San Jose Inside

This week I wanted to get a pulse from our readers and bloggers about what they are seeing around town as the election gets closer.  I know that Chavez seems to be bridging the gap—but how?  Is it based on the money that is being pumped into her campaign by labor and the Democratic Party, or is she starting to connect with the Pandori and Mulcahy voters?  Are people who didn’t vote in the primary coming out of the woodwork to voice their opinions?  As the election gets closer, we will begin to see the power of the television ad, and how little people really read about the candidates.

Does anybody remember the 1994 Republican “Contract with America,” whereby all the GOP members of Congress elected that year pledged by their oath and signature to end Congress’s “cycle of scandal and disgrace,” and voluntarily submit to a 12-year term limit? Here is a little excerpt just to remind you:

Gangs Sent to New York to “Solve” Problem

The San Jose City Council has decided to rededicate itself to bringing home the title of “Safest Big City in America” by allocating several million dollars to send dozens of convicted gang members to New York City by bus to commit crimes.

Norway, with a population of just over 4.5 million, is one of the richest countries in the world. Since oil was discovered on its continental shelf in 1971, it has grown to become the third largest exporter of oil and gas in the world. It is completely self-sufficient in meeting its petroleum and electrical energy needs.  Paradoxically, it also has the second highest gasoline pump price (after Turkey) in the industrialized world of over $7 per gallon.

Once again, the ugly head of gambling is raised in San Jose politics. It has been seen before.  In the eighties, in the wake of destroyed families, ruined lives, and rising crime rates, a number of people were indicted and sent to jail. Grand jury investigations were the staple of the daily news. On every level it was a tragedy. A decade ago, the “win at any cost” leaders of the Democratic Party laundered money from the Bay 101 card club into a number of local races. Two years later, the State Fair Political Practices Commission found them guilty of a number of infractions, including late reporting. In other words, the leaders of the local Democratic Party did not want the voters to know who was funding these campaigns. Secrecy was their tactic and it worked then. They never seem to learn and they have seldom been called to task for these illegal and unethical actions. Now, it is happening again—big time!

Sunday was the start of what I hope is a great tradition in San Jose: the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. For a day, San Jose was a place you could find cool bands, and people cheering on local and foreign runners not only downtown, but through neighborhood streets.  This is exactly the type of event we need here in San Jose—one lasting not just for a year or two, but strong enough to be sustained over the years until it becomes a staple in the culture of the city.

Most immigrants arriving in San Jose from Italy early in the last century were quite poor, so they stayed in boarding houses that offered furnished rooms. The building now known as the Fallon House was used for a much longer time as the Italian Hotel, where single Italian men or families would stay for a reasonable time with people like themselves while they earned enough to buy a small farm or establish a business. Property was extremely important to them; in the old country it was impossible for a man of limited means to ever own land. Many of the wealthy Italian families now in San Jose exist because their grandparents bought and worked the land.

Squirrels to be Used in War on Terror

Mountain View hit the national news early this week when the Bush administration tapped the small hamlet in the South Bay for their rabid rodent population in order to help fight the war on terror.

The Commander-in-Chief decided to recruit the small furry animals after growing pressure to end the war from the Democratic Party, the American public and Sean Penn hit a crescendo.

Like everyone else who went to college, I took Economics 101 and read Adam Smith. I guess I got the wrong idea about the meaning of the “free market”—at least that is what I am learning from the current attempt to bring Nvidia to the Sobrato building in downtown San Jose. Apparently, it means the cost of operating these profitable businesses is passed on to the taxpayers.

This is the time of year when satirists rejoice, pundits celebrate and citizens head for their local vomitoriums.  It is the final weeks before election, the “silly season”—that most frightening time of year when the airways crackle with attack ads, mailboxes overflow with disturbing missives, editorial writers pontificate, and parents shield their children’s ears from such trash. On a few rare occasions, it descends into farce.

Well, the news of “Cheapskate Chuck” Reed just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?  But I feel that his cheapness, frugalness, or whatever you want to call it, is getting blown out of proportion a bit.  Are we splitting hairs or do his questionable moves regarding reimbursements really mean as much as people are making them out to be?

Have you ever been to Big Basin Park and stood under a giant redwood, the tallest living trees on earth, and wondered how and why they are still here? This is the story of the man who saved them: artist and photographer Andrew Putnam Hill.

Hill came to California in 1867 at the age of 14, just before the continental railway was built. His father, Elijah, had made the journey just before Andrew was born, but before he reached the golden land, Elijah and a companion were attacked by Indians. Elijah survived the fight, but he died a week later of exposure and exhaustion.

Compliance with Strict Greenhouse Emissions Law Cited

California moved to the front of local government efforts to fight global warming Wednesday when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation calling for a radical reduction of greenhouse gasses by dissolving the Santa Clara County government.

Citing numerous studies that show “unusually high” levels of carbon dioxide emission emanating from the county supervisors’ chambers, the state has ordered a temporary closure pending a comprehensive study and plan.

I decided the day after the primary votes were counted who I would vote for for mayor in November, and it wasn’t either one of the candidates whose name is printed on the ballot. Nothing since that day has made me change my mind about voting for “none of the above.” In fact, this week’s revelations about both candidates (Reed’s expense scam and Chavez’s letter) and their individual responses to related criticism only strengthen my resolve.

Mark Twain once said that when people start talking about religion, he always grabbed a firm hold on his wallet. So, too, it is with some discussions of “constitutionality.” I was very sorry to see that a federal judge threw out San Jose’s law concerning limits on independent expenditures. It can only mean more money and more sleaze in local campaigns. The Chamber of Commerce should feel more than a hint of shame at its disingenuous primary assault on Cindy Chavez and the subsequent censure by the Ethics Board, San Jose Mercury, just about every other politician running for office, and many of the Democratic establishment lemmings who are so fearful of Chuck Reed and any other independent voice that might crack their hold on power. Why didn’t the chamber just fall back on the truth and call it what it was? For the time being, the chamber avoided being indicted by the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. Of such small victories, are our municipal values formed.