May 14, 2014
There is something about political campaigns for law enforcement offices that makes them particularly vicious. Maybe it’s that some candidates who see themselves as the champions of law and order tend to see their opponents as villains. The result is self-righteous campaigns that cross ethical boundaries. The use of crime victims for political purposes—especially without their consent — certainly crosses…
May 14, 2014
The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (SVCN) wants to alert our community to a critical issue in the City of San Jose- Girls and Gangs. Teenage girl involvement in gangs typically stems from their role as the girlfriend of a gang member. Even though girls may not consider themselves a part of the gang, their lives are affected by it…
May 13, 2014
The Mayor and his friends have played a cruel joke on San Jose citizens. By co-opting the concepts of “open government”, “transparency”, “sunshine” and similar expressions, they have created the San Jose Way that in reality has the opposite effect. We are at the high point of the city budget season. There are budget meetings throughout this month in every…
May 12, 2014
Santa Clara County Rural/Metro The County board of supervisors will accept a report from the County Public Health Department relating to performance of Rural/Metro as the 911 exclusive operating area ambulance provider. Since January 2013, Rural/Metro’s response time performance has consistently met or exceeded the contractual response time performance standards. Tweet
May 12, 2014
This week’s Whopper once again targets the Wall Street Journal. In a May 7th article entitled, “Obama Unleashes the Left,” Daniel Henninger argues that “the left has hit ramming speed across a broad swath of American life” and those out of line with the left’s “ bizarre claims are being hit and hit hard.” Among the examples of hard hits…
May 9, 2014
Cannibalism is an unusual tactic in political campaigns, but that is what we are seeing in the campaign to elect Kevin Jensen Sheriff. The Deputy Sheriffs Association (DSA) and Correctional Peace Officers Association (CPOA), which are running the Jensen campaign in the absence of any real campaign by Jensen himself, have attacked Sheriff Laurie Smith with mail that blames her…
May 8, 2014
Hector is a married father of three who has worked for SJSU for the past 15 years as a groundskeeper. Originally an immigrant from Mexico, he became a citizen in 1989. Margarita’s first job was sewing clothes in Mexico at the age of 7. Now a grandmother of six, she has worked as a custodian at San Jose State University…
Ro Khanna Field Director William Rinehart, channeling Tea Party anger against working families, hoisted the American flag and yelled anti-union slogans at a campaign rally last Saturday. “Don’t let the unions own your vote,” Reinhart screams. Faux-Democrat and congressional candidate Ro Khanna has always claimed to be pro-Labor. In fact, he features his union ties in his new TV ad.…
May 7, 2014
While there are many reasons to celebrate the Month of May, (see list below) including the fact that it’s National Salad Month, I would like to suggest a new one of extraordinary significance: Get Out the Vote Month. Traditionally, Get Out the Vote (commonly referred to as GOTV) efforts focused on the final weekend prior to election day. And, that made a…
May 6, 2014
San Jose Campaign Finance Law Regarding Card Clubs Councilmember Sam Liccardo is asking the city attorney for guidance on his efforts to block Card Clubs from their constitutional right to give campaign donations to political organizations. Currently, San Jose law prohibits the Clubs from donating directly to individual candidates, but he’s running for Mayor and doesn’t have the Card Clubs’…