Bob Nunez

After years on the defensive, the Milpitas mayor is flexing his political muscles, threatening to make good on a threat to oust a political foe.

With 55 percent of the ballots counted Thursday, Milpitas Mayor Rich Tran is on track for an easy victory.

A mailer painting Rich Tran as a communist backfired by drawing fierce condemnation on whoever sent the offending literature.

Rich Tran came under fire this week after the city of Milpitas released a report detailing claims of inappropriate conduct by the young mayor.

A Santa Clara County judge heard oral arguments from both sides on Monday and is expected to issue a ruling in the case within 90 days.

Milpitas may finally part ways with City Manager Tom Williams, whose misuse of public funds could forfeit his severance package.

Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams was placed on paid administrative shortly before the City Council convened for a budget hearing Thursday.

Last November, a few hundred people donned their best suits and gowns and converged on San Jose’s historic Hayes Mansion to toast some of the East Side’s most accomplished alumni. The stars that night, honored in the East Side Union High School District Education Foundation’s Hall of Fame fundraiser, consisted of a 10-person class led by Khaled Hosseini, a 1984 graduate of Independence High School and author of The Kite Runner. But on Nov. 15, 2011, the IRS revoked the foundation’s nonprofit status. And yet almost no one outside of its board—including donors—knew about its lost certification when it threw a fundraiser a year later.

Eddie Garcia, president of the East Side Union High School District board, has announced that he will not seek re-election to the Board of Trustees this fall.

“After thoughtful consideration with my family, I have decided not to seek another term on the Board of Trustees for the 2010 election for the East Side Union High School District,” Garcia posted on his Facebook profile last friday. 

Garcia, 46, suffered a major heart attack last June, and is currently on medical leave from his job as Chief of Staff for Supervisor George Shirakawa.

Though he’s yet to decide whom he’s endorsing in the District 5 runoff, J. Manuel Herrera will indeed be running to retain his long-held East Side Union High School District Board Trustee seat next fall.

When Herrera hoofed it to the County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters Office to pull his papers earlier this month, however, whom did he discover in line ahead of him? None other than former East Side Superintendent Bob Nuñez.