Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo wanted to send a message during Tuesday night’s presidential address to Congress by inviting as guest Daniel Sandecki, a disabled Army veteran who lost his job at the Palo Alto VA in February as part of the federal workforce reduction.

“I felt it was important for Donald Trump to see the faces of those who have been impacted by his decisions,” Liccardo, whose district covers parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

But then something weird happened.

About two hours after Liccardo posted on social media about Sandecki being his guest, the former VA worker found out he was no longer a former VA worker. His job was being restored.

“I am still trying to process all of it. I’m in disbelief,” said Sandecki, who attended the speech at the Capitol on Tuesday night. “I don’t have great words for how I feel.”

A 10-year Army veteran who was injured while serving, Sandecki was hired in October 2024 as an emergency management specialist for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Palo Alto Health Care System. His job was to ensure continuity of care for Bay Area veterans during all sorts of natural and man-made emergencies from power outages to earthquakes and wildfires.

He received an email Feb. 13 informing him that he was terminated. He said he was grateful to find out Tuesday that he was employed again, and Liccardo also was happy that Sandecki’s circumstances changed — even if it took a bit of the steam off the message he was trying to send.

“I would like to think this was the most productive political post of my congressional career of eight weeks,” the former San Jose mayor joked. He said his office found out Tuesday that Sandecki had been sent an email a couple of days earlier informing him of his restoration of employment, but he didn’t receive it because it was sent to the email address of the job he no longer had.

“This is no way to run a railroad,” Liccardo said. “We have a bunch of reckless rookies in DOGE deciding who to fire. Not one of those decision makers has served in a war or fought in one or helped an injured veteran in a hospital. This is a terrible way to run a government and a horrible way to serve our country.”

NEW DIRECTOR TAKING THE REINS >> It’ll be no easy task to fill the shoes of Kevin Hauge, who is retiring as Children’s Musical Theater San Jose’s artistic director this season after 30 years. But the award-winning youth theater company believes it has got the right person in Kikau Alvaro, a San Jose native who’ll be returning to CMT and the Bay Area after several years on the East Coast.

CMT landed on Alvaro after a nationwide search that took nearly a year.

“Ultimately, Kikau won our hearts because of his well-rounded experience as a multifaceted artist and educator, connections to the broader theater community in the Bay Area and beyond, his vision for endless possibilities of what CMT can become, and his inherent passion for this organization,” CMT San Jose Managing Director Dana Zell said.

Alvaro served as the associate artistic director of the Virginia Repertory Theatre, and most recently was an associate professor of musical theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In the Bay Area, he directed and choreographed three shows at CMT, including “Avenue Q” and “The Drowsy Chaperone,” as well as working on several other shows for CMT, TheatreWorks and the Diablo Theatre Center in Walnut Creek.

Hauge, who is directing next month’s production of “Waitress” for CMT, said he was confident Zell and Alvaro would be a great team to lead the company into the next chapter of its 57-year history.

“Nothing is more important to me than the future of CMT,” Hague said. “I have had the unique opportunity to witness Kikau’s growth from a performer in his youth to his blossoming career as an arts educator, teacher, and director.”

ART AND ABOUT >> If you’ve been to the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara this year, you might have noticed something new: the John and Eve Mathias Gallery, which was named in January — the same time the three newest exhibitions opened featuring work by artists Nathan Oliveira, Marc D’Estout and Laurus Myth.

An artist and poet, John Mathias serves as president of the Triton’s board of trustees, and his wife, Eve Page Mathias, is a professor emeritus of drawing and painting at San Jose City College. John Mathias said their donation that prompted the gallery naming was to ensure that future generations learn how the arts enrich where we live and, in fact, make it more livable.

There is more excitement coming for the Triton, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a gala May 3. Get more information at tritonmuseum.org/events.