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Hawkins Leaving City Clerk’s Office

City Clerk Dennis Hawkins bids San Jose adieu in less than three weeks. According to a press release sent out by Mayor Chuck Reed’s office, Hawkins informed the City Council on Tuesday that his final day will be Dec. 15, after which he will take a position with Santa Clara County. Hawkins will join the county as as administrative services manager for the county counsel, the release states.

Friends Should Tell Friends When to Resign

A recent Mercury News editorial called on Supervisor George Shirakawa to resign based on the revelations reported by Josh Koehn in the Metro. Shirakawa’s actions included misappropriating taxpayer money, fraudulent reporting of expenses, misuse of campaign donations and failure to file the appropriate financial documents after repeated warnings. It is right and proper the Mercury News came to its conclusion based on the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing. Supervisor Shirakawa should resign. But it is a painful conclusion, because I support George’s political agenda.

Lame Duck School Board Scrambles to Appoint New Member

Will school board and council loser Patricia Martinez-Roach, shown at left with unsuccessful council candidates Brian O’Neill and Steve Klein and labor leader Cindy Chavez in June, get appointed to Alum Rock as a consolation prize?

Alum Rock Union School District trustees are making moves to fill a vacancy left by Darcie Green’s departure. School board watchers believe the existing majority has settled on one of two candidates: Patricia Martinez-Roach, who lost two elections this year; and Javier Gonzalez, who was passed over for a county education post. The apparent fast-tracking of the process has created a firestorm in the community.

Mercury News Editor Tried to Push Keegan out of Water Board Race

Count Barbara Keegan among those most flabbergasted with her landslide victory last week for a seat on the Santa Clara Valley Water District board. But if it were up to the opinion editor at our local daily, Keegan would have pulled out of the race months ago. That would have allowed David Ginsborg, deputy to the county’s tax assessor, to easily claim retiring Joe Judge’s board seat. Barbara Marshman, the Mercury News’ editorial writer and decider of all things good and natural emailed Keegan in early August to try and cajole her into dropping out of the race.

Labor Party Knows How to Party

“Please, just don’t talk to Cindy, OK?” begged a public relator at the South Bay Labor Council’s Election Night party when she spotted our operative. As people scarfed down tri-tip and fried chicken and frequented the open bar, U.S. Congressman Mike Honda kicked into an impromptu karaoke performance. SBLC CEO Cindy Chavez led cheers.

Keegan Defeats Ginsborg for Water Board

One of the Election Night’s big surprises was the shellacking County Assessor deputy David Ginsborg took in his aggressive bid to win a board seat on the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Barbara Keegan finished almost 25 points ahead of his paltry 32 percent of the vote, while Drew Spitzer finished a distant third.

Changing of the Guard at City Hall

A changing of the guard took place this week at San Jose’s City Hall—literally. San Jose police officer Ted Trujillo was sent back to patrol after overseeing City Hall security the last eight years. His duties included watching the backs of Mayor Chuck Reed for six years and former Mayor Ron Gonzales for two, in addition to making sure any threats to the civic concrete jungle were addressed. To send Trujillo out in style, a virtual who’s who of city officials gathered at Mosaic Restaurant and Lounge last week.

Story of the Week: DA Looks into Shirakawa’s Missing Campaign Forms

The District Attorney’s Office could soon be joining the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) in investigating County Supervisor George Shirakawa for his failure to file campaign disclosure forms the last four years. This week the DA requested all correspondence between Shirakawa’s office and the county Registrar of Voters,  the Mercury News reports. The Merc has been following up on the story Metro broke last month, which found that Shirakawa chose not to file forms the last four years disclosing how he has raised money to pay off a $110,000 debt he incurred during his 2008 supervisor campaign.

Supervisor Shirakawa on the Hot Seat

Santa Clara County’s scofflaw Supervisor George Shirakawa had no problem admitting in last week’s Metro cover story his four-year failure to file campaign disclosure forms. But that seems to have changed now that the reported illegal conduct —along with payments he made to friends and family members with money he raised to run for office and retire campaign debts—has resulted in a Fair Political Practices Commission investigation into the supervisor’s secretive activities.

Council Talks Pawn Shops, Ballot Measures

Tuesday’s City Council meeting will feature a fight over the city’s pawn shop ordinance, unforeseen expenses for the Environmental Innovation Center and some political gamesmanship on upcoming ballot measures for the November election.

Changing My Mind on Proposition 35

Last month, I wrote that I was supporting . But now, after speaking with others working in the field of preventing human trafficking, I have changed my mind. The polls on Proposition 35 show almost 90 percent of the people will vote for it. Who wouldn’t vote for a ballot measure that increases fines and penalties for human traffickers? Proposition 35 seeks to alter current state laws regarding human trafficking by expanding the definition and increasing the punishment for those convicted of human trafficking crimes. On the face that sounds like a great way to increase the penalties for terrible crimes against youth and adults forced into prostitution or slavery. However, the devil is in the details. 

Will Waite Run for San Jose Mayor?

The 2014 mayoral race in San Jose is still two years away and already people seem bored by the potential candidates: Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Madison Nguyen, and county Supervisor Dave Cortese. Rumors of a future Mayorluigi—a.k.a. Willow Glen Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio—surfaced last month and everyone choked on their cannolis. Now we bring you the next potential “right” man for the job. Well, maybe not the right man, but Pat Waite is a Republican.

DACA Could Help Students, Combat Crime

President Barack Obama’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) program, a policy enacted in June that allows illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to obtain a work permit, a valid Social Security number and a contingent promise of deferred action with regard to deportation. DACA does not provide a path to lawful permanent resident status, U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status. But, perhaps unintentionally, a new study from Stanford suggests that DACA could result in drops in crime nationwide.

You be the ‘Judge’ on Water District

UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties this post and all reader comments were dropped from the site. The post has been restored in its original form as we work to resolve all outstanding issues. Thanks for your patience.—Editor

Living up to its reputation as the county’s favorite whipping boy, the Santa Clara Valley Water District repeatedly botched its ballot measure language to extend property taxes. A judge recently ruled that multiple mistakes on the ballot measure to extend property taxes won’t stop it from going to voters. That’s a good thing. Despite the drama, most of the money will go toward cleaning up creek beds, ensuring safe drinking water and providing flood control. We say “most” because some of it could go toward providing elder board members of the Water District board, a golden parachute. A recent board agenda item to give appointed board members health insurance for life was pulled at the last minute by Water District CEO Beau Goldie. Both Goldie and Olga Martin Steele, the district’s interim chief administrative officer, and other board members admit that the idea has been on the table for years and was recently resuscitated. The question is why? The timing is obvious.

A Candidate Without a Campaign

After filing papers to run for a second four-year term for my County Board of Education Trustee seat, I learned on the Aug. 10 deadline that no one filed papers to run against me. Therefore, I am automatically re-elected. This is a great and unexpected result, but one that is not so good for providing me a campaign forum to raise some of the most critical issues of our time.