With the mayoral seat and two council districts up for grabs, the Nov. 3 election could completely transform the makeup of the Monterey City Council.
In the race for Monterey mayor, incumbent Tyller Williamson will face off against Vince Malfitano for a two-year term.
Williamson, an HR specialist for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, has served on the City Council since 2018 and has been mayor since 2022. If reelected, Williamson said he will focus on addressing the structural budget deficit while maintaining infrastructure, expanding housing opportunities and supporting local businesses.
Malfitano said in his candidate statement, “Our current leadership has failed us.” He says he also prioritizes the city’s financial health.
On his website, Malfitano states he previously had a “successful dental practice in the San Francisco Bay Area,” then developed assisted living facilities after retiring from dentistry.
However, public records raise concerns about his past business and dental practices. In the 2010s, Malfitano bought two casinos in Nevada, the Delta Saloon and Bonza Saloon, according to court documents, but he was denied licenses to operate them because the Nevada Gaming Control Board stated that he failed to demonstrate “adequate business competence.”
The board found he had failed “to disclose a significant number of important items, including lawsuits, foreclosures, business interests, delinquent tax payments, tax liens and default notices” and had “significant employment-related issues with his assisted-living business and his prior dental practice.”
“I disagreed with a number of those characterizations then and continue to disagree with them today.,” Malfitano writes by email. “Nevertheless, the application was my responsibility, and there are decisions from that period that, with the benefit of hindsight and experience, I would handle differently.”
State Dental Board records show that in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malfitano faced multiple accusations of misconduct. He was accused of sexual assault by a dental assistant, who claimed Malfitano grabbed her hand and placed it on his groin. A patient alleged Malfitano made inappropriate sexual comments and touched her breasts on at least two occasions during a medical procedure. He was also accused of gross negligence by multiple patients.
Malfitano denied and continues to deny the allegations but agreed to a settlement that in 2001 led to the Dental Board placing him on probation for seven years, suspending him from practicing dentistry for 30 days, a requirement for him to perform community service, and an order to pay approximately $15,000 for investigative and prosecutorial costs.
“Many years have passed since these events,” Malfitano writes. “Those experiences are part of my history, but they do not define the entirety of my life, my character, or the person I am today.”
His campaign website states, “As mayor, I will bring the same discipline and accountability to City Hall that I have applied throughout my career – because Monterey’s families, businesses and neighborhoods deserve nothing less.”