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New Court Complaint over Measure B

UPDATE: The California Superior Court set a hearing for Monday, April 2, to rule on competing lawsuits regarding Measure B.—Editor

Councilmember Pete Constant and Ballot Measure B’s campaign treasurer, Ben Roth, plan to file their own complaint in California Superior Court on Friday morning. Their petition claims opponents of the pension and benefits reform ballot measure used false and misleading statements in their arguments. The filing comes almost a week after labor unions filed their own lawsuit over ballot language. A judge could rule on both the unions’ lawsuit and the more recent petition ahead of the scheduled April 3 hearing.

Unions File Lawsuit over Ballot Language

A judge ruled in favor of attorneys representing city workers Monday to hold an expedited hearing on April 3 about the language of Measure B, the pension and benefits reform ballot measure. The ruling comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed Friday in California Superior Court that claims the ballot question violates the Election Code because it does not contain impartial and non-argumentative language, as the law requires.

Fiscal Emergency Report Cost $222K

A financial report Councilmember Don Rocha asked city staff to produce last month shows wasteful spending on labor and employee relations consultants and outside legal services, he says. Included in the staff report is a $222,000 study on whether the city should declare a fiscal emergency.

Liccardo a Favorite for Mayor in 2014

Metro Silicon Valley’s issue this week looks at possible candidates to succeed Mayor Chuck Reed when he terms out in less than two years. Invariably, in every discussion, two names pop up: San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese. Below is an excerpt focusing on Liccardo’s upbringing, what made him go into politics, and his interest in running for mayor in 2014.—Editor

Is Madison Nguyen a Contender?

Metro Silicon Valley’s issue this week looks at possible candidates to succeed Mayor Chuck Reed when he terms out in less than two years. One possible candidate for San Jose mayor in 2014 is District 7 councilwoman Madison Nguyen. She would become the first Vietnamese-American big city mayor in the country and would lead the city with America’s largest Vietnamese-American population — more than 10 percent and and over 100,000 in the 2010 census. Let’s hear what the pundits say about that. —Editor

Reading Rainbow

Just when things seem to be going better for Mayor Chuck Reed, with a solid council vote on his pension reform ballot measure and his first-ever projected budget surplus, his predecessors have to go and steal his thunder. Instead of waiting for Reed to follow through on his plan to open four new libraries that closed the day construction stopped, former mayor Susan Hammer and council members Frank Fiscalini and Trixie Johnson trotted out their own plans to save libraries—show-offs.

A Conversation about Public Negotiations

Although the City does a good job posting documents on its website regarding proposals and correspondence from both sides, I believe many others would rather see the interaction of union officials and city staff in real time. Thus, on Wednesday, I am asking the Rules Committee to support my recommendation to have the city and unions talk about this issue with the hope that both parties will agree to move forward and allow these meetings to be public.

Ballot Measure a Political Disaster

Mayor Chuck Reed called an audit requested by local state legislators “politically motivated.” He is correct. But calling a fake “fiscal emergency,” exaggerating the size of the problem and calling on voters to pass a pension reform ballot measure that most attorneys, including myself, believe won’t stand a court challenge is also “politically motivated.”

Gonzales Endorses Bitbadal

A campaign fundraiser flyer for San Jose’s District 10 City Council candidate Edesa Bitbadal made its way on to The Daily Fetch website this week, and an unexpected name was at the top of the guest list: Gonzo! That’s right, former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales.

Raining Cats and Dogs

The city of San Jose’s Department of Animal Care & Services is the place to seek out regarding all things animals. Actually, San Jose provides animal services for other neighboring cities too, including Cupertino, Los Gatos, Milpitas and Saratoga on a contractual basis. Despite a lack of funding from the state, San Jose’s Animal Care Services has a higher success rate of saving cats and dogs than at any other time in the city’s history.

Judgment Day for Pension Reform

The City Council will finalize a decision Tuesday for a pension reform ballot measure. This is the question that will likely be put to voters on June 5: “To protect essential services: neighborhood police patrols, fire stations, libraries, community centers, streets and parks, shall the Charter be amended to reform retirement benefits of City employees and retirees by: increasing employees’ contributions; establishing a voluntary reduced pension plan for current employees and pension cost and benefit limitations for new employees; reforming disability retirements to prevent abuses; temporarily suspending retiree COLAs during emergency; and requiring voter approval for increases in future pension benefits?”

Unions File SEC Complaint Against Reed

In an attempt to box in Mayor Chuck Reed on his worst-case scenario of the city’s pension crisis, a complaint was filed with the SEC on Monday on behalf of three unions. The complaint claims Reed didn’t disclose pertinent information on the pension crisis in forms filed with the SEC and misled investors who helped the city issue $435 million in bonds last year.

Wild West in Milpitas

Two of San Jose City Hall’s most prominent political figures are causing quite a dustup in Milpitas. The mayor’s budget director, Armando Gomez, also a Milpitas councilmember, has been battling behind the scenes with Chuck Reed’s longtime political consultant, Vic Ajlouny. As recent as four years ago, the two men sat in on Reed’s senior staff meetings. While maintaining decorum in Silicon Valley’s capital, the political paintball has busted loose a couple exits up the freeway.

Which Type of Tax Do You Like?

Last week, the council discussed a poll of residents/likely voters regarding their views about tax increases. The majority of the Council appears to be considering a June ballot measure for a tax increase. Since the poll respondents are anonymous and nearly everyone on this blog is anonymous, I thought I would ask the question: Which tax do you want? How much of it?

President’s Day and Bill Chew

Today is President’s Day, which means no one is working at City Hall. And because the national holiday falls on a Monday, as usual, this means the City Council won’t be meeting until next week. After taking a quick look at the committee agendas, it doesn’t seem like much of anything important will happen this week. But there was one item about a newcomer to the District 6 City Council race that garnered some attention.

Some Free Advice for Mayor Reed

It has been a tough week for Mayor Chuck Reed. An enterprising investigative reporter, Jenna Susko, from KNTV News challenged the mayor’s veracity of the “fiscal crisis” and exposed his administration’s exaggeration of the unfunded liability facing San Jose. The mayor’s opponents were quick to jump on the news and quickly filed an ethics complaint. A complaint which, ironically, is justified under Reed’s own ethic reforms, which state that public officials shouldn’t lie. But the regulation—like many Reed Reforms—is unenforceable. A lawyer for the ethics commission advised the body not to investigate as they have no jurisdiction over the matter. That is lawyer-speak for you can’t do anything even if he did lie.