Who Mayor or May Not?

Any day now, the 2014 San Jose mayoral race is expected to start, with two Sicilian-Americans from wealthy families and a Vietnamese immigrant vice mayor formally declaring their intent to run. But in the coming months, several unexpected candidates could join Sam Liccardo, Dave Cortese and Madison Nguyen. Ken Yeager, the county supe who enjoys the support of organized labor and the gay community, has apparently put out feelers, eschewing an interest in state or national politics. Conversely, Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s name has also been bandied about as a homecoming queen, which would then open the door to Liccardo making a quick jump onto the congressional ladder. Pete Constant, a former cop and current San Jose councilmember, might inject some conservatism into the contest. Constant has been weighing a run for State Assembly for some time, but that seems off the table now. The D-1 councilmember has two more years on his term and he’s likely to choose between taking a stab at mayor or the county assessor’s seat, which currently belongs to Larry Stone. How soon septuagenarian Stone hangs it up is hard to say. David Ginsborg, Stone’s deputy and handpicked successor, has already filed papers to run for the seat in 2018. In doing so, Ginsborg can start collecting cash for that race now. But as one conspiracy theory goes, Stone could drop out of the 2014 race late, which would allow Ginsborg to swoop in and defeat a small field of scallywags with an already healthy campaign warchest.

The Fly is the valley’s longest running political column, written by Metro Silicon Valley staff, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at local politics. Fly accepts anonymous tips.

6 Comments

  1. Does Constant have to give up his council seat in order to run for another job other than major?  If so please Pete, run baby run!!!  You have my blessing.  Any other council member should be banned for running for mayor since they all all brain dead when it comes to getting the city back on path to recovery which will take years.

  2. Fly, you had the makings of a decent play on words. Shouldn’t the headline have read “Who Mayor May Not”?

    Zoe Lofgren? Say it ain’t so. What did we ever do to her? Tough to know what’s worse- Zoe staying in Washington continuing to play a minor role destroying the country or Zoe coming home and inflicting major damage on our city? Why can’t she take a hint from 45 year old firefighters and retire in comfort? Doesn’t she have any hobbies besides inflicting taxes and deficits on people?

  3. All Pete is looking for is the next best pension. Hey Pete, it’s been a year and half since you wrote the memo about forfeiting your city council pension, second thoughts?

    Your boy Johnny came into briefing a couple of weeks ago, he sure was stuttering a lot, he seemed very nervous in front of us. Your other boy Bobby escorted him away for a ride a long. Man, I wish could listen in on that conversation. Maybe a “fly” did.

  4. The Entire Council with the exception of D. Rocha can take a flying leap . I Did not vote for D. Rocha and often dont agree with his votes , But at least he has San Jose’s best interest at heart . He listens to people and asks questions , and that is much more than the Elitist attitude given off by Mayor Reed and his Puppets . Reed and his puppets have ran this city into the ground (Gonzales did his part too) . We need fresh blood on the council , because as it stands a Jr High school class president could have done a better job of running this city than Mr. Burns

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