“Tiegate” Case to be Heard in U.S. District Court

During a Thursday afternoon mayoral stump speech, current San Jose City Councilman and mayoral candidate Chuck Reed was picked up by federal marshals and detained for several hours after being charged with the desecration of the American flag.

I have an admission to make: right now, I don’t give a damn who becomes the next mayor. OK, maybe I just got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or being a news junkie has finally caught up with me. But, given the candidates we have to choose from and the situation in our city, state and world, what does it matter who becomes mayor and why should I care?

As much as I try to stay in a good mood, nothing, other than a Shark loss to Edmonton, gets me as riled as looking at the current seal of the City of San Jose.  The basic logo, with the rising sun symbol, was chosen when I was mayor, and I still like it—but the recent addition of the caption, “10th Largest U.S. City,” was a defensive, clueless decision that just shrieks “bush league.”  The old caption, “Capital of Silicon Valley,” although a reach, said so much and associated us with the most dynamic entrepreneurial spot in the history of mankind.  Apparently, it didn’t reach enough.

Over the weekend, the Mercury News came out with their first mayoral election poll and there were a few surprises as well as a few non-surprises.  I feel that the fact that 37 percent of voters are still undecided is a great sign.  That shows me that people really want to hear what all the candidates have to say and aren’t just voting for the name they know or the person from their district. I hope it is because they are reserving judgment until the end and it’s not a sign of apathy or disgust. And then, there is the question of how reliable these polls really are.

Councilwomen Say Debate Performances Too Good

During a Wednesday press conference, San Jose City Council Members Nora Campos and Nancy Pyle once again grabbed headlines when they accused mayoral candidate David Pandori of engaging in the practice of blood doping before several debates in which his performances seemed “exceptional.”

In life, many events occur simply to maintain the balance of nature. No matter what disturbances may influence nature, nature always seeks to return to equilibrium. In physics, balance is possible only when a body is stable, that is, with equal forces influencing it from opposing sides. In economics, financial markets work best when they have achieved equilibrium.

Well, it’s here in all its full-blown glory. The election is upon us, bringing the arrival of the hair-brained, the half-baked, the unethical, and the mendacious—the time of full employment for the consultants, pundits, and hangers-on. Hail the beginning of “Silly Season.”

Just a few ramblings about the mayor’s race this week:

A few people who attended the Hyde Park Neighborhood’s Mayoral Forum last Thursday all had the same thing to say about the San Jose mayoral candidates—they all look tired, worn-out and “beat to a pulp.”  I think it’s fitting to liken running for mayor to the Sharks trying to win the Stanley Cup—it’s hard to do and you get a lot of nicks and bruises along the way.  But, how much weight do those forums really hold? Are the candidates burning the candle at both ends for nothing?

Judy Chirco Next After Hearing Their Vociferous Cortese Outbursts

After several years of silence as elected officials, San Jose Council Members Nora Campos and Nancy Pyle underwent successful voice box transplants at Stanford University Hospital and, just hours later, were able to attend their first council meeting with the ability to verbalize their thoughts.

Having just returned to my downtown lair from a week of hiking in the southern desert, it is easy for me to see and feel the positive effects of open spaces on the human psyche. Perhaps that is why I am finding it even more difficult than usual to tacitly swallow the Coyote Valley development boondoggle as inevitable. Apparently, given the facts presented in the new financial analysis of the planned community there, and the strong “go-slow” position taken by the Mercury News in a recent editorial, others feel the same way. However, I would describe my own attitude as more of a “no-go” for the development.

How we trust the men and women in blue may be an age-old question, but this time it is not from the usual perspective. We know that in San Jose we have an outstanding contingent of officers who add credit to the uniform in most every encounter. This has long been the tradition of the San Jose PD.  But politics reared its ugly head during the regime of the current mayor when the Police Officers Association (POA) freely gave thousands of dollars to an informal slush fund. This dwarfed the small amounts of money that has been given to all past candidates and previous mayors.

Much has been said about the Grand Prix lately, using words like “swindle” and “shameful” and talking about how it is a huge waste of money.  Now, rumblings have turned into accusations that there were some backroom deals made in order to make this event happen. What is really going on here?

Document Proves Pair Justified Attacking Iraq Prior to Congressional Authority

New revelations in London’s Sunday Times seem to confirm a long held rumor that Mayor Ron Gonzales and Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez held secret meetings with President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair—long before Congressional approval of the war—in which they discussed ways to deliberately mislead the public by fabricating justifications for the invasion of Iraq.

When the promoters of the San Jose Grand Prix went to the mayor and vice mayor for a $4 million public handout in August, the answer should have been a quick and simple “no.” Instead, according to information uncovered by the Mercury News this week, the city administration of Mayor Gonzales, aided and abetted by Cindy Chavez, acted surreptitiously behind the scenes to do a deal like thieves in the night, deliberately keeping their colleagues on the council and the citizens of San Jose in the dark.

I know that this is a long shot, but I am appealing to members of the San Jose City Council to please not get along so well. It seems that, during the current unparalleled crises of confidence in city government—the resignation under threat of indictment of one of their colleagues, the public censure of the mayor and the on-going grand jury investigations—council members continue to act in an ostrich-like manner, as if we are in the most placid of times. We are not.

I thought when everyone talked about San Jose and looked into its future, we all agreed that we didn’t want to become another Los Angeles.  Well, it looks like, yes folks, right before your eyes, we are.  The plan for Coyote Valley and the other new developments in the area are just leading us down the path of becoming another suburban-sprawled city like L.A., but does anyone in City Hall see it that way?