Tag: Board Of Supervisors
Family Health Fiasco: Cindy Chavez Wanted to Sue Metro
May 22, 2013, by Silicon Valley Newsroom Politics Comments (15)
Cindy Chavez speaks to a crowd at the Labor Temple on election night last November.
County supervisor candidate and labor organizer Cindy Chavez has not always been the biggest fan of San Jose Inside and Metro‘s coverage of local politics. In fact, she was so perturbed by a report in March about the political activities of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, on which she was previously a board member, that she suggested a lawsuit.
Family Health Fiasco: Board of Supes President Lets Organized Labor Write His Letters
May 22, 2013, by Silicon Valley Newsroom Politics Comments (3)
Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager sent a letter to Mayor Chuck Reed and the San Jose City Council in February requesting for a continued partnership in supporting the Children’s Health Initiative. But the letter didn’t come from anyone in Yeager’s office.
Kathleen King expressed concern earlier this year to Working Partnerships USA policy director Bob Brownstein that the city of San Jose would stop funding the Children’s Health Initiative (CHI) after Measure A passed in the 2012 election. As executive director of the the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, King realized this would have an adverse effect on the foundation’s ability to continue operations. A plan was then set in motion to tap trusted elected officials.
Family Health Fiasco, Part I: Foundation Funded Political Campaigns, Not Kids
May 21, 2013, by Silicon Valley Newsroom Politics, Business, Culture Comments (11)
Email records show that Kathleen King, executive director of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, has focused her agency’s efforts on coordinating political campaigns with county supervisor candidate Cindy Chavez at the expense of helping poor children.
A public agency created the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation more than a decade ago to fund the county’s groundbreaking children’s health care initiative, one that would guarantee that every child who needed a doctor’s attention would be seen. For the past three years, however, low income kids’ health insurance premiums have taken a backseat to personal ambition as Health Foundation officers ran for office, funded their $200k annual compensation packages and diverted money to pay for political consultants, mailings, public opinion polls, phone banks and ballot initiatives. All this transpired behind a shroud of secrecy that was lifted last week by Judge Carol Overton, who rejected SCFHF’s hard-fought legal battle to keep its activities out of the public’s view. Documents obtained as a result of last Friday’s superior court ruling show clearly that the Health Foundation repeatedly broke state laws by using a public agency’s funds and property to operate political campaigns in close coordination with local labor leaders.
County Supervisors to Discuss Environment, Electric Car Chargers
May 20, 2013, by Jennifer Wadsworth Politics, Business, Culture Comments (8)
The county could soon be in the electric car charger market. (Photo by motorblog, via Flickr)
Santa Clara County has a lot of electric cars, but not enough chargers. The Board of Supervisors may start shaping some sort of public policy to make way for more chargers to encourage people to buy electric vehicles. Coming up with legit zoning rules could be a big push in that direction, according to a memo by Supervisor Ken Yeager on Tuesday’s meeting agenda. Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include county-provided transportation for low-income workers and meals for the elderly.
Cindy Chavez Campaign Pieces Break FPPC Laws on Coordination?
May 13, 2013, by Josh Koehn Politics Comments (11)
Cindy Chavez’s campaign pieces for the District 2 supervisor race seem very similar to mailers going out from two independent committees, which might go against campaign laws.
What’s the difference between Cindy Chavez’s campaign and some of the independent expenditure committees that want to get her elected to a county supervisor seat? Little more than a few choice words, according to mailers that have been targeting voters in District 2. With absentee balloting already in full swing, the campaign of candidate Teresa Alvarado chose last week to file a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission.
County to Focus on Unfunded Liability in Budget Workshop
May 03, 2013, by Jennifer Wadsworth Politics Comments (1)
Unfunded retiree healthcare benefits threaten to take a $1.7 billion bite out of the Santa Clara County budget, a drastic uptick from the $425 million liability seen a decade ago. This and other matters will be on the Board of Supervisors agenda for a three-day budget workshop starting Tuesday next week.
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