Mountain View City Council member Ralph Faravelli has withdrawn his support for colleague Sally Lieber in her bid for Elaine Alquist's state Assembly seat.

While he said he likes Lieber as a person, Faravelli said yesterday he has become "disenchanted" with her tactics. He also said Lieber can be "heavy-handed" about the issues she feels strongly about.

But Faravelli, who has been involved in Mountain View politics for 25 years, said his decision was a hard one.

Lieber, the mayor of Mountain View, is running against fellow City Council member Rosemary Stasek and Santa Clara City Council member Rod Diridon Jr., in the March 5 primary.

Faravelli said he won't endorse any candidate.

While Mary Lou Zoglin has come out in support of Lieber, no council members have said they support Stasek. Council member Mario Ambra -facing a public corruption trial- has a Diridon lawn sign on his property.

Faravelli, who has served on the council the longest, said he became disenchanted with Lieber after he endorsed her for the state office.

Faravelli said he was disappointed when she voted in November against accepting the recommendations of the Council Appointments Committee - a council subcommittee made up of Faravelli, Ambra and Matt Pear.

Faravelli also said he disagreed with Lieber's move to take Pear off of the Mobile Homes subcommittee.

When she became mayor in January, she replaced Pear with Kasperzak, Faravelli said, and he said this hasn't been done in the past.

Finally, Faravelli said he dislikes the way Lieber has publicly criticized the city for not doing enough for the day workers in town.

He said he feels Lieber is "a little too heavy-handed" when it comes to issues like day workers.