San Jose Inside

Very few people go out on their own terms, but there’s no doubt that Karyn Sinunu-Towery finished on top. The prosecutor wrapped up a 30-year career in the District Attorney’s office by successfully sending former county supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. to jail in her final case, and she handed off what seems to be a strong case involving Shirakawa and political mail fraud. Last week, colleagues honored her accomplishments with a cash bar fiesta at the De Anza Hotel, where junior and senior attorneys clinked cocktails as equals for minutes at a time.

A ruling on San Jose’s controversial pension reform initiative, Measure B, became public Monday, and both the city and union leaders claimed victory. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Patricia Lucas wrote in her decision that the “legal question is whether and to extent Measure B violates vested rights.” The answer appears to be yes and no. Click to read the judge’s full decision.

Stories on the plight of the homeless during the recent cold weather have focused on adults living in encampments. But in San Jose there is another homeless population that rarely gets any attention:  homeless college students. CNN Money wrote about a homeless college student who was turned out of her Midwest school during winter break. Where do homeless students living in local college dorms go during winter break?

It’s been nearly four years since I fought on the front lines of the health care reform battle, eventually resulting in the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). But that feels like a lifetime ago, as the landmark policy now serves as a punchline. Not long from now, though, the joke will be on the critics.

Raising their black-gloved fists in the night air of Mexico City in 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were almost universally condemned. National broadcaster Brent Musberger, then a young sportswriter, referred to the men as “black-skinned stormtroopers.” Bringing home gold and bronze, the Olympic medalists received little more than spite from the country they proudly represented. But the iconic moment transcended sports and politics and time has corrected perspectives. Russia, now the host country of the upcoming Winter Olympics, presents a similar opportunity for athletes across the world to have their voice heard.

Statistics show that the number of people under 25 who have drivers licenses has decreased steadily over the last 20 years. This may seem like random trivia on its face. But a closer look reveals a social trend that has significance to San Jose and other metropolitan areas across the country.

School administrators in El Paso, Texas—and by extension Santa Clara County Superintendent Xavier De La Torre—were cleared of any wrongdoing in falsifying test scores as well as changing students’ grade levels to sidestep accountability measures, according to an El Paso Times report.

Sometimes a candidate has to spend money to make money. And, so far, Madison Nguyen has done both at a recent dinner. In her mayoral campaign kickoff event, the vice mayor shelled out about $16,000 at San Jose’s Dynasty Seafood Restaurant. Nguyen felt she owed big hitters a “decent meal” at the very least, and apparently the checks went just right of the soup spoon. Her campaign has already surpassed $100,000 in contributions, less than two weeks into the race, Nguyen said.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, recently wrote a column for Huffington Post, arguing that America has “a moral obligation to provide a great education to each and every child, and we must create a new majority to make this happen.” I couldn’t agree more, and the time is now. We cannot afford to wait another three decades. Waiting patiently for change will cause the US to become a second-tier nation.

San Jose will consider skirting its living wage policy to appease a massive corporation and some developers. The City Council on Tuesday will discuss an appeal from Starbucks and other vendors to be exempt from the rule—they’re interested in leasing space at City Hall and the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

San Jose Inside’s Josh Koehn sat down in late October with City Manager Debra Figone, who will retire at the end of next week, to discuss her 44-year career in public service. The free-flowing discussion, which has been edited for clarity, touches on topics such as the city’s adversarial relationship with the Police Officers Association, the validity of international travel for elected officials, the possibility of another sports franchise coming to San Jose if the Oakland A’s cannot relocate here, and how Figone views the media’s coverage of local politics.

Saturday marks a year to the day since a gunman killed 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. To remember the lives lost, a group of community leaders and activists will hold a vigil this weekend in Sunnyvale, a city that grappled with a massacre of its own in 1988.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed Thursday that it has expanded its investigation into San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos’ 2010 campaign. Earlier this week, San Jose Inside reported that Campos and incarcerated former county Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. created fictitious business filings with the county Recorder’s office under identical names as their campaigns. The unconventional finance practice could have allowed the two men to funnel campaign contributions into secret bank accounts.

It’s déjà vu all over again, with apologies to Yogi Berra. The San Jose City Council once again passed an ordinance that could effectively put all medical marijuana collectives out of business. A more progressive approach would be to enforce existing law and pass an ordinance completely legalizing marijuana for general use.

A Santa Clara County employee took a browbeating for criticizing Obamacare and told to take her complaints outside—literally off public property. That’s according to Norina Mooney’s attorneys at the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a conservative legal defense group that defends “religious, parental and other constitutional rights.”