The Chamber Endorses Rose Herrera. Naturally.

Yesterday, word leaked out from a few tipsters that the Chamber had taken a bold stance in the crowded District 8 field - endorsing Rose Herrera. And sure enough, last night, there it was in black-and-white on her webpage:


Well, I guess it makes sense, given the following quote from Herrera's webpage:

We need real leadership to solve San Jose’s budget problems and make sure that local government is transparent and efficient....

I am running for City Council because I have the passion and skills to tackle these challenges head-on.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, I built and ran a software manufacturing company with 150 employees.

Sounds like the kind of business leader the Chamber can get behind, doesn't it?

Now, those of you who've been paying attention may remember, from one short year ago, the last business leader that the Chamber got behind. Her name was Hon Lien and, as unfolded over the course of a few days here on this humble website, it turned out she wasn't all that she and her Chamber backers claimed to be. In fact, Lien had driven her company into the ground, eventually filing bankruptcy and owing various creditors thousands of dollars.

Well, guess what.




Her consultant might want to ask for the money up front.

But, of course, it gets worse. The bankruptcy sits alongside two personal small claims filings from 1992 and 1999 indicating that Herrera paid almost $2,000 to people who took her to court. On one of these, the name appears to have a typo ("Rosei") so, giving her the benefit of the doubt, I poked around a little more.

In searching for these small claims on the County website, I discovered that, pre-bankruptcy, Herrera was sued as the head of Cinnamon Software. Indeed, on her police endorsement announcement she states:

As founder and CEO of Cinnamon Software, Rose Herrera oversaw the growth and development of this Silicon Valley software manufacturing company for 10 years.

Being the nosy person that I am, I then plug 'Cinnamon Software' into the small claims search tool.

Cinnamon Software has been sued nearly 30 times.



And the list goes on. In fact, feel free to peruse it yourself. Sued by Caltron Publications. Anacomp. National Mailing. San Jose Forklift. Sued by any number of businesses, big and small, some of whom are undoubtedly members in good standing of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.

OK. So, unless I'm mistaken, filing bankruptcy and having your business sued by dozens of others for failure to pay your bills is not a strong testament to a) your being a good manager of money or b) your ability to solve fiscal problems. An unfortunate circumstance for Rose personally, to be sure - but a circumstance that will make it all but impossible for her to win in June, in a crowded primary race.

But the real question here is this:
What the hell is the Chamber of Commerce thinking?

After getting soundly smacked only twelve months ago, they endorse another candidate with the exact same problems? Are they not aware that you can do background checks on people? It costs twenty dollars. Twenty. Pat "Helmet Hair" Dando can't spare twenty bucks?

But more than that, these are candidates being chosen by the business community. The cops endorsed Herrera, too, but they're not supposed to be the organization that is advocating for strong business leaders. I mean, this is Silicon Valley. Our county has a higher average wage than anywhere else in the country, meaning there must be some effective businesses out there - but the genius leaders at the Chamber of Commerce consistently pick bankrupt debtors as their voices on the Council.

Ridiculous and embarrassing. But, you know what? I'm kinda feeling better.