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Vote Today: Endorsements Summary

Next week, voters will have the opportunity to create real change in San Jose and in Sacramento. In addition to choosing a new governor, we must decide on eight state initiatives and referenda, all of which will have a deep impact on California politics and culture. Locally, two measures could rescue the city from a crippling budget deficit, and deal with an imbalance of power that helped create it. At the same time, two tight races could put a couple of candidates on the San Jose City Council who promise to bring some much-needed independence to that body.

In the months leading up to today’s vote, the editorial team at Metro/SJI has been interviewing candidates and studying the issues. Posted here are our suggestions.

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Larry Pegram: New Financial Revelations

Eighteen months after leading the local battle against gay marriage—and shortly after an aborted plan to move to Tracy and run for U.S. Congress—Larry Pegram promised that his campaign for San Jose City Council would be about fixing the city’s pressing money troubles, not social issues. Since that time, Pegram has emphasized his commitment to balanced budgets and cited his own credentials as a professional financial planner.

A Public Spanking

County Assessor Larry Stone visited the San Jose City Council study session last week and gave an extensive lecture on the role of the County Assessor and a critique of Spectrum Economics. His comments were blunt, sparing only profanity about the economist hired by the RDA for $15,000. I wrote about this topic three weeks ago.

This is the only time that another elected official has spoken to the City Council at length during my tenure.

Metro Endorses Magdalena Carrasco

District 5 voters have a chance to restore balance to the San Jose City Council by electing Magdalena Carrasco, a talented and articulate neighborhood activist who began a grassroots campaign and now enjoys a wide base of support.

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Nora Campos Accuses Magdalena Carrasco of Selling Out to L.A.

A $250 campaign contribution from a Los Angeles lawyer to San Jose City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco is drawing fire from District 5 Councilmember Nora Campos. Campos, whose brother Xavier Campos is running against Carrasco to represent San Jose’s East Side, suggests the money is evidence that Carrasco is somehow in cahoots with politicians from L.A.

Curse of Reed

The city’s fearless and occasionally politically tone-deaf leader, Chuck Reed, was riding high after successfully placing pension reform and binding arbitration on the ballot with a carefully stitched-together coalition that seemed to spell the end of organized labor’s control of the San Jose City Council.

The afterglow was short-lived, however. Reed threw the new majority into chaos with his divisive endorsement of gay marriage opponent Larry Pegram for a council seat, just a day before a California court overturned Prop 8.

Marijuana Tax to Appear on Ballot

At its weekly meeting Tuesday evening, the San Jose City Council voted to put a proposed marijuana business tax on the ballot this November. The tax, which could reach up to 10 percent, would encompass business that sell medical marijuana both legally and illegally in the city.

Gloves Come Off in Rocha-Pegram Race

Two weeks ago, Larry Pegram hand-delivered a letter to Donald Rocha, his opponent for the District 9 seat on the San Jose City Council. The three-page missive asked Rocha to pledge support for a doctrine labeled the “Pegram Principles,” obviously modeled on the “Reed Reforms” that helped Larry’s friend Chuck win the mayor’s job a few years back. (As if front-runner Rocha would have anything to gain by endorsing his opponent’s philosophy.) Pegram attached a personal note, essentially one of those “no-negative campaigning” promises: “Dear Don, I look forward to a campaign that is worthy of our constituents and is carried out in an honorable manner.”

Smoke Deflector

Pierluigi Oliverio was the first person in San Jose to see the green tidal wave coming.

Last October, the number of local pot clubs could be counted on one hand. Now, medical marijuana collectives have sprung up in every part of the city—some more legit than others. One web directory currently lists almost 70 San Jose–based medical marijuana dispensaries.

With the San Jose City council finally taking a serious look at regulating medical marijuana this week, the District 6 councilmember could not be blamed for saying, “I told you so.”

“I hate to keep going back, but if we would have done this a little earlier, everything would have been fine,” Oliverio says.

Model Candidate

Who knew that Don Rocha was related to it-supermodel Coco Rocha? When the District 9 San Jose City Council candidate stepped in front of the camera a few weeks back, Fly couldn’t help but notice what a natural the longtime political aide was in front of the camera.

Without any pushing or prodding by photographer Felipe Buitrago, the former San Jose Redevelopment Agency official instantly stepped in front of the white screen, put his hands in his pockets, pulled a flattering three-quarters stance and looked intensely into the camera with a Derek Zoolander-esque “Blue Steel” look.

Pizza with Pegram

Larry Pegram’s supporters cheered at the Cambrian Round Table Pizza when the first results popped up, even though the San Jose City Council District 9 candidate trailed Donald Rocha by more than 1,500 votes.

“Anytime you’re in the money, it’s good,” said Pegram with a grin. Volunteers flipped around the channels on the flat-screen TVs looking for a news broadcast.

Dirty Machinations

At last April’s State Democratic convention in Los Angeles, the head of the powerful South Bay Labor Council, Cindy Chavez, called a face-to-face meeting with state Assemblymember Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles and labor leader Maria Elena Durazo. Chavez wanted to discuss de Leon’s fundraising activity for a San Jose City Council campaign.

De Leon had contributed $250 and helped bring in campaign funding for Magdalena Carrasco, his ex-wife, who was running against the SBLC-backed candidate for the District 5 council seat, Xavier Campos.

Robert Cortese on Fireworks and Sulu

It looks like the irrepressible Robert Cortese has picked a pet issue to back this election season: repealing San Jose’s fireworks ban. Two Tuesdays ago, the magnificently-coiffed karaoke king of San Jose-turned District 9 council candidate turned up at the San Jose City Council meeting. Sensing an infringement on every pyrotechnically inclined, red-blooded American’s right to handle gunpowder while partying, he pleaded for the council to change its ban on explosives. By the looks of his Facebook page, he’s also trying to drum up a grassroots effort to bring fireworks back to the city.

Metro Endorses Teresa Alvarado

Two events prompted Teresa Alvarado to run for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. One was the retirement of her mother, Blanca Alvarado, the first Latina elected to serve as a San Jose City Council member and later as a county supervisor. The other was Barack Obama’s candidacy. Looking back, Alvarado says she saw a new, more pragmatic political model emerging. “I felt like it was time for our generation to step up,” she says.

Survey: Budget Deficit Tradeoffs

This year, the San Jose City Council is forced to make drastic cuts. Unfortunately, the city of San Jose has had a deficit for the last decade even before the Great Recession. In fact, even without the recession, San Jose’s financial obligations are significantly higher then revenues coming into the city.

As a result current elected officials are left with trade offs often having to pit necessary services against each other. This year the deficit is $118 million. This is more then the entire library, transportation, planning, code enforcement, information technology, city attorney and public works departments combined.

Furloughs Are Not The Answer

Do the citizens of San Jose have an advocate on the San Jose City Council?  At times like these I’m not so sure.  When it comes to talking about the San Jose City Government budget and the efforts to close the over $116 million deficit, the focus of debate is not about providing for optimum city service levels, it’s about making payroll.  Seriously, no one is really talking about quality of service, they’re talking about salaries and pensions.  In San Jose, the emphasis is on filling pockets instead of potholes!