Morning News Round-Up -- 9.9.09: This Boots was made for prison...

Boots Del Biaggio never got so much press as when his sentence of 8 years and $67 million was handed down. Del Biaggio has until January 8th to pack his bag for prison. The other shoe drops when a judge hands Del Biaggio SEC penalties.

The fallout from former Mayor Tom McEnery’s visit to the Elections Commission continues today. Commissioners contemplate new rules on anonymous complaints, you know to “minimize frivolous complaints.” No word if this will be called the McEnery Amendment. Our biggest complaint is that the anonymous complaints are usually the most fun...

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse: County Tax Assessor Larry Stone, will really earn his daily boo this week. Thousands of homeowners who received property tax relief earlier this year will get an unpleasant notice – your taxes are going up.

San Jose Congressmember Mike Honda put pen to paper to say he was “flummoxed” over misinformation giving rise to contentious town hall meetings on healthcare. Honda concludes healthcare saves money and lives.

Palo Alto union staffers mysteriously picked up a bug that kept 25 percent of them out of the office. Union representative Lynn Krug offered “…I can only guess that the individual employees may have become ill from the stress of the City of Palo Alto contract negotiation proposals…” A sick-out, very retro.

Darkrooms, “donuts,” and atriums were on the minds of Palo Alto Unified School District Trustees as they looked at plans for using up the $378 million from last years successful bond measure. Trustee Camille Townsend wants the high school plans to give a “unifying theme.”

“Beach Hi” (Miami Beach High School) sends props to alumni/ Palo Alto City Councilmember Larry Klein. Beachers are adding Klein to their Hall of Fame along with actor Andy Garcia and U.S. Secretary of State Robert Rubin. That's pretty good company.

Silicon Valley giant, Apple, has fans, investors, and everyone else on the edge of their seats waiting for today’s big announcement.

Speaking of Apple, CEO Steve Jobs’ legal beagle wants Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner to agree to knocking down Jobs’ home in Woodside. It isn’t often you hear an attorney tell a judge “…pigs will fly…”

It’s all about the schools…

Santa Clara Wilcox High School student Victoria Villagomez watched President Obama as he encouraged students to study, practice, and be careful on Facebook. Villagomez, sharing the single parent lifestyle with the President, said “everyone can relate to the problems he had.”

The Merc’s Editorial Board shared a few thoughts on the craziness leading up to President Obama’s speech to children. Suggesting while it would have been tough for English teachers to explain “the Decider’s chronically bad grammar,” any President talking to kids is “charming.”

A field of 5 lines up for 3 seats on the Cupertino Union School District election in November. Joining incumbents are Soma McCandless and Kern Peng.

Teacher Patty Polifrone is ditching Mountain View-Whisman Schools. Rumors say the beleaguered teacher is heading a little south after pissed off parents didn’t dig her teaching style.

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo helped a Sharks-loving teen with a pesky No Teal school rule only to find himself facing the news that local gang members also love the teal. DiSalvo wrapped with a cheer for the uniform, and no teal.

Sgt. Jim Unland heads back 6 years on Protect San Jose to the night San Jose Police shot Bich Cau Thi Tran while she was waving her “Asian vegetable peeler.” The post is complete with police photos of the peeler/ weapon and goes after local media for screwing up the story from the get-go.

Boots meet Bernie, Bernie meet Boots...

Boots Del Biaggio got 8 years in prison... news at 11.

(For those of you who keep score of such things, the Mercury News broke the story at 12:38 p.m. and the Chronicle broke it at 12:44 p.m.)

Morning News Round-Up -- 6.15.09: Mid-30s and bald...the Hooters' demographic

The Chronicle is encroaching on the Merc's turf, apparently. They have a piece in today's paper about the "Golden Triangle for smart phones..." Cupertino to Mt. View to Sunnyvale.

The DA’s office can’t seem to shake accusations of misconduct. This time, Deputy DA Jaime Stringfield is accused of withholding evidence in a sexual assault case. At risk, letting rapists roam the streets…

A handful of South Bay schools are showing success narrowing the achievement gap between white and Latino students. A big Woof to Mountain View High School, and Bracher, Arbuckle, and Grant Elementary Schools. Now seems like the perfect time for the State to cut millions (billions?) from schools...

The Gilroy Unified School District is back in good financial standing, according to Standard & Poor’s. Superintendent Deborah Flores says she’s “ecstatic about being taken off CreditWatch.” Too bad the same can't be said for this embattled San Mateo County school district (La Honda-Pescadero Unified) on Watch Dog San Mateo's watch list...

San Jose’s City Council may be taking a hit on their pay but the City’s unions aren’t ready to join them. Union leaders are accusing city leaders of asking them to take a “poison pill.” Watch Dog has to guess that the City Council is going to choose between a poison pill and paycheck...

At the heart of San Jose’s labor negotiations stands City Manager Debra Figone. The Merc’s Scott Herhold takes time to offer a portrait of Figone as an unquotable toughie putting reporters to sleep while trying to save money and jobs. (We expect Revealed's response to Herhold's Figone piece as soon as the pnuemonia passes... Get well Revealed.)

Get your telescope ready. NASA wants your help to look for water. Scientists from Mountain View based NASA’s Ames Research Center hope to blow up part of the moon. Scientist Kimberly Ennico anxiously waits for the final decision, looking forward to “making a big splash.”

Speaking of local geek fests… San Jose’s Tech Museum of Innovation celebrated its 10th birthday. Tech Boardmember/Former Cirrus Logic CEO Michael Hackworth says the Museum is past the survival stage which is good news for San Jose, which covers part of the budget.

Hooters in Campbell was the scene of more than just skin over the weekend. An argument that started in the restaurant turned into a stabbing in the parking lot with a “culprit in his mid-30s and bald” jumping into a silver Mercedes to run. Mid-30s and bald, you say? Isn't that the description of every dude at Hooters?

The Merc’s Internal Affairs had some fun this weekend...

• Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr is kinda-sorta-just-a-little helping pass legislation protecting prosecutors from misconduct charges. (Ben Field says thank you...)
• After a slow start, San Jose’s City Council is now playing “Who Gets the Biggest Paycut.” Councilmember Chu must have (finally) read Watch Dog and Herhold...
• Assemblymember Joe Coto is trading big insurance campaign cash for contributions from gambling, alcohol, and tobacco interests. How warm and fuzzy... (Watch Dog predicts Councilmember/candidate Nora Campos will be the big campaign finance winner in Coto's Sacramento assignments...)
• The ACLU’s Skyler Porras has been trying to get a meeting with the Police Officers Assocation's Bobby Lopez for some time. Turns out all she had to do was write a letter saying the POA had the right to do their YouTube video, even though it was "a desperate and obvious attempt to distract from the serious police accountability issues facing this city." (And, yes, video-gate is still up on YouTube.)

Around the Valley, here’s the dish on your local governance…

• The City Council in Santa Clara will discuss "mixed use" - like an amusement park AND a football stadium...
  
• Mountain View’s City Council studies NASA’s plans for Moffett...
• Milpitas Councilmembers will talk about rezoning 9+ acres of McCarthy Ranch for less industry and more shopping...
  
• San Jose’s City Council conducts a hearing on the budget, considers a wage freeze for the operating engineers union, higher health care costs, increasing affordable housing in North San Jose, and $300 million to renovate and expand the McEnery Convention Center...

Two last things...

On the cover of this weekend's Merc was a story about technology companies asking the Obama Administration to intervene with their beef with the Chinese government. The Chinese government is asking tech companies to pre-install censoring software on computers sold in China. Watch Dog had to chime in to let you all know that there is no truth to the rumor that Councilmember Pete Constant is representing the Chinese government on this issue...

In case you Sharks fans missed it, the hockey season ended on Friday night. The Penguins won. Which brings up the local angle: Remember when Boots Del Biaggio owned part of that team?

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.5.09: Psst...Pete...grandstanding is hard when you don't show up...

Memo to Councilmember Pete Constant: When you want to get something on the City Council Agenda, you should actually show up to the meeting that puts things on the Agenda. In San Jose, the Agenda-setting committee is the Rules (and Open Government) Committee. Constant is one of four members of the Committee -- but he missed yesterday's meeting, meaning there wasn't a quorum to put his item on the Agenda to take tobacco money from non-profits and give it to crossing guards. Oops...

Watch Dog doubts, however, that Constant will miss an upcoming meeting where he will grandstand about pornography in libraries...perhaps he'll ask to take to take money from crossing guards in order to fund censorship...

San Jose’s beleaguered Employee Pension Board (some of the same folks that are accused of misstating travel requests, losing $1+ billion of pensioner money, squabbling over who will be on the Board, etc.) It only gets worse, two Board members quit abruptly yesterday. Firefighter Mark Skeen said he’s leaving because he faces, “…an arduous period of physical rehabilitation owing to two back surgeries forced upon me by job-incurred injuries." Sgt. Bret Muncy wouldn’t share his reasons for leaving. Expect more shake-ups from this Board...

The tale of Boots Del Biaggio moves from one sad chapter to another. Boots, businessman/philanthropist/fundraiser/hockey fan, pled guilty to one count of securities fraud. Sentencing is June 10, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer (brother of this guy) will order restitution and added, “there’s no question he’s going to jail.” Boots will be trading his palatial estate for a concrete cell for anywhere between 6 and 25 years.

In a surprising twist, a San Jose Grandpa and Grandma stole children from their daughter and raised them as their own. This week, Grandpa got caught, the kind-hearted (but kidnapping) old man is in jail awaiting extradition to Tennessee. San Jose friends are confused, Tom Merritt said “It makes you feel bad. Maybe he was right to take the kids.” Too bad the law doesn't seem to see things the way Mr. Merritt does...

For the next two years, electric car owners can get all the juice they need for free. Yep, just charge up at one of the trial installations in Downtown San Jose and your electric car will barely cost you a thing. Apparently the City (or the company installing the electric stations) are going to pick up the tab. Transportation Director James Helmer said the chargers fit the City’s Green Vision and support local companies. Of course, the really big deal on the electric car front doesn’t appear destined for San Jose.

San Jose Revealed posted an entertaining quick note Wednesday. The highlights:

• According to Revealed, on Sunday, the Merc.'s Scott Herhold identified his friends who are “all old white men,” as the powerbrokers in the Valley. We are guessing Revealed knows Pat's and Zoe's gender and Bobby Lopez's ethnicity...
  
• Former Merc. reporter Josh Molina has resurfaced at the Hispanic Business magazine in Goleta...
• Revealed had a warm/fuzzy feeling about the maturity with which the Little Saigon issue was being handled (seriously?) right up to the Henry Le lawsuit.

San Jose Inside/Metro’s Fly also talks about Little Saigon and says Barry Hung Do met with Mayor Chuck Reed in December to ask the City to save money (assuming Councilmember Madison Nguyen gets blasted by the recall) and use the (undemocratic) appointment process to fill her seat. Oddly, Mayoral staffer Khoa Nguyen is at the top of the list for potential appointees. This story sounds weird to Watch Dog. First we heard a strong accusation from Revealed that Ajlouny may be helping out the Recall Madison folks, now we hear that a possible succession plan to replace Madison is actually someone from the Mayor's office? Mayor Reed should probably dispell both of these things in order to help Madison stay in office...

Morning News Round-Up – 1.30.09: Drunks, Fast Cars and Animal Cruelty...

A rift is growing on San Jose’s Drunk Task Force. Community members are demanding a look back while city staff seem to think the past is irrelevant. Watch Dog has been following San Jose’s drunken intrigue from the beginning. Perhaps a sign of things to come…

• "I don't think that we need to have [arrest reports] to take a good and hard look at the way (public intoxication) arrests are conducted now or for us to come up with options to make things better,'' said Deputy City Manager Norberto Duenas. Those who forget history...
• ACLU head, Skyler Porras is pissed and said it’s all about "public relations [rather] than an opportunity to create accountability and transparency."
  
• Metro/De-Bug’s Raj Jayadev agreed saying "It's very strange to be asked to investigate an issue and not be given the most relevant documents to do an a honest examination."
  
• San Jose City Manager Deb Figone wants the Sunshine Reform Task Force to address the issue of report release – of course, Sunshine wants the reports released it’s Rules where the hang-up occurs.
  
• Attorney/Merc attendee at Sunshine committees James Chadwick "The members of the rules committee have been clear they have no interest in providing public access to police reports,"

Splattered all over the old-school news today – Plans to build Tesla plant in San Jose cancelled. Watch Dog issued the warning last year, a month later Watch Dog scooped the competition and yesterday watched as the rest of the media caught up. Tesla is lining up behind banks/states/local mayors for federal money to keep things moving. In a sign that Mayor Chuck Reed has been reading Watch Dog he says (now) the news was disappointing but not unexpected. Company founder Elon Musk will be unveiling the latest edition to the family – in Los Angeles – in March.

SanJoseRevealed gloats a little over the Tesla loss laying responsibility for the economic downfall at the feet of Chuck Reed. Revealed also spent time googling Dan Pulcrano and Chuck Reed – double checking positioning for SJR stories. Revealed didn’t find the multiple mentions of SJR on Watch Dog.

Boots is heading to jail, at least that’s what it looks like with Del Biaggio pleading guilty to at least some of the charges against him. The US Attorney Generals office and Boots’ lawyer Elliot Peters aren’t talking to the press but it’s clear Boots’ is talking to someone.
The Morgan Hill Times editorial board weighs in on efforts in Morgan Hill and Gilroy to cope with the economic crisis and takes issue with a few things. Like, it’s going to take 3 years to study the economic crisis? Looks like Morgan Hill and Gilroy are competing with San Jose in the study-don’t-solve department.

Duffers are among the latest group proposed to help raise state funds and local golf courses are not happy. "It's like getting hit with a sucker punch," said Tony Lauria, director of sales and marketing at Coyote Creek Golf Club north of Morgan Hill. "It's unfair to hit an industry that's struggling, and doing its best to keep our jobs."

Gilroy moved it’s police headquarters into a new building and promptly slapped a sign on the front claiming it was a “green business.” Seems Gilroy needs a lesson in what it means to reduce the carbon footprint. The new building is an energy hog and accounts for 41% of the city’s entire electricity and gas bill. Lisa Jensema, who recently lost her job as Gilroy’s Environmental Programs Coordinator, says the boastful sticker on the front door was not claiming to have reduced the city's carbon footprint, but to have encouraged other green practices - increased recycling, warmer clothes during the winter, shuttered blinds during summer, and so on.

The latest victim of the economic crisis? Animals, specifically animals in rodeos. County Supervisor Don Gage said "We don't feel the animal cruelty ordinance is a high priority right now." Not wanting to leave it at that acting county executive Gary Graves wrote, "we do not believe we have the resources at this time to adequately provide the review and development of options that will allow the board to make an informed decision on the (animal cruelty ordinance)."

There’s a sea change in shopping centers – Cupertino and Sunnyvale plan to capitalize on modern thought rather than rebuild the Edsel. With Sand Hill Property’s Peter Pau at the helm and 34 acre’s of shopping, housing, office space and so on. "We are not trying to create a mall here. We're blowing the mall up," Reed Moulds, Sand Hill project manager said. It looks like mall experts took a trip to Europe, question is, how well will communities adapt to the local mall being integrated in residential neighborhoods?

Abandoned in San Jose, J.R. ended up at the Santa Clara animal shelter. That is, until his mug was spotted by celebrity animal trainer Mathilde DeCagny. Now the formerly homeless terrier is a star in Hotel for Dogs. In the rare occasion where animal cruelty ends up benefitting the critter...

(late again) Morning News Round-Up 1.14.09: Disappointed Edition...

Sorry to disappoint you with the long delay...Watch Dog has been recovering from the Mayor's State of the City (Budget)...more on that later (or tomorrow)...

On to old news...

Garlic Ta-Ta’s closed before it ever opened. Ante Bilic withdrew his application Tuesday morning for a gentleman's club in Gilroy after news broke of the 10 year old prohibition of flaunting ta-ta’s in Gilroy. The sleuthing was uncovered by Home Depot's lawyers. No word yet if the more than $4,000 in fees already paid to Gilroy by Bilic will be refunded. Bilic did not say, "The whole experience with Gilroy was like being in a gentleman's club for an evening -- it's fun while it lasted, but we leave disappointed..."

Speaking of disappointed...at yesterday's Council meeting, San Jose City Councilmembers heard from new Retirement Director Russell Crosby. Crosby described the loss of more than $1 billion from the City employee pension funds. Mayor Chuck Reed said, "We need to restructure the [oversight] boards to bring in outside expertise..." You think? Could this be a signal that Reed-ally/pensioner/pension board overseer/Councilmember Pete Constant is on his way off the board after a dismal two years? Councilmember Sam Liccardo seems to think so, saying “…something is seriously broken here...” calling out massive market losses, a travel audit that uncovered excessive and undocumented expenses, and multi-million dollar over-payments.

Vegas hoteliers called him only “Mr. S” and catered to his every wish -- bowls of Glitterati Mentissimo, chilled Dom Perignon and Kurosawa Sake, silk socks, porn, and (of course) condoms. (Disappointed) John, Randy, and Dave Fry know him as the check-kiting/former exec/jailbird Ausaf Umar Siddiqui. Thanks to the Merc., we all know both sides of the Baccarat embezzler. We've learned that the rumors are untrue that Boots Del Biaggio has applied for a job at Fry's...

San Jose Redevelopment Agency is hoping that divided loyalties may prevent the Santa Clara Supervisors from fighting to prevent the Agency from taking a larger share of property taxes. Will former Councilmembers Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, and George Shirakawa, Jr. side with the needs of the County and area school districts in battling with San Jose over property taxes? The hearing is set for March in San Jose, stayed tuned...Mr. Mavrogenes, don't be too disappointed if the old adage holds true that "where you stand depends on where you sit"...Dave, Ken, and George sit somewhere new now.

Once a month teachers and students descend upon Barker Elementary School on a Friday night (a.k.a. parents' Date Night) while the school gets to raise some much needed funds. Computer lab specialist Ann West said the kids love hanging out in the library, playing twister, surfing the net, and getting crafty. The funds raised help close budget gaps...

Los Altos native Sargent Binkley has been found not guilty by reason of insanity for robbing a Mountain View pharmacy at gunpoint. The landmark decision handed down by a Santa Clara County jury recognized post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following addiction to morphine as the cause of Binkley's insanity. Prosecutor Deborah Medved argued Binkley was sane and said the law does not allow for insanity based on addiction -- just insanity due to Twinkies...

San Jose welcomed it’s first Indo-American onto the City Council yesterday. Ash Kalra says he didn’t run as an ethnic candidate but is proud to represent his community.

San Jose Revealed wants you to Tweet sjrevealed from San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s annual breakfast (as if Revealed won’t be there...). Revealed also takes time to liken the Madison Nguyen fiasco to a coup in which the beleaguered San Jose Councilmember's peers are attempting to take her out – and insert a new Vietnamese leader who will obediently take orders.

San Jose Inside weighs in on the new Chief Yahoo! Carol Bartz, formerly of AutoDesk. Bartz could be a refreshing change saying she wanted to help Yahoo! “get some friggin’ breathing room.” Watch Dog likes the idea of a 60 year old, female, Yahoo! talking about kickin’ butt...

Morning News Round-Up – 12.08.08

San Jose is in a budgetary bind. No question about that. So with that in mind, they are about to answer some pressing questions:

• Will San Jose approve a proposal for affordable housing to be part of developments across the city?
• Will the City say yes to a new $5 million/McEnery-backed development proposal?
• Will the Redevelopment Agency’s budget be approved while cutting neighborhood funding?

Tomorrow's San Jose City Council meeting will answer some of these questions...

Across town on Tuesday, the County Board of Supervisors will ponder the decision they made in 2003 to close the sobering station a.k.a. Drunk Tank. Following Mayor Chuck Reed/Nora Campos’s lead, maybe they’ll form a task force. Watch Dog predicts more finger pointing and less action.

Soon-to-be termed out Supervisor Don Gage was a no-show at the annual Los Gatos parade this weekend. With 2 more years to serve as a Supervisor it seems a tad early to call him a lame duck. None of the replacement hopefuls bothered to show up at the parade either.

Cupertino’s School Board will consider placing a parcel tax on the June ballot tonight.

‘Boots’ Del Biaggio’s (see These Boots were Made for Prison) victims will give the U.S. Attorney’s their perspective today in San Francisco. Former U.S. Attorney Charles Stevens said the sentencing for the $100 million in fraud takes sentencing “off the charts.” Stevens said it was more likely ‘Boots’ would serve a little over 10 years. The Merc set up a page dedicated to the ‘Boots’ saga for you to follow.

San Jose, after having been the safest big city for 6 years, has dropped now to 4th place. Bobby Lopez, President of the San Jose Police Officers Association, says there was only enough manpower to investigate 13% of the robberies which took place. (Perhaps the Chief put attention here as opposed to robbery investigation.) Mayor Reed says he is committed to getting back to number one because, "We like the bragging rights of being one of the safest big cities.” And here Watch Dog thought it was all about safety not bragging...How safe do you feel in San Jose? The Merc wants to know.

The Alum Rock Neighborhood Coalition meets tonight to discuss the Norma Martinez bailout package from the Alum Rock School District, whereby she will leave her position and get paid a handsome sum. New Trustees Esau Herrera and Dolores Marquez have joined with Trustee Gustavo Gonzalez to call for a review of the $300,000 severance package this week. In an ironic twist, the three Trustees who want the review are in violation of California open meeting rules. Trustee Herrera, an attorney, noted that if rules were not followed on the original bail out, then those actions would be voided –- of course, he meant the other Trustees who might have violated open meeting laws.

After bouncing Councilmember Nora Campos from the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force, Mayor Chuck Reed has put his on-again, off-again challenger/Vice Mayor Possibility back.

The Merc’s Internal Affairs continues the Sam Liccardo for Mayor chant after reviewing Mayor Reed’s new committee assignments. (No mention of Pete Constant, which must make him angry...) Meanwhile, Los Angeles political blog PolitickerCA.com is floating Liccardo’s name as a possibility for the rumored maybe-soon-to-be-vacant Congressional seat held by Mike Honda. Liccardo is in good company as PolitickerCA also lists Mayor Reed, State Senator Joe Simitian, Sally Lieber, and former Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez. Most would need to move into Honda's District. A real question though, Chuck Reed as a Democratic nominee for Congress? Watch Dog doubts it...especially after his Guiliani-loving Presidential no show.

San Jose’s Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio wonders if his colleagues are playing ostrich and ignoring his ideas for fixing the budget deficit.

San Jose Revealed toots it’s horn as source to breaking stories (but don't talk about the conflicts of interest with Shirakawa's staff picks) while wondering how the Merc. will manage to outsource local news reporting to India. Did Molina move to start running the Indian bureau of the Merc?

In Morgan Hill 14 city employees will likely lose their jobs -– City Manager Ed Tewes says the new Morgan Hill organization, “is going to be smaller, but an excellent one.”

Trees at Live Oak High School disappeared over Thanksgiving weekend –- District officials know the trees were diseased and in the way of the schools solar project -– but they don’t know how many disappeared. District spokesman Dan Ehrler said all removed trees will be replaced either with rosebushes or healthy trees. It makes the school's name ironic...no?

Perhaps Gilroy could use Chuck Reed's Gang Prevention Task Force –- with more than 750 gang members and 1,300 parolees in this small town Police Chief Denise Turner says, "I think it's important to unite, as gang members unite, and for a strong front against crime. We really do want to prevent violence in our community."

Add to the gang issue, Gilroy’s financial profile has weakened, the housing market looks bleak, development is off, foreclosures are high –- no surprise that their bond rating has been downgraded from A+ to A.

The Los Gatos Observer reports newcomer to the Los Gatos City Council, Steve Rice, came in 6 votes ahead of incumbent Barbara Spector. (Barbara Spector, let's re-elect her...) Both are to be sworn in at tonight's special meeting.

These Boots were made for...prison?

Another chapter in the Boots Del Biaggio saga is unfolding.

This time, Federal civil and criminal charges against Del Biaggio have been filed. Meanwhile, a bankruptcy court is trying to unravel the financial mess Del Biaggio seemly created.

This new story has a new, interesting twist...

In the story, there is an "unnamed" "man" that lost $600,000 to Boots's stupidity. This man's quote is telling, "I'm very, very upset...There are so many individual investors like myself that have been totally screwed over by Boots."

Watch Dog thinks this is interesting and new because people are beginning to talk. The anonymous source obviously knows Del Biaggio well (he uses his first name) and is press-savvy enough both answer the reporters' calls and negotiate with reporters in order to not have his name used.

Does anyone want to venture a guess who this "unnamed" "very, very upset" "man" is?