Laurie Smith is widely considered a shoo-in to be re-elected as County Sheriff. She was first elected in 1998 by a fat majority of voters—becoming the first female sheriff in the state—and since then, her popularity has grown steadily. It was no surprise when Jose Salcido, the former head of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA), announced that he would run against her—he is becoming something of a perennial candidate. But this week, Salcido’s nemesis, former DSA vice president Joe Charvez, threw his hat into the ring as well.

Now that Cattelus Development has walked away from developing the Santa Clara Fairgrounds, I hope the County will consider something other than housing.  Perhaps a fee based sports complex or even…a horse track. Currently, the Fairgrounds is home to off-track betting for horseraces, an operation called San Jose Fair Downs. Since gambling already exists at the Fairgrounds, why then not consider a racetrack?

It’s rants vs. raves in this week’s episode of San Jose Inside’s open forum. All opinions on any topic are welcome.

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office reports that an “astronomical” amount of methamphetamine killed a man who died in February following a violent fight with San Jose Police. When Richard Lua, 28, died following the altercation, suspicion immediately fell on the Tasers that members of the SJPD were forced to use to subdue him. Officers reported that Lua was attempting to evade arrest, and tried to grab an officer’s gun before he was stunned.

Dear kindly Trustee DiSalvo
You gotta understand,
It’s just our bringin’ up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly, Blogger Raj, it is the grading in school
That gives us that ANXIETY

Introducing Tony West today at the Rotary Club of San Jose’s weekly meeting, Larry Stone reeled off a list of his old friend’s accomplishments: graduate of Harvard, where he was editor of the Harvard Political Review; law degree from Stanford, where he was editor of the Stanford Law Review; former special assistant to Attorney General Janet Reno; former member of the San Jose Planning Commission; and “two-time unsuccessful candidate for local public office.”

When Stone, the longtime County Tax Assessor, mentioned that last item, a couple of groans were heard among the friendly crowd of Rotarians. “Well, Tony,” Stone quipped, “it all worked out for the best.”

More enlightened police strategy appears to be taking hold in downtown San Jose´s entertainment zone. In the past, aggressive law enforcement tactics resulted in large numbers of public-intoxication arrests and lawsuits from club owners and members of the public, as well as packed council hearings, heated public debates over racial profiling and complaints of economic damage to downtown’s business community. Faced with community uproar, fiscal issues and political pressure, SJPD seems to have gotten the message.

District Attorney Dolores Carr today announced an unprecedented move in prosecuting gang violence in Santa Clara County, charging five people involved in the shooting of 18-year-old Larry Martinez with murder.

The Nederlander Organization is here to stay, and Broadway is finally returning to San Jose, California. Quite a few local politicos and arts organization heavyweights rolled into the Center for Performing Arts today for the announcement that Nederlander will be the exclusive presenter of touring Broadway productions and other special gigs in the CPA, beginning in September.

We write to express our concern regarding the recent tone of the rhetoric between a few members of the San Jose Police Officers Association and police critics. Issues surrounding race and police enforcement inevitably invite controversy and sharp differences of opinion. Nonetheless, we expect that members of the San Jose Police Officers Association and other community members will confront what they view as distortions of the facts with respectful criticism and correction.

We do not expect, however, that any member of the San Jose Police Department will label critics as “thugs.”

The average U.S. student watches 1,500 hours of TV annually while spending only 1,100 hours in school. If we continue to increase TV viewing while decreasing time in school, we end up with an equation that threatens the underpinnings of our democracy.

The results of my Budget Survey are in.

One of my favorite TV game shows was the original Family Feud with Richard Dawson. His big line was, “Survey Says!” when the survey answer was shared with the audience. I am pleased that my Budget Survey drew more than 700 participants. Thank you to those who engaged. It was long…but then our deficit is large, so the survey needed to at least attempt to grasp the entire budget.

Every Saturday SJI creates a space for discussion about topics that haven’t been brought up elsewhere. What’s on your mind?

With celebratory talk about the 40th anniversary of Woodstock reverberating throughout the land, no one seems to be bringing up the darker side of that era, especially since August will also mark the 40th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders. Since the Conspiracy Convention 2009 just happens to hit the Santa Clara Marriott this weekend, I think I must probe a few seemingly connected spheres of influence.

The San Jose Elections Commission is considering changing the way citizen’s vote for city officials in an effort to save both money and time. At its June 10 meeting, the commission is set to discuss the possibility of San Jose becoming the most populous jurisdiction in the United States to implement Instant-Runoff Voting when casting ballots for city office holders

So Fly was browsing YouTube.com, looking for more videos of Keyboard Cat, when up popped an interesting little video posted by the San Jose Police Officers Association. On it, Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug (and a regular SJI contributor), is seen addressing a San Jose City Council meeting, talking about the distrust brewing between some city residents and the police department.