The way the major corporations have been acting the past few years, you would think that they believe themselves to be above the Constitution. Right here in Silicon Valley, the latest corporate scandal—where members of the HP board and Chairwoman Patricia Dunn have apparently been caught red-handed spying on their employees and on journalists—adds a nice new euphemism, “pretexting,” for a couple of common crimes, endemic in American corporate culture, to the list of white-collar conspiratorial activities. Dunn excuses her decision to order the spying by saying she did not know that pretexting (an Orwellian construct if there ever was one) meant any laws would be broken when she hired a firm of investigators to obtain the personal information of the company’s targets. That’s hilarious, given that the defined action of pretexting combines the crimes of fraud and identity theft in a very creative manner. Call it what you want, it’s still a felony and Dunn and anyone else involved should be accorded the prescribed punishment under the law if they are found guilty. As we all know from high school civics, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

It is an axiom that some things that sound so very good can sometimes be so horribly bad. So it is with the current vision of our twenty-four–hour downtown; the result of the so-called “wonderful” activity of nightclubs and revelers often comes closer to a nightmare.  Someone attending an event at HP Pavilion and wanting to have a post game drink at the Tied House or a bowl of pasta at Original Joe’s, faces the equivalent of a trip from the UN Green Zone to the Baghdad airport. Few would have the temerity to attempt the short drive to either.  They just go home. The same goes for anyone getting off the freeway at Santa Clara Street on a weekend.  And those who live in our downtown, either in the new housing in the core or in the immediate neighborhoods, are unable to enjoy the peace and tranquility that we all need when we come home after a long day of work or play.  Cruisers, youth in full-party mode, and an annoying array of troublemakers from other cities are filling up our downtown in the late-night and early-morning hours.

What’s the solution?  Blame the police.

Have you ever heard the expression that someone “looks good on paper?”  When it comes to our current, soon-to-be-official lame-duck mayor, Ron Gonzales, he looked quite good on paper when he first started his career as a politician.  He served in the private sector working with schools; he was a smart businessman, a devoted husband, well-educated and the first Hispanic mayor in San Jose since 1850.  But, after years in office, his career and life have taken a turn and he is now one of those politicians that look very bad on paper. Hmmm, let’s see—censured by the city council, arrested and charged with felonies, an affair with his 25-year-old intern and, now, a laughing stock.  Need I kick the guy more while he’s down?

While John McEnery IV is vacationing on the beaches of Tahiti this week with his harem and entourage of personal attendants, we thought we would give our bloggers an opportunity to sound off about the San Jose Mercury News. Has anyone noticed anything different as the paper has gone through the changes of ownership? How are they doing covering local issues? Does the paper seem biased in any way in how they present stories or write headlines? What about the quality of the writing? Is there anything you would like to see them do that they are not doing? And what about the ownership’s performance so far in supporting community arts and events, especially in comparison to Knight Ridder?

When I was a kid growing up in the mountains of southern California in the 1960s, one of the most magnificent sights, then common, was to see a full-grown California condor soaring overhead. My father, a professional pilot, and I used to fly alongside the giant birds at 8,000 feet where they would soar in thermals for hours without flapping their wings once. We wondered how they learned to do that. Then, all of a sudden, the condors disappeared—victims of the huge influx of humans greedy for space and resources. It happened so fast. Now, forty years later, these amazing birds are making a very slow return and our state is all the better for it. The unfortunate thing is that the condor’s long-term trip to the nearly-extinct species list didn’t have to happen.

Well, the glass seems half empty—way empty. Lew Wolff will not bring the A’s to downtown (hey, Rick, gambling here in Casablanca!).  The Rep is in perilous condition and other groups are crying “help” and lining up to get a bit of succor.  The city leadership is looking like the interim government in Baghdad.  Our grand prix took a beating on the P.R. front not seen since Nixon’s final days.  Phew—what a few months! Look for a plague of locusts on the horizon.

Just as our discussion about the possible public bailout of the Rep Theater was catching steam, it appears other arts groups in the city realized that this may be their chance to catch a break and get some help themselves.  The discussion about what organizations and businesses are eligible for public funds each year, and which ones are not, needs to continue here and at City Hall.  If the city continues to pour money into arts groups and public events that they feel add to our quality of life, but who don’t have solid business plans and only hope to be successful on their own some day, we could repeat the fate of the San Jose Symphony.

Supervisors Welcome the Challenge to Revitalize the Theater

In an attempt to put a positive spin on the County’s defeated music hall proposal, the supervisors lauded the city after a unanimous council vote effectively turned the management of the beleaguered San Jose Repertory Theater over to the county.

If the above title sounds like one of Juan Miro’s paintings, you get my drift. Surrealism became tangible in San Jose this week with multiple manifestations. At least the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors came to their senses and stopped the concert hall project for the fairgrounds. I guess they finally realized that Kevin Costner’s “if you build it, they will come” rationale to spend himself into bankruptcy in the movie wasn’t a good idea in (sur)real life. The intentions may have been good, but the pie-in-the-sky entertainment-center vision and financial plan were fatally flawed. The unfortunate results, had the concert venue gone ahead per the county’s plans, would have made the problems at the Rep Theater seem like a piece of cake by comparison.

It is said that in war, truth is the first casualty. I have often felt that it is the same in political campaigns—where the stakes are lower and the attention slimmer.  We will see how much this axiom holds true in the currently forming battle for mayor of San Jose.  The result will determine a lot: most everything about our evolution as a city and region, our national reputation, our ethics, and the wellbeing of future generations yet unborn.  Now, that is raising the stakes a trifle.

The news this weekend, that the San Jose Repertory Theatre is looking for a $1 million bailout, brings up a lot of issues for debate and questions that need to be answered.  Is the city constantly putting money into things that they don’t monitor?  Why the shock and surprise of the city council on the financial problems of the theatre, one of the premier performing companies in the country? Has there really not been any improvement in communications with and within City Hall? Norcal redux, anyone?

Wants to Focus on Current Political Election

Council 3 Candidate and Human Being, Manny Diaz, has decided to quit his job with NASA Ames Research in order to concentrate on his council race against opponent Sam Liccardo.

Ballots for the November runoff election will likely have to be reprinted to include the word “former” in front of his career description of “rocket scientist.”

I don’t know about you, but I find the assaults by bands of petition signature-gatherers at the front door of Trader Joe’s or Safeway to be extremely intimidating. Now, I won’t sign any petition until I have read the text of the proposed initiative and have decided to support whatever it is, which means that I don’t sign petitions most of the time. However, refuse one petition, and the signature gatherer will whip out a different petition, and another and another. Often, these people are very aggressive, and I have observed scores of shoppers signing these documents without as much as a thought or question.

You know that the situation is a bad one when your choice is to give a contract to an indicted and decidedly unscrupulous garbage company, who has a reputation that smells to high heaven, or take the chance of garbage piling up in the driveways of San Jose’s residents. There is no good alternative.

How did we get here? There has to be some answers.

All the talk here on the site last week about a write-in campaign got me thinking (I know, don’t hurt yourself Single Gal): Could a write-in campaign really work for the election in November?  Would it really be possible to write in a candidate (like Pandori) and hope that enough people who wasted their votes on Mulcahy would vote that way on Election Day?  Call me crazy (which many of you have and will continue to do), but I really think it’s not as far-fetched as it seems.

SanJoseInside.com has acquired a previously sealed mayoral grand jury testimony and posted a partial transcript below.

The testimony begins with Deputy District Attorney Julius Finkelstein questioning Mayor Ron Gonzales about his role in the Norcal deal.  WARNING: it is shocking, sometimes offensive but mostly sounds like Aaron Sorkin’s movie A Few Good Men.