Monthly Archives : February 2014

Whopper of the Week: Flawed Fiscal Forethought


On February 20th, the San Jose Mercury News published a column by David Crane offering advice to California’s elected officials on fiscal issues.  This is the same David Crane who provided fiscal counsel to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Those who remember the fiscal brilliance of the Schwarzenegger administration might expect the whoppers to be coming fast and furious. Relax; you…

NEW POLLING: Honda holds double-digit lead in CA-17 Primary


Despite aggressive campaigning by his billionaire financed Democratic and Republican opponents, Congressman Mike Honda continues to hold double-digit leads in both primary and general election polling for his CA-17 race and 61% of CA-17 voters polled approve of the way Rep. Honda is handling his job as their Congressman. (results below)  The recent polling conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of…

Task Force to Examine Jail Release Issues


 What do we need to know about the thousands of individuals that are released from our County jail each year before their trials? Last November, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to retain the County’s Civil Detainer policy, which controls the cooperation between our local law enforcement agencies and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  Some tried to…

Busting the Achievement Gap


Is there anyone among us who doesn’t believe our children are our future, or that early childhood education is key a person’s future success in life? Last week, I was invited to join the Gapbusters bus tour during its three-day, seven stop tour, from San Diego to Sacramento, to call on Gov. Brown to: Tweet

Cortese Has a Strong Lead in SJ Mayor’s Race


It’s not surprising to see Dave Cortese leading in a new poll surveying those San Jose residents most likely to vote in June in the San Jose Mayor’s race.  The results show that San Jose voters are no dummies. In the upcoming primary election, it will take only about 23% of the vote to advance to the general election, and…

Policy Watch: Your weekly tip sheet for what’s going on in your community.


City of Sunnyvale  Tentative presentation dates for council-ranked study issues The Sunnyvale City Council is setting the dates for study issues that the Council plans to take up throughout the year. Staff is making the recommendations based on departmental workloads and available resources. Highlights include moving forward with a minimum wage ordinance in Sunnyvale.  Check out the full list here…

Immigration Reform – Making Communities Safer


During last month’s State of the Union, President Obama asserted that immigration reform will grow the national economy and shrink our deficits.  If that isn’t enough to support reform, consider another benefit: it will make our neighborhoods safer.  As a former criminal prosecutor, I saw that successful crime prevention grows from the roots of a community.  Authorities respond to and investigate information…

Whopper of the Week: Trifecta on the “war on jobs”


On February 13th, columnist Charles Krauthammer offered the readers of many newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, an essay entitled, “Obama’s War on Jobs.” Reviewing this article reveals, first, that the war on jobs was allegedly most glaringly demonstrated by passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare), and, second, that Mr. Krauthammer’s comments on this subject include an…

A Community Approach for a Common Sense Law


After 16 years, it’s finally happening: common sense.  Immigrant communities and advocacy  organizations from all over the state have been waiting 16 years for a bill to allow driver’s licenses for all Californians regardless of immigration status, and this past October, that wait finally ended as the Governor signed the bill AB 60 into law. Tweet

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