Candidate for
Council Member; City of San Mateo

Dedicated Public Servant

Joe Goethals is a life long resident and native of San Mateo. He currently lives with his wife and two daughters within walking distance to downtown. He serves as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County and is currently assigned to the STRIKE team, an elite unit of felony prosecutors who handle the most dangerous criminals. Joe has handled over 50 murder cases in his career as a Deputy District Attorney. He has more than 25 jury trials including murder, rape, and kidnapping.

Joe currently serves as the Chair of the Public Works Commission for the City of San Mateo. He is on the Complete Streets Coalition for San Mateo as well. In addition, Joe is currently serving as a Director on the Peninsula Health Care District Board serving the residents of northern San Mateo County.

Born and Raised in San Mateo

Joe grew up on Aragon Boulevard with his two brothers and two sisters. As the oldest of five children he took on additional responsibilities with his siblings. Summer times were spent playing baseball at Trinta Park, Fitzgerald Field in Central Park, San Mateo High School and Hillsdale High School. From first through eighth grade, he attended St. Matthew's Catholic School. Joe later returned to the fields of San Mateo to coach his brothers' baseball teams at Los Prados for Pony League and Hillsdale High School in the Babe Ruth League.

After attending St. Ignatius in San Francisco for high school, he attended Santa Clara University majoring in Combined Sciences with an emphasis in microbiology. At Santa Clara University, Joe played baseball, became an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), and was honored with membership in Sigma Xi, the Research Honor Society, for his PCR research in the microbiology department. At graduation, he was honored with the Santa Clara University Richard J. Riordan Award for Public Service.

Graduate School

Joe attended San Jose State University for his Masters degree in Public Health. For five years he served as a project manager and grant director for statewide and San Mateo county grants including the Healthy Kids, Childrens' Health Insurance Program and Tobacco Cessation projects. In 2001, Joe attended the APHA conference in Boston, and in 2005, Joe was a presenter at the National Tobacco Cessation Conference in Chicago. Joe also gave the commencement address for his graduating class in 2002.

At Santa Clara University again for Law School, Joe excelled in the courtroom. He won the Honors Moot Court competition which gave him a scholarship to Oxford University for the summer and the opportunity to compete against the prestigious Gray's Inn, home to the most respected barristers in London. In Oxford, Joe studied Public International Law under Chaloka Beyani, a noted constitutional scholar who is widely known for having written the constitution for several African countries.

While in law school, Joe also served as an extern to the Honorable Timothy A. Reardon of the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. He was a law clerk for the United States Attorney under the Honorable Kevin Ryan. He also served as a law clerk to the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office before taking a position with the Alameda County District Attorney's office in 2006. Even while in law school, Joe found the time to coach his brother's Babe Ruth baseball team at Hillsdale High School from 2002 to 2004.

Joe is a Past President of the Santa Clara University Alumni Board of Directors. He sat on the Board of Directors for over six years. He also served as a ex-officio member of the Board of Regents in 2006. He was a founding member of the Santa Clara University Emergency Medical Service and served as their graduate advisor for several years.