Aaron Resendez may be the first person to ever run for a seat on the San Jose City Council while simultaneously planning to become a registered lobbyist. The question is: should he already be registered?
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‘Win Bonus’ Buries Fong in Debt
Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-San Jose) has owed a Sacramento lobbyist $100,000 since 2008. He refuses to talk about it, but consultants running his San Jose City Council campaign say the amount is "in dispute."
Just Legalize, Regulate Marijuana Already
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.
Xavier Campos, Shirakawa Filed Fictitious Business Accounts with Campaigns
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office seized documents in a Thanksgiving eve raid that implicate Xavier Campos’ campaign in funding the red-baiting political mailers that helped him win a seat on the San Jose City Council. Now, records obtained this week by Metro/San Jose Inside suggest that the District 5 councilmember engaged in a highly unconventional campaign finance practice—one used by the incarcerated former county supervisor—that would have allowed him to establish phony campaign bank accounts that could have gone undetected by agencies monitoring election spending.
Xavier Campos’ Campaign Paid for Illegal Flyers, Warrant Reveals
A search of George Shirakawa Jr.‘s home the day before Thanksgiving turned up evidence that suggests Xavier Campos’ 2010 City Council campaign paid for materials to create a fraudulent political mailer that helped the San Jose city councilman get elected. The mailers portrayed Campos’ opponent, Magdalena Carrasco, as a communist to East San Jose’s Vietnamese voters, and Shirakawa’s DNA was found on a stamp affixed to one of the mailers. Campos ended up winning the primary election against Carrasco by 20 votes and later won the runoff.
Levitt Pavilion: The Process of Remaking of St. James Park with Music
The Levitt Pavilion received support from the San Jose City Council this week, after Sam Liccardo gathered enough interest from neighbors and urbanists to get approval for an “Exploratory Committee.” Will it be “the answer” or “part of the answer” to what ails St. James Park? We shall see.
Nora Campos Paid Shirakawa $5000 Shortly After Illegal Campaign Mailer
A Santa Clara County Grand Jury drilled into financial transactions between George Shirakawa Jr. and California Assembly leader Nora Campos that occurred shortly after voters received a fraudulent mailer posted with stamps bearing Shirakawa’s DNA. Five thousand dollars changed hands as the Speaker pro Tempore’s younger brother battled in a tight race for a San Jose City Council seat, secured thanks to illegal, anonymous dirty tricks. Metro and San Jose Inside broke the Grand Jury report this week. Read part two of our report here.
Grand Jury Indicts George Shirakawa Jr. in Political Mail Fraud Scandal
The Grand Jury indicted former county Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. on one felony count of false personation Monday. According to the Grand Jury’s report, which by law will not be released for 10 days, Shirakawa allegedly took part in a political mail fraud scheme “on or about and between May 1, 2010, and June 8, 2010.” According to prosecutors in the District Attorney’s office, Shirakawa’s DNA was found on political mailers that portrayed then-San Jose City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco as a communist. Carrasco lost the primary by 20 votes to current District 5 Councilman Xavier Campos, a close friend and former staffer to Shirakawa, before going on to lose the runoff. A source tells San Jose Inside that Carrasco, Campos and the councilmember’s sister, State Assemblymember Nora Campos, were all deposed by the Grand Jury last week.
Chamber, Democratic Central Committee Make Amends? No, Not Really
TV sportscaster and former San Jose City Council candidate Robert Braunstein penned a heartwarming editorial in his newsletter about the reconciliation of two political rivals: the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and Democratic Central Committee. The business backers and the labor supporters, Braunstein wrote, have let bygones be bygones. Except they haven’t.
How to Buy Public Safety Support
The saying goes: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. But in politics, if you can’t join ‘em, buy ‘em. That’s exactly what San Jose City Council candidates Rose Herrera and Johnny Khamis did in a recent slate mailer to boost their public safety cred. But it seems the smartest men in the room are the voter guides’ organizers, who are making a killing selling endorsements up and down the state.
FPPC Letter Says Mayor Can’t Give $100K to PAC Supporting Herrera
The San Jose City Council race between Rose Herrera and Jimmy Nguyen just got a little crazier. The Police Officers Association announced late Friday that a political action committee (PAC) supporting Herrera will need to return $100,000 to a PAC controlled by Mayor Chuck Reed. But the mayor says that has yet to be decided.
Story of the Week: Campos, Constant Collect Campaign Money for Family
An examination of DFR forms, or Disclosure of Fundraising Reports, filed in the last two years by San Jose city councilmembers shows that many not only spend their time soliciting contributions for community events, but also partisan organizations and even family members in two particular cases.
Story of the Week: How Candidates Make Their Money
On the same day presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced he will release his 2011 tax returns, we take a look at how the remaining four candidates for two San Jose City Council seats made their money last year.
Kalra Attends DNC in Charlotte
UPDATE: It turns out San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant did attend the Republican National Convention. Check back for more details.
San Jose City Councilmember Ash Kalra is in Charlotte, North Carolina this week to attend the Democratic National Convention. He is one of almost 6,000 party-nominated delegates. While he is attending the week-long rally, Kalra will be keeping touch with San Jose Inside. At the end of the week, the councilmember will give us a recap of the events, who he interacted with and his impressions of where the party is headed into the November election.
Tea Party Time with Johnny Khamis
The last time we wrote about Johnny Khamis, who is running for a San Jose City Council seat against high school sportscaster Robert Braunstein, he called us racists for mentioning that he’s Palestinian and Braunstein is Jewish. For the record, Fly loves people of all races and religions, shapes and complexions. Khamis, however, thinks some Almaden voters could be Islamophobic, so he took the opportunity to announce he’s a Christian. But just how God-fearing is Khamis?
UPDATE: Whose Democratic Party Is It?
UPDATE: Fly has confirmed with Democratic political operative Jeffrey A Cardenas that Rose Herrera did receive an email invitation to be interviewed at the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee endorsement hearing. Below is that email, with email addresses and phone numbers redacted.
What’s worse than not getting invited to the party? Getting invited to the party and then being told you can’t come inside. San Jose City Councilmember Rose Herrera found herself in this uncomfortable position Monday night when she was locked out of the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee endorsement hearing.
