Morning News Round-Up -- 3.2.09: A Nickname is Born...

The final days leading up to the biggest day San Jose Councilmember Madison Nguyen’s career are filled with precinct walking and calloused dialing fingers. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., one way or another, papers will be recycled, old coffee cups thrown away, and sleep will come in more than a few hours at a time. San Jose has seen 5 recall elections before now, only one was successful. "We were hopeful that she would understand the Vietnamese community better," volunteer My Phuong Le said in between (Yes) calling voters Sunday, "because that's her background." We will be blogging live on Tuesday night as the results come in...whatever the results, Andre Charles is putting his new resume together...

As Nguyen's date with the recall nears, it looks like Silicon Valley/Santa Maria State Senator Abel Maldonado will avoid a recall. Former Congressman/Former Assemblymember Ernie Konnyu is choosing not to harass Abel Maldonado via recall. (Konnyu is fond of other kinds of harassment, though.) But as Konnyu eases up, GOP leaders aren't going to. The State Republican Party has decided that they are going to withhold campaign dollars from Maldonado and the other five Republicans who voted for the budget package. Maldonado said his party “…is down in the dumpsters, and it's wrong to do this." Truer words have rarely been said...

The Merc’s Internal Affairs continues to muse over San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos’ ambitious goals for higher office. (They are still writing that story?) Campos aims to expand her meet and greets outside Assemblymember Joe Coto’s Assembly District to include the entire City – covering her bases for his seat and Mayor Reed’s.

In other Internal Affairs news, Supervisor Liz Kniss opted for the title President over Chair saying she could have chosen Grand Poobah. Supervisor George Shirakawa did not say, "She really couldn't have chosen Grand Poobah, because I'm the Grand Poobah...I even have the hat..." And with this story, a new nickname is born for the County's newest Supervisor...

As scrutiny increased on the San Jose Police Department, the questionable arrest rates curiously plunged in December and January. ACLU's local Director Skyler Porras said it was, "an alarming confirmation of the sheer number of wrongful arrests" that were occurring. Police Chief Rob Davis had a different spin saying he was pleased the "changes we have made" were having a "positive impact." That is quite a different tune than Chief Davis was singing last year...

Speaking of fun drunken times…Internal Affairs ferreted out four downtown clubs that offer the biggest challenges to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis: WET, Miami Beach Club, Vivid, and Motif...if anyone reading this blog has ever gone to one of these places, hit me up so we can roll together...

And the Drunk Task Force is still talking drunks in San Jose…City Manager Debra Figone ordered Police Chief Rob Davis to release 200 police reports to the Drunk Task Force for review. "We consider access to the information to actually identify the problem as a fundamental piece of our charge," said ACLU’s (always quotable) Sklyer Porras. "There is no point in sitting at the table to combat symptoms without getting at the disease."

Someone on the Merc’s Editorial Board was feeling particularly sassy this weekend when they wrote, “The great crossing guard panic of San Jose.” The Merc. Ed Board is critical of Councilmembers Pierluigi Oliverio and Pete Constant for frightening parents and education leaders when they claimed the crossing guard budget was being cut. Just as entertaining was the Rules Committee meeting where they feigned ignorance over the furor they helped create.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to give Santa Clara County $90 million of the $490 million in Federal money. The funding is a relief because the State has cut funding said VTA spokesperson Jennie Hwang Loft adding, "Losing a few million dollars is one thing. When you start getting into double digits, that's a whole other scenario."

Los Altos Planners are mulling over the results of polling data in order to narrow the scope of a bond measure for their new Civic Center. In November, voters head to the polls to decide how much they are willing to tax themselves for a City Hall. Assistant City Manager James Walgren is confident sufficient funds are available for one facility and plans to survey voters again in the summer. Any chance Los Altos wants to relocate their City Hall to 801 N. First Street in San Jose? We hear there is an empty building there...

Watch Dog congratulation Mountain View for joining Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and San Jose on the Bicycle Friendly Community list of California’s bike friendly cities.

Mountain View Police arrested community leader/soccer coach Pedro Carbajal for sexually assaulting female relatives under the age of 14. Police spokesperson Liz Wylie said they are “not looking for victims” among the Amigo League teams he coached.

And while we are on the topic...

Gilroy High math teacher (Morgan Hill resident) Alberto Gomez Vicuna, Jr. heads to court in San Jose this week. According to Deputy DA Ray Mendoza Vicuna, Jr. is a very, very bad man and faces up to 10 years in prison for having sex with a 14 year old San Jose girl he met on the social networking site Tagged.com. Vicuna had over 100 female friends on the site. Mendoza is concerned there may be more victims. Pissed off parent Jeannie White said, "If they have a pedophile on school grounds, I want to know if they're not doing a good enough background check."

Gang members in Gilroy High started an oatmeal fight which escalated to a battle that included 30 police officers in riot gear and shotgun wielding CHP officers and the arrest of 7 students. While the students were entertained, Principal James Maxwell was not because he was hosting reviewers from the California School Recognition Program for a possible award. (Was it an award for the most gang members at lunch?) Maxwell sighed, "Every couple of years you get a riot like this, and a lot of kids think this is a big joke, but it's not..."

Breaking news this morning in San Jose: A body was found on the 680/McKee off-ramp early this morning. Officer Jermaine Thomas said, "This was an apparent hit-and-run, and the pedestrian was dragged after the collision.'' Yikes...

It’s going to be a race now as to who is more pissed off: the Spansion employees who got rudely ditched last week (while the bosses got raises) or the ones who learned Sunday that their employer was filing for bankruptcy. Former Chief Exec Bertrand Cambou pledged Friday to return his $403,000 severance check because “my heart is broken” seeing his old team let go without severance. Current Chief Exec John Kispert said Chapter 11 made sense because it provides the company “the most effective means to preserve our market position and to maintain customer confidence."