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Morning News Round-Up -- 5.28.10: Drive safe...

This is a Friday before a long weekend, so you must, must, must read the newspaper tomorrow. Late today is a great time to release horrible news if you are a government agency, elected official, corporation, or candidate. So, Watch Dog will be watching, but you should be too...

The Mercury News is taking its news tips from Matier and Ross apparently. They get into how much money the 49ers are spending in Santa Clara. Of course it is going to "shatter local spending records" -- the most important thing folks in Santa Clara have voted on the past was if RJD2 deserved a second term as City Clerk...

Campaign filings are in other races too... In the past few months Jeff Rosen has been a fundraising machine while Dolores Carr has not. Chuck Reed raised a lot of money, his opponents did not. Madison Nguyen raised a ton and two of her opponents put a bunch of their own money ($50k and $80k) into their own campaigns... what does all this mean? Expect the airwaves (television and radio) and your mailboxes to be full in the week and a half...

The Merc finally came around to support the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District parcel tax: Measure I. The third editorial is the charm, apparently...

Robert Cortese, cousin of famous Supervisor Dave, has a true political flare. He has made it into the Metro's Fly more than almost anyone else. This time wanting to unban fireworks and supporting same sex marriage because of George Takei a.k.a. Sulu.

San Jose Family Camp isn't getting spared, but some San Jose pools might be... On the bright side of things, the pools are much closer than Yosemite.

Tesla is spending $42 million for the NUMMI plant. Which Watch Dog put together in a simple formula:

$42,000,000 for NUMMI/$100,000 per car = 420 cars for a manufacturing plant...

Not too shabby. Of course, when you are Tesla and you've only sold 900 cars total, 420 is pretty expensive...

In a story that may get overlooked today, but will have lasting implications, Caltrain got an important "waiver" from the Federal government to move forward with electrification. Yes, it sounds boring, but it seems really important.

What's old is new again at San Jose State. Former San Jose State President Don Kassing is coming back to lead State in an interim capacity next year while the school looks (again) for a new President... Welcome back Don...

The (alleged) Palo Alto/ Santa Clara kidnapper-rapist has been caught. DA Carr, do you think you can get this entire trial done before election day? It might help. Here's some more advice: Make sure all the forensic evidence gets tested before you decide to not pursue the case...

A "hit list" on a bathroom wall at Willow Glen Middle School early in the week and an Airsoft gun at Gunn High School. Ironic, we know... Don't take your guns to town... or to Gunn...

Here's something juicy, maybe. It looks like the Palo Alto Downtown Business and Professional Association kicked out its President and Executive Director. Why? Well, it seems Sherry Bijan never had a "deep interest" in doing big events in downtown Palo Alto... Of course, nobody in Palo Alto is interested in having people from outside Palo Alto come to downtown Palo Alto either, so perhaps Sherry Bijan was doing a perfect job...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.27.10: Five Twenty-Seven

Ah, the Civil Grand Jury, that upstanding tattle-tale. They came out with a report that stated the obvious: Cities Must Rein in Unsustainable Employee Costs. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed was quick on the draw with a response agreeing that cities must rein in unsustainable employee costs...

With all the fun happening in San Jose's City Council District 5 race, it is easy to forget that there is another tight race on the other side of town for the San Jose City Council District 9 (Judy Chirco's seat)... Jim Cogan is very, very upset (apparently) with the way he is being treated by the newspapers in town and wrote about it on Protect San Jose. He even gets a little Sara Palin folksy on us by using the phrase "darn right" three times in one paragraph...

There a few challenges swirling about the baseball stadium EIR approved by the San Jose Planning Commission last week. The naysayers include the San Jose Sharks (jerks), Stand for San Jose a.k.a. the San Francisco Giants (bigger jerks), and a nearby resident (probably not a jerk)...

You may have heard/ read/ seen/ been in traffic yesterday because of a certain head of state that was in Fremont visiting your $535 million investment (loan guarantee) in Solyndra...

Breath a deep sigh of relief San Jose/Evergreen Community College District fans... they have a new chancellor and a new opportunity to right the ship, hopefully... Note to new chancellor: Let's try to keep the expensive oversees travel in check...

The Mercury News isn't done yet with their June 8th recommendations, and today's isn't going to make the local folks (or the close-to-local folks) very pleased. They endorsed State Senator Gloria Romero for State Superintendent over Assemblymember Tom Torlakson and former Franklin-McKinley Superintendent Larry Aceves.

The Santa Clara County Housing Authority seems to have lost much of its electronic data because of a computer glitch. The cost to replace that information = $600,000 and probably a string of bad stories about poor oversight, etc. And perhaps a story or two about what the Housing Authority actually does might be nice...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.10: not very CSI-like...

Ah, the news about how shabbily handled the De Anza rape case was just keeps coming. Today's news: "...nearly 24 hours elapsed between when the semi-conscious girl was brought to a hospital and the first sheriff's officers knocked on the door of the house where the incident occurred..." That doesn't seem very CSI-like. Expect the Merc's Sean Webby to get another award around his coverage of this story... and expect the Sheriff, the DA, and nearly every other law enforcement official and organization to continue to hate Sean Webby. Which is a pretty good indication that he is doing his job...

Fresh off banning toys at fast food joints, the Board of Supervisors is about to get into the parcel tax game on the November ballot. The tax will go to "preserve health insurance for low-income kids"... this seems pretty ground-breaking to Watch Dog and we wish the Supervisors luck in November. We are pretty sure that there are about a dozen or so school districts out there that were eyeing November for a parcel tax as well. They might not wish the Supervisors much luck because they have to ask themselves: How many new parcel taxes are people willing to support?

The Las Vegas-ification of San Jose gets a deep dive in the Merc today. It doesn't sound like that many people have confidence in the plan for a major hotel near the new San Jose "Strip on First," but Garden City Casino is certainly moving and they are getting more tables (and increasing the City's rake) when they do...

There is at least a conceptual plan, even if not a fully-baked financial one, to make the Mexican Heritage Plaza an arts and culture school. Maybe the increased rake at the card clubs could help finance the place...

And what would a day be without a little news from the San Jose City Council District 5 race? Yesterday all the candidates attended an "ethics workshop" at Santa Clara University and they all signed a pledge to run ethical campaigns. A little late, perhaps? One candidate has already been called a communist and a gang-banger...

If you are planning on getting a fat loan from San Jose as part of your compensation for being hired to a high-level management job, it just got a little less fat... Of course, judging from some of the salaries highlighted in the Merc's Public Employee Pay Database thingy, why would someone need a loan anyway?

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon gets the Merc Editorial Board nod for the 21st Assembly District... for a Board that questions the status quo up in Sacramento, it seems a strange choice, no?

As a companion piece up the Peninsula, it was Yoriko Kishimoto's turn for a Will Oremus profile...

While we are in Palo Alto... the Palo Alto Finance Committee voted to start charging kids/families to act in the Children's Theatre... that should go over big.

Here's something: Mountain View Police will "forgo pay raises for a year"...

We mentioned earlier this week that we can't resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc... we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn't argue agains that...





Finally, where have you gone Politicon Valley? We miss you...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.25.10: 2-40-2 Head line Bold herej head line bold goes here and here's more headling bold jyg

The Bay Area News Group is very proud of itself today as it unveils a (growing) database of public employee salaries for much of the Bay Area. Expect lots of folks on the 18th Floor to be search the database today... and if you have time, you can see how much more many of these folks make than you.

Speaking of public employees...

Not a day can go by without some news coming out of the San Jose City Council District 5 race. Yesterday it was Aaron Resendez who was making public a conversation that he had with Councilmember Nora Campos' Chief of Staff Ryan Ford. (Nora Campos is candidate Xavier Campos' brother.) It wasn't a conversation as much as it was a dressing down of Resendez by Ford, according to Resendez. He has called on Councilmember Nora Campos for a public apology, which sounds like he deserves... even Kathleen says so. Ryan Ford should expect a congratulatory call from Cindy Chavez and Neil Struthers today, "Our little boy is all grown up..."
Also, our call for campaign mailers yielded some fruit, and since we are in District 5 already, here is a glimpse of how nasty the race has become... With all due respect to Pat Dando, do voters in District 5 know her name still? Do voters in District 10?

Scott Herhold can not resist apparently. He takes yet another shot, albeit from a different angle, at District Attorney Dolores Carr. This time, Herhold isn't talking about her fancy car or her lack of ethics, although these things find their way into the piece (ok, not the car stuff). He profiles a Deputy DA who wants her boss to lose... she joins 40 other Deputy DA's in wanting the same thing. 40 DA's and one columnist...

Speaking of issues of crime and justice, the Merc Editorial Board continues to review its sample ballot and come up with judicial nominations in todays paper. They choose JoAnne McCracken, Vanessa Zecher, and Julia Alloggiamento but absolutely positively do not want you to vote for Thomas Spielbauer. They went so far as to write: Don't vote for Thomas Spielbauer. Wow. Perhaps Speilbauer and District Attorney Dolores Carr could commisserate about being treated like shit from the same newspaper...

Willow Glen Middle School was at the center of the world yesterday. (Some would say that Lincoln and Minnesota are always the center of the world...) A student apprently wrote a "hit list" on a bathroom wall that sent everyone into high alert.

Matier and Ross at the Chronicle (and the entire Chronicle, come to think about it) loves writing negative stories about the 49ers wishes to move to Santa Clara... yesterday's story was about how much money the 49ers are spending on their campaign. Another way to look at it is they are spending all that money to get the hell out of San Francisco...

Violent crime is on a downswing, according to statistics in San Jose. Of course, if you read Protect San Jose, we are headed down the road of Oakland...

Mountain View is buying up land faster than a South Bay city trying to land a Major League Baseball team...

Assembly candidate Josh Becker gets a long write-up by Daily News Group reporter Will Oremus... and the story (obviously) includes a stop at University Cafe in Palo Alto... a.k.a. Becker's headquarters.

Admit it Palo Alto readers, you were at the City Council meeting last night when the Council was discussing the Stanford University hospitals' expansion plans... that must have been so much NIMBY fun... so much fun, in fact, that the Palo Alto City Council put more demands, euphemistically called "community benefits" on the growing list of things Stanford should do to make their project acceptable to Palo Alto... like a "revenue guarantee"...

It has been a while since we made fun of Palo Alto Weekly's Editor Jay Thorwaldson for his "blogging" -- but his recent chime-in on High-Speed Rail re-sparked our snarkiness. He has posted twice in 2010. Perhaps he is getting into this new-fangled technology thingy...

We put this towards the end because really, who cares: Newt Gingrich endorsed Meg Whitman. One has to believe that Whitman sold her 2012 Presidential endorsement down the river for this endorsement...

Finally, does pointing out the Merc's technical difficulties ever get old? Watch Dog doesn't think so... this was a headline for a breaking news story last night:

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.24.10: 4 losses/4 games = Shark's tee times

On Friday night the Sharks lost in overtime. Sunday they gave up a two goal lead to lose by two goals. For those of you counting at home, that's 4 losses in 4 games against the Chicago Blackhawks. And 4 losses in 4 games means tee-times all around today...

We finally have all the Mercury News Editorial Board's recommendations for San Jose City Council... Previously they came out in favor of Magdalena Carrasco over Xavier Campos et al and Don Rocha over Jim Cogan, Larry Pegram et al. Today we get the incumbents, Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo, and Madison Nguyen -- Nguyen being the only one with a real race this time.

It took a few days and seven pages, but Deb Figone, the San Jose City Manager, responded to the City's unions' plans to fix the budget... they aren't enough, too many one-timers, leave me alone at Flame's, etc., etc.

Deb Figone's ongoing battle with the City's unions won't (apparently) prevent San Jose's pools from closing for the summer, which was the original plan. The City is going to contract with some private companies to run the pools for the summer, which is great news... if it ever stops raining. Too bad the same deal couldn't be worked out for Family Camp.

Increasing the VLF. Remember when it used to be considered a political hot potato? That seems quaint now, right? Gray Davis did it and it cost him his job. Governor Schwarzenegger undid, and it cost his budget-balancing billions. San Mateo County (SamTrans) is now considering a local VLF and so is Santa Clara County (VTA) to help with their projects. According to polling, 59 percent of County voters support VTA's VLF $10/ car fee.

Well, the long-awaited investigation into the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District's Chancellor's travel, spending, and general sloppiness has concluded... the results: "We are taking responsibility for not seeing that all policies and procedures were enforced. It will help us doing a better job going forward" -- that according to Ron Lind, who serves on the Community College District Board. Of course, unelecting the Board who is supposed to pay attention to such things would also work.

Dude, that is so uncool... a medical marijuana dispensary was robbed at gun point in San Jose on Thursday. The robbers took the weed and the money off the patients who were in the dispensary at the time. Now the Medical Cannabis Collectives Coalition -- the pot club lobby, if you will -- would like the City of San Jose to hurry the hell up to write an ordinance that would set some security guidelines for clubs...

Steve Johnson at the Merc asked the question that nobody was asking last week when Toyota and Tesla announced their plans for NUMMI: Will Tesla and Toyota create as many jobs as hoped? Well, if you ask San Jose, who was promised jobs from Tesla, they'll probably say OHN...

This must hurt Paul Krutko's ego more than the Tesla thing... the Merc had a story over the weekend about how all the (cool, high-paying) Web 2.0 jobs are going to San Francisco...

Vic Ajouny, the Mayor Chuck Reed's campaign guru (?) is in the Merc's Internal Affairs this weekend about a questionable mail piece he put out for Richard Calderon who is running a quixotic campaign to try to unseat Sheriff Laurie Smith... Are you surprised that people would question Ajlouny's mailers?

In other Internal Affairs news... Pete Constant isn't pedaling stories about his challengers' police records (and if you believe that...) and John Weis, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency's number 2 is leaving town... weird, considering he is the one in charge of putting together the MLB plan for downtown San Jose. Apparently Weis couldn't wait for Bud Selig any longer...

Scott Herhold's column on Sunday gives a glimpse into the legal system about the long-forgotten case of Avo Makdessian/City of San Jose versus Dennis Fong (Tropicana) and a silly (libelous) email that Makdessian sent from City Hall...

A woman driving her SUV on early Saturday morning in Palo Alto was kidnapped, driven to Santa Clara, and sexually assaulted... scary.

You may remember last week when the folks at the Gilroy Unified School District were considering finishing the beautiful new Christopher High School with portables as opposed to a new school wing that was promised when the school bond was passed in 2008... well 100+ folks showed up at a special meeting last week to protest the portables...

Finally, if you have any campaign stuff that you would like to share, we're here for you. Especially copies of mailers that may be interesting for folks to see. We have collected some, but we'd like more: email us.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.21.10: "NUMMI A's" no more...

Go Sharks! (Please win... pretty please?)

Well, we guess the Oakland A's won't be going to the former NUMMI plant after all... that's because Tesla and Toyota will move in to build electric cars. Of course, Tesla track record of sticking to its word is someone less-than-desirable, just ask San Jose, but we wish Fremont, Tesla, and Toyota well. (Here is a full run-down of the Tesla Chronicles...)

As a reminder, Watch Dog predicted the NUMMI/A's effort last August...

"...Fremont’s Nummi plant is packing the bags and heading to Texas leaving nearly 5,000 newly unemployed in its wake. Perhaps a Fremont ballpark can actually happen now?...

Maybe now Bud Selig can make a decision?...

The Mercury News Editorial Board continued to look at their ballots... and today they have made the 18th floor a very exciting place to be. They endorsed Don Rocha for San Jose City Council District 9 to replace Vice Mayor Judy Chirco. They say he has "...the potential to continue in the tradition of Chirco..." They also give some ink to Jim Cogan (too close to public safety unions) and Larry Pegram (too close to Jerry Falwell)...

The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce put out a reward for clues leading to catching the culprits behind the hit pieces sent against Magdalena Carrasco... ironically, the place to call with your tip is Crime Stoppers -- whose President is the aforementioned Jim Cogan, running for City Council in a different District. Hypothetically, what if someone called with a tip that identified a Cogan supporter as the culprit? Just asking... (Mission City Lantern is on the fake-mailer case too...)

While we're in District 5, ProtectSanJose.com brought us a message from Xavier Campos...

A San Josean will head to the Senate... no, not Tom Campbell (yet)... but County Superior Court Judge Edward Davila has been tapped for the federal bench by the Obama administration...

This will be bad news piled on top of bad news... property assessments are down... way down... boooooooo...

Dear Gilroy Unified Voters... thank you for passing the school bond in 2008... we are over budget... so Christopher High School will have portables instead of a great new facility... will you trust again with your vote and your cash? Love, the Gilroy Unified School District.

Sunnyvale may lose its seat on VTA, and Sunnyvale Councilmember Chris Moylan is pissed about it: "...Based on population, the one city other than San Jose that should have a permanent seat on the board is Sunnyvale..." No word on dweeb.org yet on the issue...

Some folks in Silicon Valley will be voting on June 8th and June 22nd... the 22nd being the date that the Special Election to replace Senator-turned-Lt. Gov Abel Maldonado's seat will be voted on... and if no one gets 50 percent plus, a run-off will happen on August 17th. Expect an influx of Sam Blakeslee and John Laird visits in the coming weeks...

The Lame (Duck) Governor was at Google yesterday... no doubt in an effort to shift attention from Google's bad European news this week...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.20.10: (Drug Free?) Post-Peloton Thursday...

Happy post-peloton Thursday to all of you... except Floyd Landis...

More coverage of the District 5 City Council race in San Jose... this time from Scott Herhold, who acknowledges that all the hoopla about the illegal mailings is backfiring on the idiots who did it, because Carrasco is getting all kinds of coverage on the news, on the radio, and everywhere else. Herhold also doesn't think that Shirakawa is the culprit, but does point out how silly/stupid the Grand Pooba's quotes were earlier in the week...

The Mercury News thinks that story is so important that for a period of time yesterday they posted it twice...

And the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce is putting out a reward for any information about who done it... $5,000 to anyone of the stamp-licking interns who want to turn in their co-conspirators...

Manuel Herrera, another candidate in District 5, chimed in via a Letter to the Editor...

While everyone is focused on fake campaign mailers... there was a murder in the Tropicana parking lot earlier in the week and two folks were found dead due to gun shot wounds in Alum Rock... hopefully the candidates can keep their collective eyes on the ball...

As discussed yesterday, the Planning Commission in San Jose approved an EIR for Major League Baseball in downtown San Jose. There are some interesting things to be concluded by reading between the lines of last night's Planning Commission meeting where the EIR was approved 4-1:

• Thing 1 - Planning Commissioner Chris Platten voted against the EIR,
• Thing 2 - Planning Commissioner Hope Cahan was absent from the proceedings, and
• Thing 3 - Planning Commissioner and City Council candidate Xavier Campos was absent from the proceedings.

According to spies, all three Things are related as all three Planning Commissioners are Labor-allies on the Planning Commission. Perhaps the folks at the Labor Temple are using their support (or opposition) to MLB as leverage in their contract negotiations? That may be, but missing votes (Cahan and especially Campos) is a pretty lame way to go... we wonder where these folks learned the technique of "taking a walk"...

Speaking of EIRs, Stanford's massive development project around the hospital released their draft EIR yesterday... expect lots and lots and lots of community concern, tweaking of the project, and finally the eventual development of the project... welcome to Palo Alto...

It is unlikely that anyone who sees the new plans at Stanford will be underwhelmed, but that was the reaction down the road a bit by the Mountain View City Council who caught a glimpse of the plans for a new San Antonio Center there... that's probably not the reaction the developer Merlone Geier was looking for... On the bright side, it can only get better, right?

The County Superintendent Chuck Weis gets in on the political action in today's Letters to the Editor in the Merc, chiming in on behalf of Larry Aceves for State Superintendent for Public Instruction...

Cupertino is taking a step to make Silicon Valley air a little, (perhaps a lot) cleaner by monitoring more closely the air quality around the Lehigh Cement plant... or is it Lehigh Cement plan, as it read online yesterday...

A pension reform initiative is heading to the ballot in Menlo Park. Could this be a Silicon Valley trend among cash-strapped cities? Chuck Reed has been talking about asking voters in San Jose to vote to do away with the often-expensive binding arbitration...

Silicon Valley has some serious interest in the upcoming Republican primaries for US Senate and Governor. New polls are out together. The first one actually confirms what Steve Poizner said a few weeks back -- that his race against Whitman is tightening... The second has Carly Fiorina leading (slightly) over Tom Campbell, but within the margin of error... (Joey Lucas will explain everything later...)

Finally, the Merc Editorial Board also hands Tom Campbell some bad news... they don't like his less-than-thoughtful stance on Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court. "We expected more of Campbell..."

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.19.10: a very peloton Wednesday to you all...

The good news is that Patrick Marleau had two goals last night for the Sharks... the bad news is that the Chicago Blackhawks had 4... Deja vu?

Speaking of deja vu... Commie Gate turned into LA Gate yesterday... Remember the mailers that were sent out against San Jose City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco last week calling her a communist. According to the latest fake mailer, she is also part of an evil plot to bring LA to SJ. Watch Dog has to wonder, the folks that are lined up against Carrasco, which is it? Is she a communist or an LA-o-phile? Either way, the story continues... and the bigger question remains, who is going to get caught for doing this. Watch Dog can assure you: We didn't work for candidate George Shirakawa's campaign in 2008 and our office has nothing to do with this mailer against Carrasco...

And by the way, Mr./Ms. Author of this stupid mail piece, we have traffic, gangs, and smog already in San Jose...

Perhaps the Sharks management doesn't have their eye on the ball... because they are still fighting San Jose's plans to bring Major League Baseball across the street from the arena... and it is an uphill battle because the Planning Commission is slated to approve the environmental impact report on the stadium tonight. Perhaps the Sharks management have other things to worry about? Like stopping playoff history (the curse) in its tracks...

As if the San Jose City Council wasn't rolling over enough to keep the San Jose card rooms in San Jose (Measure K = More tables)... they are going the extra mile. And it is a big extra mile. Garden City is moving right next to 101 to create the San Jose Strip near the airport, including a 600 room hotel... with full support from the City Council.

The Merc Editorial Board gives some props to the San Jose unions who put forward a plan to help with the budget... it isn't enough, but it is a good start -- according to the folks on Ridder Park Drive...

And the budget challenges in Los Gatos seem to be managable, or perhaps they have a more fiscally prudent, cooperative City Council. Either way, their budget plan moved forward yesterday... Watch Dog loves this, the libraries take a hit in the plan, they will still be open 7 days, but only 50 hours, not 54. Perhaps San Jose could run a shuttle from their closed libraries to Los Gatos' open ones...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.18.10: Commie Gate

The news didn't stop in the San Jose City Council District 5 race. Actually, Commie Gate became even more intriguing... Richard Hobbs, Supervisor George Shirakawa's opponent for in 2008 released a statement about a hit piece that was mailed against him during that race. It had a striking resemblance to the hit piece mailed against Magdalena Carrasco late last week. Of course, Xavier Campos, Magdalena Carrasco's opponent for City Council works for Supervisor George Shirakawa, raising obvious questions, but prompting a Clintonesque response from George Shirakawa:

"Xavier didn't work for me or my campaign in 2008, and my office has nothing to do with this mailer against Carrasco."

I guess it depends on what your definition of 'my office' is... Notice he didn't say, "I had absolutely nothing to do with it." He said, "...my office has nothing to do with this mailer..." Shirakawa also didn't say that he didn't know about the mailer in 2008, just that it didn't come from his campaign...

The DA is looking into the entire episode, and they have ways of looking into DNA and finger-prints... (Of course, sometimes Dolores Carr pulls the plug on investigating forensic evidence...) The Merc Editorial Board had some not-so-nice things to say about this episode as well...

"...The link between the Hobbs mailer and the one against Carrasco is clear for all to see, and not just because of their physical similarity. Xavier Campos, Carrasco's chief opponent in the District 5 race, is a policy aide to Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. — the man who beat Hobbs in that 2008 campaign..."

Perhaps this is what Watch Dog meant yesterday when we wrote: Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

Several City of San Jose unions came forward with a plan to save costs in the City budget. It was met with mixed reviews...

• Chuck Reed: The proposal is "...nowhere near the 10-percent concessions..." that he says are needed
• Madison Nguyen: The unions should be "...commended for coming together..."
• Nancy Pyle: The proposal "...demonstrates very clearly that our employees are willing to make vital sacrifices..."
• Sam Liccardo: "We got into our current predicament with gimmicks and shell games... and that is not the responsible way out..."

Speaking of the Mayor and unions... Chuck Reed responded via blog post to the POA's accusations last week that the Mayor doesn't know what he's talking about with regards to binding arbitration... One big blog step for Chuck Reed, one small blog step for ProtectSanJose.com...

The Tour of California rolls through the Bay Area today and tomorrow... So shave your legs tonight and head to downtown San Jose tomorrow...

Speaking of high speed... a car crashed into a home in Morgan Hill following a high speed chase with police... drunk teenagers.

Hey all you Mountain Viewers... your City Council wants to hear from you about the new High-Speed Rail Report. Watch Dog is willing to bet that Mountain View will regret putting out the word that it wants public input...

While we're in Mountain View, the old San Antonio Shopping Center will be getting a new development... housing and a Safeway.

Staying in the big MV, more details are coming out about the dry cleaning murder-suicide...

Super-Sized Morning News Round-Up -- 5.17.10: Blood-Sport Monday - Hockey and Politics...

The Western Conference Finals started Sunday... Sharks lost... but at the end of the series, we are looking forward to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sending some of Chicago's finest (and fattiest) foods west to San Jose. He and Mayor Reed made a little wager. Chuck may receive a bunch of Vienna Beef soon. Yum.

But hockey was the mild sport over the weekend with politics being a little more dangerous... Especially in San Jose's City Council District 5...

Let's go chronologically:

The Mayor may be sharing some of Chicago's finest foods from Mayor Daley with his new BFF, Magdalena Carrasco. He endorsed her late last week, according to Watch Dog's email...

But that wasn't the only, or the most intriguing, part of that City Council race this weekend. Mailers were mailed out that took a big shot at Xavier Campos' role at MACSA courtesy of the Chamber. (Can you use the phrase "courtesy of" when you are talking about who paid for a hit piece?) Longtime readers of Watch Dog will not be surprised about the MACSA/Campos connection...

But that wasn't even the more intriging news out of that City Council race. It seems someone is (illegally) using Magdalena Carrasco's name to put out a fake mailer that has her standing with a communist Vietnamese flag... welcome to 1950... The Mayor is not pleased with this latest development and is calling on the DA, the Elections Commission, the post office, and the media to all do their job to identify who did this shady work... Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

As if there wasn't enough going on on San Jose's east side, there was an emergency landing at Reid-Hillview over the weekend... and a man was shot and killed in the Tropicana parking lot on Sunday morning.

Expect this story to also have political repurcussions: Dolores Carr's DA's office apparently stopped the forensic testing of some evidence in the De Anza rape case. This according to evidence in an ongoing civil trial... Jeff Rosen's team is no doubt reprinting this story and distributing it widely... Especially now that he has the support of some high-placed friends...

A big, long in-depth story was in Saturday's Mercury News about the new County Executive Jeff Smith. He has some fans, namely the County Board of Supervisors, who extended his contract through 2013. But the more interesting part of the story is the detractors: the County's unions do not like Jeff Smith. But that might be expected... but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren? Apparently Smith pushed off a meeting with Lofgren for months. Here's what she said:

"His comments so far appear to be precipitous, haphazard and detrimental to the foundation of county government... People are calling to complain to me. I spent 14 years of my life making a good hospital and many of us are thinking, 'What is he doing?'"

Well, we know he isn't making friends with people in high places...

That isn't the only County employee in the news this week... there is a new County Counsel in the mix -- the acting County Counsel Miguel Marquez is getting the acting removed from his name...

The Merc's Internal Affairs shed some light into how the employee negotiations are going at the City of San Jose. It seems that City Manager Deb Figone had her lunch at Flames interupted by some city workers that were having a protest and started banging on Flames' windows yelling "Save our jobs!"... of course, Figone used to eat lunch at Morton's, but since the pay cut, she's now at Flames... We also learn from IA that the San Jose Redevelopment Agency forked over a $62 million check to the State Govenrment t his week. No word yet if the Governor has signed the thank you note...

Also in an attempt to get attention for their union plight, Jim Unland at the San Jose Police Officers' Association wrote a Memo to the Mayor on Friday... we're sorry we missed it then, but the Mayor probably isn't...

Perhaps this will help with the Figone/Employee and Police/Mayor relations: Measure K in San Jose got the deep dive in Sunday's paper as the Merc's Sandra Gonzales goes into the lovely Garden City Casino for some "man/woman on the street/at the table" interviews and looks at the pros and cons of relying on gambling to plug San Jose's budget holes...

The Water District reversed course and approved a new map for districts. Gilroy is no longer with Palo Alto... And that new Gilroy/Morgan Hill district is the one that the fast-food toy-loving Supervisor Don Gage will run for this fall... But the Mayors of Gilroy and Morgan Hill are still not pleased...

Sometimes it is good to have a reporter/columnist that is over 25 years old... such is the case with Scott Herhold. He gives a great perspective on Larry Pegram's first go'round on the San Jose City Council. If you read between the lines, Pegram left the Council with his three buddies on the heals of a bribery scandal... Pegram wasn't indicted or found to have done anything wrong...

File this story under D -- as in "Drive Cindy Chavez Crazy." Local political consultant Jude Barry is a founder of a technology firm that allows folks to register to vote and sign ballot petitions through iPhones, iPads, and other smart phones. It is the same company that landed Barry on the California Labor Federation's Do Not Patronize list... (This story should tell you how important that list is...) The Santa Clara County Registrar is accepting registrations that use Verafirma technology...

File this story under W for Weird... the Merc Editorial Board, generally a pro-education parcel tax bunch is "reserving judgement" on one parcel tax this June -- Measure I in Alum Rock Union Elementary School District because they are not including charter schools in their tax measure. The other parcel taxes in Milpitas, Oak Grove, and Mount Pleasant get the Merc Editorial nod...

Palo Alto may be getting some taller buildings... above 50 feet actually. Expect the NIMBYs to start the rebellion soon...

Ken Yeager and the rest of the Santa Clara County Supervisors (except Don Gage and George Shirakawa) get props from Dorothy Dimitre in the San Mateo Daily Journal for their fast food toy ban...

We didn't write about this last week, but it doesn't mean we missed it. Saratoga City Councilmember Susie Nagpal died last week. Very sad story.

And because sometimes important things happen outside of our regular sphere: Burlingame and its police department have started the long road toward pension reform. From the San Mateo County Times: "...Police sergeants and captains in Burlingame have agreed to pay freezes through the end of the year and are ready to cut retiree benefits, the first union contract that includes pension reform for a city struggling to deal with escalating employee costs..."

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.14.10: Game One Weekend!

More political endorsements... this time from the Metro: Teresa Alvarado for Supervisor. It is a nice piece about Ms. Alvarado, but the harshest words are reserved (again) for Forrest Williams. This quote will play especially poorly in South County:

"...When he served on the council, Williams was an enthusiastic supporter of the plan to blanket the pristine valley [Coyote Valley] with homes. Trading the region’s environmental quality for short-term union jobs is unsound public policy..."

San Jose Unified is getting a new Superintendent -- Vincent Matthews, who has been the state appointed overseer of Oakland's public schools. Welcome to town Mr. Matthews...

While one public education institution ends its search for a new leader, one will start their search. San Jose State's President (of two years!) will leave San Jose State. John Whitmore was the 4th President in 7 years. The search begins... again... again... again... (Mission City Lantern has something to say about this...)

Finally on the education front, we get this headline announcing the Academic Performance Index results for the County: Test scores show most Santa Clara, San Mateo counties students reaching state goal... as if "most" is the goal. You can find your neighborhood school's listing here...

Senator Simitian may be joining many of his (NIMBY) neighbors and withdrawing support for High-Speed Rail... when the political winds change...

Tough times for Cupertino Crossroads (that place you pass on Stevens Creek all the time)... PetSmart closed, leaving the third major vacancy there (Mervyn's and The Learning Game). If you have a big box store waiting to open, perhaps Watch Dog could interest you in a Cupertino location?

Sunday is Game One of the Western Conference Finals... Go Sharks...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.13.10: Bike to Work... (or think about it at least...)

San Jose will join forces with other right-minded (or is it left-minded) California communities in pushing for some sort of boycott of Arizona... Don Gage and Pete Constant are the only (tea party) hold outs and are supporting the Arizona law -- sort of. Expect lots of American flag t-shirts and a Tea Party rally before the Council meeting in June...

When the San Jose City Council does take up the issue in June, it is likely that they won't get a lot of text messages during the Council meeting... John Woolfolk at the Merc looks into the lack of texting between lobbyists and the Council during Council meetings, which they banned a few months backed -- it wasn't so much as a ban as much as it was that those texts were open to the Public Records Act. We did learn something interesting from Councilmember Ash Kalra:

"Councilman Ash Kalra said he was messaging back and forth with his staff about unrelated upcoming agenda items, something he does frequently because "it's the one time of the week when they have me captive and I can get stuff done.""

That probably isn't very reassuring to all those public speakers (and City Staff) who think that Kalra is actually listening to them... silly public speakers (and City Staff)...

Yesterday was the Merc's deep-dive into the Dolores Carr half of the DA's race, today is Jeff Rosen's moment in the spotlight. There is lots of good information in the piece about his background, his law school days, how he didn't like being an associate at a law firm, and this little tidbit: he weighs 140 pounds...

Just to pile on...

The Metro's endorsements have been piling up on someone's desk, because they are all coming out at once. First it was Magdalena Carrasco and now it is Jeff Rosen. Just so we are clear, Metro endorsed Dolores Carr last go'round, but not this time...

49ers in. Yahoo in. The Santa Clara City Council is having a very busy year...

The Mercury News Editorial Board agrees with just about everyone else that the Water District should redo how it redrew their District lines... the District has scrapped the old plan and now is looking for a new plan...

The Merc Ed Board also commends the East Side Union High School District Board for cutting their own stipend and insisting on paying part of their medical benefits... which begs the question: East Side Union Board members get a stipend and health benefits?

We can't believe we've missed out on another local blog... Sunnyvale City Councildweeb Jim Griffith is writing frequently and brings us an insider's perspective to the goings on in Sunnyvale. Read more at dweeb.org... the latest updates are about Nokia opening up their Nor Cal headquarters in downtown Sunnyvale, which is "huge" according to Jim's Council Blog... He recommends: "...every one of us should immediately go out and buy our City Manager, our City Attorney, and their respective staffs a large bottle of their favorite alcoholic beverage..." That would be a sleepy party...

In sad news, the ACLU is closing its San Jose office because of budget cuts. That will make San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis and the POA pretty happy... but it makes Watch Dog sad. Why? First, the ACLU protects idiots like Watch Dog... and second, the ACLU local person, Skyler Porras, was a great quote. Remember these highlights?:

• About Mayor Reed: "...petulant political posturing..."
• About a plan for the San Jose Police Department to police themselves: "...Asking the police department to police themselves has been about as effective as asking a teenager to ground themselves after missing curfew..."
• About San Jose's plan to hire a group of social scientists to study the drunk arrest problem: "...a bumbling way to appease a scandal-plagued but politically powerful police department..."

While we are on the topic, did you know that a west coast big city mayor forced out the city's police chief? There were concerns about how the police department was dealing with vulnerable populations in the city... hmmm...

Finally, there is a woman at Valley Medical Center that they are trying to identify. If you know an elderly Asian woman that is missing, please take a look at the photo.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.12.10: Where's Palin?

This is not the type of news that Morgan Hill likes, we'd guess. The Live Oak t-shirt flap has reached a new level of idiosy. Hundreds showed up to hear themselves talk and to get on the evening news yesterday... One question remains: when will Sarah Palin chime in?

The Santa Clara Valley Water District seemingly can't get out of its own way on their redistricting plan. They put Gilroy with Palo Alto which almost prompted the South to invade the North talking about states' rights... Anyway, the Water District reversed its decision and will scrap the map and start over... sounds like a plan that would have been a smart idea before the initial new map was released... better late than never?

Yesterday, the Mercury News Editorial Board announced their endorsement for San Jose City Council District 5: Magdalena Carrasco. Later in the day, the Metro came to the same conclusion. Some choice quotes:

"...Carrasco has a shot at this seat because she seems better able to connect with East Side voters. The fact that she is fluent in Spanish is a big plus with many of them (Campos does not speak Spanish)..."

"...Xavier Campos worked for 20 years at the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA), ultimately becoming chief operations officer. MACSA is now under criminal investigation following findings that it was skimming from its employees’ pension funds..."

San Jose Inside gives us a glimpse into the County Board of Supervisors meeting, which we know you didn't attend... Shirakawa cried about the Arizona anti-immigrant law. Seriously, check out the story...

Dolores Carr gets a write up in the Merc today looking at her successes and talking about the other stuff too. The story comes with the obvious headline: Carr seeks re-election despite 'mistakes'... When you are the incumbent and the words 're-election' and 'mistakes' make the headline the week ballots go out, you aren't having a good week...

The mural at Mineta San Jose (International?) Airport Terminal C (that's the one you don't fly out of) will come down with it. The Merc's Joe Rodriguez gives some background about the mural and its struggle to survive.

Hey all you kids out there... the County Supervisors will pass a policy soon that keeps kids under 13 out of juvie lock-up.

Yesterday we let you know about a plan to get rid of the leaf blower hotline to help fix Palo Alto's budget shortfall. That was controversial enough... but Palo Alto also wants to charge kids to participate in the Palo Alto Children's Theatre. Now the Palo Alto City Council has crossed the line, apparently...

The Los Altos School District got a new Superintendent this week. An internal pick, Jeffrey Baier...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.11.10: Life without a leaf-blower hotline...

Ballots are out... candidates are running around like crazy... and the Merc is about to weigh in on all the races... A while back they endorsed Teresa Alvarado for Supervisor... and Jeff Rosen for District Attorney... and now they are getting into the San Jose City Council races. District 5 is first up and they give a big nod to Magdalena Carrasco to replace Nora Campos. Some choice quotes that District 5 voters will be seeing a lot of in the coming weeks...

"What she lacks in political connections, she makes up in intelligence, thoughtfulness and a deep understanding of the values and needs of the community. We recommend her in the June 8 primary."

"Despite having served on the Planning Commission, he shows little insight into city operations."

And perhaps the most damning...

"He [Xavier Campos] was chief operating officer of the Mexican-American Community Services Agency, which is under criminal investigation for skimming off workers' retirement contributions. He says he was aware of MACSA's cash-flow problems but not the diversion of funds."

Ouch...

New, high-tech luggage scanners at Mineta San Jose (International) Airport get a write up in today's Merc. They are apparently cutting-edge, very cool, and something that "should be done everywhere"... Now, if only airlines and people started flying out of the joint, they could actually start using the luggage scanners...

Apparently several judge seats are up in the County... Tracey Kaplan at the Merc had the (tedious) task of getting into the nitty gritty of each race.

The San Jose/Evergreen Community College District is closer to getting a new chancellor... there are three finalists -- one local (the President of Evergreen Valley College) and two not so local... Watch Dog will bet on one of the two not so local folks...

The not-so-newly-formed Santa Clara County Elections Commission will meet finally... after 2 years. This seems to be over the objections of the Registrar of Voters. He seems to hate oversight more than a large, local police department does...

Add a rail company to the list of folks opposing High-Speed Rail... Union Pacific.

This should piss people off... the Leaf Blower Complaint Hotline in Palo Alto will be shut down due to budget cuts. If you have a complaint about your neighbor's leaf blowing, please call 800-Get A Life...

A new tax may be coming to Mountain View this fall... this time, more taxes on your 650 phone line that you are so proud of...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.10.10: Sports, then politics...

Sporting news first...

The Sharks are moving on to the Western Conference Finals. For those of you who know nothing about hockey, that means they are 8 wins away from hoisting the Cup... but a tough 8 wins.

And Dallas Braden, the Oakland A's newest arm pitched the 19th perfect game in MLB history... hopefully Mr. Braden will still be in the green and gold when the open in San Jose...

The Chronicle goes deep into the details about the 49er's campaign in Santa Clara...

It is May 10, which means ballots will actually go out to voters today... and the news reflects that timing...

Thanks to a South County Watch Dog, we actually looked at the political endorsements in the Gilroy Dispatch this weekend. They endorsed Teresa Alvarado for County Supervisor, which is important. But the hit mailers that was undoubtedly written this weekend and will be mailed this week will be full of this quote about Alvarado's opponent, Forrest Williams:

There is one candidate who is the poster perfect person for what Santa Clara County absolutely does not need. Forrest Williams panders to public employee unions, takes their money and is happy to do their bidding. A vote for him is a long-term sentence for financial disaster and assures an acrimonious battle at the county level as tough economic choices are made.

All evidence points to the fact that (incumbent, barely being challenged) Pete Constant is doing some opposition research on the folks running against him. We learn this from Sunday's Internal Affairs column in the Merc. It seems his two opponents have both been arrested, and Pete Constant knew enough about it to call on of his opponent's arrests a "wet reckless" which means challenger David Clancy was drinking when he got pulled over his car. We wonder where a former police officer could learn those things about his opponent... hmmm... Thinking about it further, however, Wet Reckless would be a good description of the old Club Wet nightclub downtown too...

Jeff Rosen went north and south for a pair endorsements for District Attorney, the Gilroy Dispatch and the Palo Alto Weekly get on the Rosen Train...

We thought Scott Herhold was done with writing about the District Attorney... but apparently not. He continues his anti-Dolores Carr effort, this time, mostly about how funny it is that she has two PR people on staff, while at the same time cut the cold-case unit. He goes into specifics about how having 2 PR people on board is actually the opposite of transparency, the reasoning Carr gives for having PR people in the first place. (Kathleen, feel free to defend Dolores Carr below...)

Three school bond measures get the Merc Editorial nod... A, E, and G...

Now, onto Morgan Hill, Arizona, and Tea Parties...

Arizona used to be so quaint... with the lack of Daylight Savings time and all. Now it is the hotbed of regressive anti-immigration policies... and the City of San Jose isn't going to stand idly by, they are going to ban travel and official city business with the Sun Devil state.

Scott Herhold chimes in on the Morgan Hill t-shirt flap. (He's been very busy...) He doesn't think the kids that were wearing the shirt are right... but he doesn't think they should have been kicked out of school either... We also learn that he "...loathes the simple dictums of the tea party movement..." Perhaps he should look into which local elected officials have been to the local Tea Party rallies...

And of course, the obligatory Tea Party rally happened in Morgan Hill over the weekend as Watch Dog predicted:

Also from Internal Affairs, we learn that former Alum Rock Union Superintendent, who got fired, is now going to be the Superintendent at the Greenfield Union School District. She was appointed by the State Board of Education... Internal Affairs filed this in the "what were they thinking" file...

That wasn't the only Alum Rock School District-related news thought, they might push a mandatory parent volunteer effort... good luck with that.

Remember the stranded singers from Mountain View who spent a week in Paris because of the volcano? Well, they are holding a benefit concert to pay down the debt from baguettes, onion soup, and cigarettes...

Speaking of Paris... is it a Gran Boulevard? Or is it El Camino Real...

Watch Dog got a chuckle from this little bit on the Merc website on Sunday evening... check out the really, really important "California News"...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.7.10: Giving up a touchdown to the Red Wings...

Well, the Sharks run of great games ended last night as they gave up a touch down to the Red Wings. They are still up 3-1 in the series..

Watch Dog predicted it... the Morgan Hill American flag t-shirt story has gone viral and national. Here's what we wrote yesterday:

This will be a controversial issue that will likely make Fox News, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and probably spark a Tea Party rally as well.

Speaking of Tea Party-lover (Pegram)...

San Jose's District 9 gets the write up today after Districts 1/3, 5, and 7 got some ink earlier in the week. Don Rocha - the handsome one, Jim Cogan - the Constant one, Larry Pegram - the right wing whacko one, Robert Cortese - the karaoki one, and Cueva, Greer, and Trout - the ones also running... Perhaps with all the City Council races going in, Terry Christensen gets his City Council Districts mixed up with this quote: "This is a lower-key and less-engaged district than some..." Of course, based on the amount of research Watch Dog does, which is very little, it seems more people vote in District 9 than in almost any other City Council District, but why let facts get in the way of a good quote Mr. Christensen...

Speaking of City Council races, the San Jose District 7 race gets a big write up in the Metro/San Jose Inside with Minh Duong as the central antagonist... Madison better watch out, Duong has a District map with push-pins in it...

Speaking of local races with a write up in the Metro, we also learn that Jeff Rosen and Dolores Carr can't even look at each other in the eye... and no, that isn't a short joke Mr. Rosen...

The Governor was in town yesterday for a Laurie Smith fundraiser... remember when it was a big deal with the Governor came to town?

We all know that the Governor's boyfriend Abel Maldonado is now the Lt. Governor... and that the Governor wants Maldo's seat filled with two special elections, one in June and one in August, but a new lawsuit may hold up those elections...

If Carly Fiorina hadn't already alienated every single in the Bay Area, she appears to be appealing to the most far-right of right... because Sarah Palin endorsed her. Well, from one unqualified candidate to another... It's like getting the old McCain band back together again... (There are many, many jokes to tell...)

Santa Clara's power plant on Robert Avenue is up and running again after being under Cal-OSHA's watchful eye for the past couple of months. Here is the exact right thing to say after you've been under investigation and closed down for several months by Cal-OSHA, "Our interactions with OSHA were positive and constructive." That's from Larry Owens from Silicon Valley Power. As if someone would say that their interactions with OSHA were negative and unconstructive...

While we're on utilities, the Merc's Editorial Board thought the Water District was righting its governance ship... but then the redistricting came out and now the Ed Board says that they "must reject gerrymandering"... the City of Gilroy agrees...

The City of Campbell has a plan to right its financial ship... and it includes cuts and "revenue enhancements" which are not nearly as robust as other kinds of enhancements...

Anti-High-Speed Rail folks have a new picture for the center of their dart board as a new CEO was named... Roelof van Ark... who will make $375,000, which seems low considering all the NIMBY meetings this guy is going to have to sit through up and down the Peninsula...

Mr. van Ark is coming on just in time for a new lawsuit from the duel NIMBY capitals of the Bay Area, Atherton and Menlo Park...

From fast trains to very, very slow trains... VTA is looking to make some lightrail trains express to drive ridership. Sounds like a pretty good idea to us, since we once beat a VTA train in a race and we were on foot.

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.6.10: Too...Many...Margaritas...

Oh, poor Mineta San Jose (International?) Airport. They are considering cutting positions, contracting out services, and generally driving Cindy Chavez absolutely bonkers... the proposed cuts/contracting could save a whole bunch of cash all in an effort to get airlines to start coming back, or at least to stop cutting flights...

And no amount of cutting or contracting out will bring Tapestry in Arts back this year apparently... it joins the fireworks display downtown as canceled events in San Jose...

Scott Herhold follows the County budget closer than some Supervisors do. Especially Supervisor George Shirakawa. (Remember, Herhold told the story about District Attorney Dolores Carr's car...) Shirakawa and his fiscally responsible staff, headed up by Eddie Garcia, are over budget and don't seem to know why, which is reassuring. The curious part is that Herhold's story doesn't mention the second in charge to Garcia: Xavier Campos. You'd think Campos would be able to deal with the budget in the office, y'know, because of the bang-up job he did as MACSA's Chief Operating Officer...

San Jose District 5 got the breakdown treatment this week, so did Districts 1 and 3 (from Joe Rodriguez), and now it is District 7's turn, where incumbent Madison Nguyen runs for that seat for the 17th time... John Woolfolk at the Merc has been very, very busy...

Speaking of the District 3 run-down, it seems Councilmember Sam Liccardo disagrees with some (or all) of what Joe Rodriguez wrote according to Liccardo's letter to the editor...

George Beattie, the not-nearly-as-much-fun successor to Bobby Lopez at the San Jose Police Officers' Association, writes for Protect San Jose about the back and forth and back and forth between the POA and the City of San Jose, with copies of the letters that are flying between North 4th and Santa Clara Street...

Guess what Steve Poizner's internal polls say? That he's catching up. Guess what Sarah Palin's polls said about her? That she was qualified... it doesn't make it so Steve, it doesn't make it so...

In other political news (about people way behind in the polls), Yoriko Kishimoto gets a write up in the Almanac/Palo Alto Weekly. She is running for State Assembly for Ira Ruskin's seat against Josh Becker and Rich Gordon.

Stanford Hospital and nurses still aren't getting along nicely. The hospitals just rejected a proposal from the nurses... who previously had rejected the "last, best, and final" offer from the hospital.

Just to give you fair warning, four students were sent home from school at Live Oak High School yesterday for wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco de Mayo, it was viewed as incendiary. (Perhaps it was the t-shirts and the tight-cropped hair cuts...) This will be a controversial issue that will likely make Fox News, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and probably spark a Tea Party rally as well.

This is a story from Watch Dog San Mateo.. the Almanac actually... but it will send shock-waves up and down Silicon Valley. Menlo Park is imposing a two-tier pension system for its municipal employees. The beginning of a trend, or the shot heard round the union world?

More from San Mateo County... To Tweet (or Facebook) or not to Tweet during a City Council meeting... something that more than one Watch Dog has commented on in the past related to at least one San Jose City Council member whose name starts with P and ends in ETE. A Tweet from a Councilmember in San Carlos has stirred up the usually sleepy town...

Finally, Tom Campbell's campaign has released an online campaign video (and taken their gloves off) that you absolutely have to see. Seriously. It makes the weird sheep thing Carly Fiorina's campaign put out a while ago seem mild. Take a gander... love the head-bob...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.5.10: Margaritas all around... the Sharks won...

Sharks win... and it was a doozy. Four words: Overtime, Breakaway, Joe Thornton.

Hey, Denis Theriault is back on the Merc's local political scene... he covers some young-ish Silicon Valley guns running for office: Chris Kelly (running for Attorney General) and Josh Becker (State Assembly)...

San Jose's City Council will extend a program that has curbed "drunk-in-public" arrests... This story allows the Merc to reprint their favorite line:

The pilot program followed Mercury News reports that San Jose police were arresting more people on charges of public intoxication than any other law enforcement agency in the state. Some community members alleged the statistics showed police were inappropriately using the public drunkenness law as "social control," a charge police denied.

Speaking of the San Jose City Council, the Merc's John Woolfolk provides a preview of the San Jose City Council 4 way race to replace Nora Campos. We learn that Nora is Xavier's older sister, that Manuel Herrera ran for City Council in a different district, that Aaron Resendez is a press operator, and that Magdalena Carrasco is "a hard charging mother"... (It seems the Merc's website is on the fritz, the URL for this story is:

www.mercurynews.com/mr-roadshow/ci_15016835

Gilroy will sue the Water District over their redistricting plans... this is going to be good. (That is, if you like one government agency suing another... and Watch Dog does like that, a lot...)

Speaking of Gilroy and the Water District... the "campaign" to overturn the groundwell fee failed. Everyone at the Water District is breathing a sigh of relief, until they get subpeoned in the Gilroy lawsuit...

Another Gilroy story... Gavilan College is really screwed up financially and so is its foundation. This story has the phrase "misappropriated funds" which usually tickles the DA's fancy...

It was an election day (sort of) yesterday. Mail-in ballot elections were due in several school districts... Palo Alto, Fremont Union, Union, and Loma Prieta school districts won their parcel tax elections... Lakeside lost...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.4.10: Buy your Corona today...

The County of Santa Clara has a big, gigantic $200,000,000+ deficit that they need to bridge. How? Like everyone else does: use reserves, cut jobs, "streamline services," and banning toys at fast food joints... But leave it up to a realist (non-politician) to shed some light on things. Patricia Gardner of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits adds, "...it is great that [County Executive] Smith is preserving so much of our servcies at a time when our community is having so much hardship...[but] we need to be mindful that this budget does not take into account any of the state cuts..." May revise next week... hold on to your hats...

The folks in South County are not too pleased (apparently) with the new redistricting lines drawn by the Santa Clara Valley Water District Board... that's because one of the two seats puts Gilroy with Palo Alto... can't we all just get along? Or at least get it right?

Joe Rodriguez in the Merc tries to get back into the political realm and breaks down the similarities between the San Jose City Council re-election races of Pete Constant in District 1 and Sam Liccardo in District 3. Two popular incumbents, also-rans running against them, etc., etc.

A San Jose Police Officer that is due to be laid off saved the life of a cyclist this week. Chief Davis jumped at the chance to praise the officer after getting bashed by Protect San Jose last week...

This is weird, and seems a little out of line. Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio writes an open letter to San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis on San Jose Inside pushing for the promotion of Captain Gary Kirby... Watch Dog has to wonder whose water PO is carrying with this....

Another tough day for the South Bay Labor Council in the Mercury News. This time from the Editorial page regarding the San Jose (barely) International Airport and recommendations from the Airport head honcho that should be re-looked at to cut costs at the airport to make it even a little bit competitive with SFO and OAK. They include: "...contracting out services and paying living wages..." That will be a fun Rules Committee meeting on Wednesday...

While we are on it... we bring you this from the Chronicle: "San Francisco and its largest union have reached a long-delayed tentative agreement on a giveback plan, helping the city trim its projected $483 million budget deficit."

While we are on SFGate.com...

The Chronicle gets in on the action, obviously. The newspaper is so worried that they will lose the 49ers and that their beloved Giants will somehow get hurt if a team moves 30 miles further away, that they are now writing Editorials criticizing the A's for cracking down on their banner policy in the stadium. (We'd LOVE to see someone try to put up a banner anywhere in SBC, errr AT&T Park...) Actually, the Editorial isn't that bad and tells the Oakland City Attorney to back the f... up.

You have got to love California. In November, we will have a ballot measure, funded by oil companies, that looks to make AB 32 (the big anti-global warming bill) obsolete and a ballot measure to make recreational pot legal. Ironically, you will need to smoke pot to make all the November election commercials bearable...

This will make some people really happy... and some people not so much... metering lights in San Jose on 280. Thank you Mr. Roadshow for the heads up.