Tag: Ken Yeager
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.
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.
Supervisor Ken Yeager Snubs Mayor Chuck Reed over Marriage Equality
Apr 25, 2013, by Josh Koehn Politics, Culture Comments (16)
County Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager declined to meet with his former council colleague, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, due to the latter’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
Ever since Chuck Reed was elected mayor of San Jose in 2006, he has held quarterly meetings with the president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. The goal of these meetings is to allow city and county officials to discuss legal disputes without lawyers present. But that all changed last week, when current Board president Ken Yeager snubbed Reed’s request for a meeting.
Guadalupe Trail is a Giant Step Forward
Apr 25, 2013, by James P. Reber Politics, Business, Culture Comments (8)
This landmark marks the newly established Guadalupe River Trail, which now connects downtown to North San Jose.
Last Saturday, a modest group of runners, bicyclists and community leaders gathered on a trail near San Jose’s airport for a quietly auspicious occasion—the completion of the Guadalupe River Trail from San Jose to Alviso.
County Finance Officials Caught in Lies, Enabled Shirakawa’s Deception
Apr 03, 2013, by Josh Koehn Politics Comments (4)
Santa Clara County’s top finance officials, CFO Vinod Sharma (left) and Controller-Treasurer Irene Lui, have changed their stories repeatedly when explaining how George Shirakawa Jr.‘s misuse of taxpayer funds went undetected for four years.
Based on numerous interviews and an extensive review of documents, Metro/San Jose Inside has learned that Vinod Sharma, county CFO and director of finance, and his second-in-command, Controller-Treasurer Irene Lui, repeatedly made false statements regarding how George Shirakawa Jr. avoided detection of his misuse of county funds. Sharma and Lui decided on their own to direct resources away from reviewing charge card expenses to focus on larger-scale audits in hopes of pleasing their superiors. And by blaming their subordinates and making confusing—if not cunningly calculated—statements at public hearings, Sharma and Lui seem to be more politically astute than some of the elected and appointed officials who listen to their explanations. The following is an excerpt from the full report, which can be found at Metroactive.com. —Editor
Working Partnerships Rides Half-Million Dollar County Gravy Train
Apr 03, 2013, by The Fly Politics, The Fly Comments (11)
The emails of County Executive Jeff Smith show he took an active role in keeping labor-aligned nonprofit executives Cindy Chavez and Bob Brownstein up to speed on a variety of county issues.
When Teresa Alvarado announced that she was running for George Shirakawa Jr.’s vacated county supervisor seat, County Executive Jeff Smith helpfully forwarded the email to Working Partnership USA’s executive team: Bob Brownstein and Cindy Chavez. The forwarding of memos by Smith highlights the cozy relationship between the County of Santa Clara and Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA), the organization led by longtime labor union executive and current supervisor candidate Cindy Chavez. WPUSA is joined at the hip to the powerful South Bay Labor Council (SBLC), with whom it has historically shared offices, facilities, equipment, political objectives and allocated employees. Last year, SBLC led the effort to raise county sales taxes by $500 million over the next ten years and to increase San Jose’s minimum wage by 25 percent. It also endorsed 70 candidates for political office. Working Partnerships has been the recipient of at least $518,163 from the cash-challenged county in the past two years, performing a grab bag of services. Newly released documents obtained via a San Jose Inside public records request show the county’s contracts represented about 15 percent of Working Partnerships’ revenues for those years.
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