Kevin de León

Politicians in Glass Houses

Last week, Nora Campos took City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco to task for accepting campaign money from a controversial L.A. lawyer named Francisco Leal. Campos’ brother, Xavier Campos, is facing off against Carrasco for Nora’s soon-to-be-vacant District 5 seat, and the outgoing East Side councilwoman publicly questioned Carrasco’s ethics. She also wondered aloud whether the $250 Leal contribution is evidence that Carrasco is selling her district out to Southern California interests.

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Dirty Machinations

At last April’s State Democratic convention in Los Angeles, the head of the powerful South Bay Labor Council, Cindy Chavez, called a face-to-face meeting with state Assemblymember Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles and labor leader Maria Elena Durazo. Chavez wanted to discuss de Leon’s fundraising activity for a San Jose City Council campaign.

De Leon had contributed $250 and helped bring in campaign funding for Magdalena Carrasco, his ex-wife, who was running against the SBLC-backed candidate for the District 5 council seat, Xavier Campos.

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Newcomer Heats Up District 5 Race

Elsie Aranda has not decided which San Jose City Council candidate she will endorse. Stopwatch in hand, she sits in the front row of the second District 5 candidates forum at the Mayfair Community Center, acting as moderator.

Aranda makes sure that the four people currently battling to represent San Jose’s East Side don’t go beyond their allotted speech times. It is her job to holler at candidates Xavier Campos, Aaron Resendez, J. Manuel Herrera and Magdalena Carrasco if they take too long to make their points.

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