Your elected office holder has just been photographed coming out of a seedy hotel, cigarette dangling, tie askew and he’s carrying a sheep. You are tasked with a public response. What do you do?

The 2014 mayoral race in San Jose is still two years away and already people seem bored by the potential candidates: Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Madison Nguyen, and county Supervisor Dave Cortese. Rumors of a future Mayorluigi—a.k.a. Willow Glen Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio—surfaced last month and everyone choked on their cannolis. Now we bring you the next potential “right” man for the job. Well, maybe not the right man, but Pat Waite is a Republican.

President Barack Obama’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program, a policy enacted in June that allows illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to obtain a work permit, a valid Social Security number and a contingent promise of deferred action with regard to deportation. DACA does not provide a path to lawful permanent resident status, U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status. But, perhaps unintentionally, a new study from Stanford suggests that DACA could result in drops in crime nationwide.

Are we truly our brothers and sisters keepers? Or, does self-interest trump what is best for the common good? These questions will need to be answered in the Nov. 6 election. The way I see it, a “yes” vote on Proposition 30 and Measure D, the increase of minimum wage in San Jose to $10 per hour, will be for the best interest of all our citizens.

The city collected more than $3.5 million last fiscal year through taxes on medical marijuana collectives. Some city officials want more. Councilmember Sam Liccardo, along with Rose Herrera and Pierluigi Olivero, put forth a plan Monday to put all medical marijuana collectives not paying their Measure U taxes out of business. According to the city’s Department of Finance, in the past fiscal year, 80 of the 158 medical marijuana dispensaries have “never, or only sporadically, paid the medical marijuana tax approved by voters in 2010 through Measure U.”

The City Council meeting Tuesday will open with a commendation ceremony for local Olympian Martilou “Marti” Malloy, who took bronze in Judo in London, and the Association of Former Vietnamese Political Prisoners for their 25 years of support of Vietnamese political prisoners. But once the council gets down to business Tuesday, the mayor and councilmembers will discuss a Grand Jury report that questions the city’s funding structure and transparency in building City Hall.

San Jose Councilmember Ash Kalra was in Charlotte, N.C., last week as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention. The following is a recap of his final day at the Convention, President Obama’s speech and some overall themes from the week-long event.—Editor

Waking up Thursday morning, it was hard to believe that we still had the main event of the Democratic National Convention ahead of us. The previous three days had been exhilarating and empowering but also exhausting. The long days of meeting different community and political leaders from around the country made me feel good about the Democratic Party. The bulk of the members in attendance at the convention were not wealthy contributors or high-level officials but rather ordinary Americans who want to serve and love the energy and political atmosphere that surround a national convention. I met retirees, students, veterans, community activists, and public servants from all walks of life.

Arts and Culture are words used quite often to describe the vibrancy of cities; particularly big cities looking to attract business, tourists and new residents. City folk have enjoyed arts and culture entertainment for centuries, which has been funded both privately and publicly.

Groups hoping to increase San Jose’s minimum wage in November through Measure D lost a court fight on two fronts Thursday. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Mark H. Pierce ruled that a line about costs from Measure D’s ballot statement must be taken out because it is misleading. He also rejected arguments that opponents of Measure D should have to change their ballot statement because minimum wage backers “failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the subject arguments are false and misleading.”

In the June primary we endorsed Rose Herrera and Robert Braunstein for San Jose City Council seats because they stood out from a field of candidates. As both races moved to runoffs, two surprise second-place finishers emerged: Johnny Khamis in District 10 and Jimmy Nguyen in District 8. We wanted to take a closer look at the second-place finishers before issuing our general election endorsements, and that opportunity came last month at the San Jose Downtown Association’s debate.

San Jose Councilmember Ash Kalra has been in Charlotte, N.C., all week as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention. The following is a recap of his first three days at the Convention. President Obama will deliver his DNC speech tonight, and Kalra has agreed to write an additional column for San Jose Inside on Friday.—Editor

My journey to Charlotte began at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Sunday morning. During my tenure on the City Council I have found it difficult to leave the city for extended periods of time. In fact, this week in Charlotte will be my longest time away from San Jose during my entire time in office. Thankfully, there was no council meeting this week due to the short week following Labor Day. And since residents are rightfully concerned about how taxpayer dollars are spent, you should know that I’m personally paying for this trip—I am not using any city funds or special interest contributions.

The City Clerk plans to retroactively mark Councilmember Pete Constant down as an unexcused absence for last week’s City Council meeting. Unbeknownst to almost anyone, Constant, who was out of the office almost all of August after back surgery, was attending the Repubican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Where does a Mike Wasserman, Laurie Smith or Jim Cunneen go? These quintessential Silicon Valley moderate Republicans are out of step with their current party. They are tolerated as Republicans, but with no real enthusiasm from the declining, myopic base of their current party. Republicans are an endangered species in California and the moderates within the party have been driven out by the hard-right agenda that is an anathema to a growing multicultural state.

UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties this post and all reader comments were dropped from the site. The post has been restored in its original form as we work to resolve all outstanding issues. Thanks for your patience.—Editor

The San Jose Police Department is thinking of getting out of the fingerprint business. As a result, a battle for millions of dollars in equipment and staffing, and has been quietly waged for months between the SJPD and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office over who should process criminal prints.

UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties this post and all reader comments were dropped from the site. The post has been restored in its original form as we work to resolve all outstanding issues. Thanks for your patience.—Editor

Living up to its reputation as the county’s favorite whipping boy, the Santa Clara Valley Water District repeatedly botched its ballot measure language to extend property taxes. A judge recently ruled that multiple mistakes on the ballot measure to extend property taxes won’t stop it from going to voters. That’s a good thing. Despite the drama, most of the money will go toward cleaning up creek beds, ensuring safe drinking water and providing flood control. We say “most” because some of it could go toward providing elder board members of the Water District board, a golden parachute. A recent board agenda item to give appointed board members health insurance for life was pulled at the last minute by Water District CEO Beau Goldie. Both Goldie and Olga Martin Steele, the district’s interim chief administrative officer, and other board members admit that the idea has been on the table for years and was recently resuscitated. The question is why? The timing is obvious.

As the county Board of Education looks into authorizing a zoning exemption for a new Rocketship School (#8) on Lick Ave. off of Alma, by the Tamien light rail station, we are at a new day with a more reflective conversation. This issue comes up tomorrow night on the board agenda.