The Santa Clara County supervisor says he already has raised $600,000 in federal campaign funds.

Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo's hopes of filling the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo were energized this week by results from a weekend poll showing the former mayor topping a field of eight possible opponents.

After initially pushing back on protestors’ allegations, the city agreed last month to settle the case before trial.

The city had estimated that the $25 fees would yield $1.3 million, to be collected by a non-profit foundation established to distribute all fee revenue to community-based programs focused on reducing gun violence. That revenue estimate was based on 100% participation of the city’s estimated 52,000 gun-owning households – one of every 15 city adults.

The city’s shifting demographics, a continuing affordable housing shortage, endemic homelessness, a looming budget deficit and the reality of five council elections – plus another mayoral ballot – in just two years create additional uncertainties.

Armed with the results of a new poll that shows overwhelming popular support for a special election to fill vacant District 8 and District 10 seats, council members next week may reconsider a plan rejected by a largely lame-duck city council last month.

Liccardo, a former city councilman, led the Bay Area city through a pandemic, a mass shooting, a homelessness crisis, a horrific flood and more.

A sure bet for Team Mahan is Matthew Quevedo, the new mayor’s campaign manager and former council office chief of staff, whose online profile says he’s deputy chief of staff. And Rachel Davis already posted her new job as Mahan’s communications chief, just in time for floods and rains.

Despite passionate and eloquent pleas from the City Hall audience, the Dec. 5 San Jose City Council decision wasn’t about taxpayers’ money, or voters’ rights. Cash, political power and private conversations not streamed on Zoom won the night.

The vacancies were created by the November election, when District 8 Councilmember Sylvia Arenas was elected as the District 1 representative on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and District 10 Councilmember Matt Mahan was elected mayor.

County Supervisor Cindy Chavez–-financially backed by the police union in her mayoral campaign–repeated the union's warnings of doom through robocalls, text messages and social media.  All of this would be very alarming, of course, if it were true. It's not true.

A week ago, we lost a 25-year-old resident Diego Castanon to another tragic roadway fatality. According to news accounts, Diego rode his Yamaha motorcycle off Story Road near Capitol Expressway and collided with an electrical box and light pole on the curb. Our families have lost loved ones in traffic-related deaths at an unprecedented rate in recent months–23 such deaths in 2022 alone.

Celebrated Silicon Valley lawyer Allen J. Ruby readies pre-trial arguments for Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith as her case likely will extend into the 2022 political season.

An investigation by Electronic Frontier Foundation found that of the 1.6 million plates scanned by SJPD last year, only 1,509 led to a successful match of a vehicle of interest to law enforcement.

Sen. Bob Wieckowski endorsed Wahab as his successor, but if campaign coffers are any sign, it’s still going to be a close race.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo hopes the City Council will this year approve a first-in-the-nation requirement that gun owners insure their weapons or pay fees to keep them.