111,460.38 to get lost. That amounts to six months of pay under his old salary, a fairly typical deal for fired high-level executives.

Shikada got six months pay, or $128,750, after agreeing to resign last month, while former Assistant City Manager Pam Antil, who also left in December, got five months pay, or $93,098.27. All told, taxpayers will be giving the trio of former city administrators $333,308.65 to do zilch.

Gurza had temporarily accepted a low-level parks gig at the city after being removed from the city manager’s office, as employees not represented by a union are guaranteed some kind of replacement job offer. But the agreement Gurza signed Jan. 24 also undoes that demotion and gives him nearly six weeks of back pay under his old salary.

City officials never said why they fired Gurza, who had been leading the city’s acrimonious labor negotiations, and Gurza said he wasn’t given any reason. The legal agreement he and now-interim City Manager Norberto Duenas signed makes certain the details won’t come out in court, either.

Honda fires up offense to end D.C. football team’s federal trademark

Rep. Mike Honda is going long with a new bill to yank the federal trademark for Washington’s NFL team.

Honda’s “Non-Disparagement of Native American Persons or Peoples in Trademark Registration Act” — say that five times fast! — would cancel any existing trademarks and prohibit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from issuing any new ones that use the term in reference to Native Americans. The bill formally declares that this is a disparaging term and can’t be trademarked under the Lanham Act.

“It is unbelievable to me that, in the 21st century, a prominent NFL franchise is calling itself by a racial slur,” Honda, D-San Jose, said in a news release. “Team names should not be offensive to anyone. Allowing trademark protection of this word is akin to the government approving its use. Removing that trademark will send a clear message that this name is not acceptable.”

Honda is jumping into an issue that’s still pending in the federal courts: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office actually canceled the franchise’s trademark registration this past summer, but the registration remains effective during the team’s appeal to a federal judge in Virginia.

Losing the protection would weaken the franchise’s defense against infringement and hamstring its ability to keep counterfeit merchandise out of the country, but it wouldn’t stop it from selling merchandise with its name and logo or from suing others who try to profit by doing so.

The bill’s 26 original co-sponsors — all Democrats — include Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose.

Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, said Honda and the bill’s co-sponsors “have chosen to stand on the right side of history by introducing legislation that would effectively eliminate the federal trademark protections of this racial epithet.”

What is Draper’s motive for Six Californias? Mostly, he likes the idea

Venture capitalist Tim Draper says his Six Californias plan to divvy up the state will improve the responsiveness of government. But the idea is so radical, so improbable, that it’s spawned a search for ulterior motives.

Does Draper, a longtime supporter of Republican causes, want to break the Democratic Party’s stranglehold on California politics? Is he trying to raise his profile to run for public office? Or is Six Californias a scheme to untether Silicon Valley from the rest of the state, creating a technological utopia for Draper and his rich buddies?

It seems the likeliest explanation — that he actually thinks it’s a good idea — is the hardest one for people to accept.

Draper says he has no intention of running for office, regardless of what happens to Six Californias. He insists he has no hidden agenda, and the initiative has nothing to do with partisan politics. It’s part of a broader vision, he says, that would have government entities compete like businesses in a marketplace.

Still, the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson concedes that there is some element of self-interest in Six Californias, which Draper still hopes to place on the 2016 ballot.

“I guess the self-interested part is, it’s where I live,” Draper said recently. “I want my government to provide good service. I pay my taxes. I want them to be going into good things.”

Draper has supported nine state and local candidates since 1999, all Republican, and two separate efforts to strip unions of their political power. But Draper notes that he switched his voter registration last year to “no party preference.” He says he voted for President Barack Obama in 2008, and records show he contributed in 2008 and 2011 to Obama’s campaigns. Lifelong friend Tony Perkins, a businessman and author, says that Draper is basically libertarian.

Draper’s father, Silicon Valley legend Bill Draper, says he foresaw that Six Californias would be a tough fight and advised his son against pursuing it. But the younger Draper pressed on.

“Brick walls don’t slow him down,” Bill Draper said.

Deputy chief’s exit likely marks the beginning of musical chairs for SJPD

San Jose Deputy Police Chief Dave Hober, who oversees field operations including patrol, will become Monterey’s assistant police chief Feb. 17. Hober, who has more than a quarter-century of San Jose policing under his belt, was known for his eloquence in explaining police procedures and tactics in an accessible way, most recently shouldering the formidable task of collecting public comments on potential police use of a drone.

Hober’s move is expected to be the first in a line of anticipated departures, with many command-level staff said to be exploring or testing for jobs in other police departments.

Shawny Williams, who is currently captain of the city’s Southern Division, will not directly backfill Hober’s position, but will take the helm of the Bureau of Investigations, which oversees the detective units. Lt. Edward Schroder subsequently will be promoted to captain of the Southern Division.

There will be more top-level shuffling: Deputy Chief Dave Knopf will move from the administrative bureau to fill Hober’s soon-to-be-vacated role in field ops, and Phan Ngo, currently overseeing investigations, will take Knopf’s place.

Internal Affairs is an offbeat look at state and local politics. This week’s items were written by Mike Rosenberg, Josh Richman, Aaron Kinney, Robert Salonga and Paul Rogers. Send tips to internalaffairs@mercurynews.com, or call 408-975-9346.