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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.

Mayorluigi

Okay, San Jose Insiders, sharpen your knives. We’re ready for the customary evisceration reserved for those who’ve earned the ire of San Jose’s public employee unions. This week we divine the betting pool for the mayoral prospects of our very own San Jose Inside columnist. Call us crazy, we know, but one shouldn’t count out the dark horse candidate who in 2006 overtook Chamber of Commerce and Labor darlings to clinch the District 6 San Jose City Council seat. Any way you look at it — by vote totals, percentages or being ideologically in sync with voters who overwhelmingly passed Measure B in June — Pierluigi Oliverio is not a force to be dismissed.

Campos Appointed Speaker Pro Tempore

Nora Campos took a considerable step up in stature Wednesday when State Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) unveiled his list of new appointments for leadership and committee chair positions. Campos (D-San Jose), who just completed her freshman term in the Assembly after serving two terms on the San Jose City Council, was appointed speaker pro tempore.

Every Dollar Counts in District 10

Edesa Bitbadal finished third in the District 10 San Jose City Council primary, just 90 votes short of second place and a spot in the November runoff. That race will feature Johnny Khamis and Robert Braunstein. But a look at how Bitbadal spent money, and how those who opposed her spent their money, paints an interesting picture.

Herrera Camp Collects, Spends Most Money

Councilmember Rose Herrera not only raised the most money of any candidate for the San Jose City Council primary in June; she also spent more than any other candidate raised in the five districts. Nonetheless, she’ll still face Jimmy Nguyen in the November runoff.

Xavier Campos Escapes Indictment

Santa Clara County’s District Attorney has accused the Mexican American Community Services Agency’s former chief executive officer and former chief financial officer of cleaning out their employees’ retirement accounts to the tune of $1 million. The third C-level MACSA employee at the time, former MACSA chief operating officer and current San Jose City Councilmember Xavier Campos, was not charged with felony grand theft, as the others were. The arrest warrant and complaint notes that while “Campos was almost certainly aware that MACSA had failed to make at least some pension payments,” there was a lack of evidence that he had a direct role in stopping retirement payments.