Sunday News Roundup

Good morning to all SJR fans out in the world. Here's your Sunday morning news compendium, saving you the cost of the Mercury News. Incidentally, I'm thinking of changing the tagline of this site to: As biased as the Merc, but we admit it.

The Merc's 'City Hall insiders' = Reed staffers

True to form and as predicted, the Mercury toes Chuck Reed's party line on the Campos firehouse issue. Explain to me again how, if Chuck talks to the sixth person, Nora is the one who violated the law. Especially if Chuck and Nora haven't discussed the issue in months, until he tries to submarine her, day of.

Pat Dando steps up to the plate, seven years later

Let's hearken back to the pre-bubble-burst halcyon days of San Jose. The state declares that every county should receive a windfall of tobacco tax settlement money, and the good folks of the Labor movement advocate for spending that cash on insuring kids, a strategy whose merits have been borne out over time.

To get it passed, Labor first takes this idea to the San Jose City Council. Now, the Mayor at the time was a fellow named Ron Gonzales, who you may remember. He opposes the plan, and fights hard to line up votes to kill it. The swing vote? One Patricia Dando. She commits to supporting the issue to Labor.

Until Gonzales finds out. By most accounts, she commits to changing to a 'no' vote in exchange for being named Vice Mayor. (We're going to spend some time this week looking back at Dando's history, so remember this little factoid.)

Vote happens, it loses 6-5, because, I guess, Pat hates kids. Eventually the City is cowed into supporting it when the County begins implementation.

And now, history repeats itself. Labor is bringing forward a plan to provide affordable health insurance to workers and businesses that can't afford it. And who is speaking out publicly against it? Pat Dando.

Her support of the Governor's (doomed) plan aside, can't she, for once, support healthcare initiatives that are immediate and right in front of her face? Answer: apparently not.

Reed says 'outsiders' to blame for Poco Way violence

Let me guess. Iranians?

Reed Loves Fires, Hates Brown Act*

More information has come to light about the motivation for Councilmember Campos' calling-Chuck-on-the-carpet press advisory from earlier this week.

Apparently, according to sources, Chuck earlier this year agreed to work with Campos’s office on the fire station, which has the highest call volume of any in the city or the county.

The same sources, who are familiar with the situation, report that Chuck rescinded that agreement. On Tuesday.

Suffice it to say that Mayor Reed, whose temper was finely honed in service to our nation, was not happy with losing the vote. And, according to sources, he has threatened punitive action over the issue and its fall-out.

Another bombshell: his office may* (accidentally, of course!) have violated the Brown Act. The Brown Act requires a number of things - among them, that decisions be made in public. Therefore, discussing an issue with a majority of decision-makers outside of a public meeting is forbidden, as it jeopardizes that requirement.

It seems that staff for Campos were explicit in making clear to Mayor Reed that he was the fifth person (of eleven votes on Council) to know about the issue. Then, however, Chuck and / or his Keystone Kstaff, talked to Councilmember Constant (who actually came to the meeting solely to vote against his public safety brothers and sisters). How Reed's office couldn't have known about the limit, particularly when four members signed the memo of support, strains credulity.

Rumors from multiple sources further indicate that Reed's office leaked the Brown Act problem to the press, blaming, of course, Campos' office.

Nice strategy, Mr. Openness. Lose your attempt to keep a busy fire house from being fixed. Try to spike it by possibly* violating state law. This from the guy who got reimbursed for his contribution to tsunami relief.

No wonder Campos was pissed.

* Key words: possibly, potentially, maybe, apparently. Unlike others, we try to be careful about accusing folks of breaking the law.

Bob Dando Has Trouble With The Law. In a Sense.

According to one of our beloved tipsters (use the box at right!), Pat Dando's attempt to install her husband in Nancy Pyle's place has hit an early and significant snag.

The POA, stalwarts of Dando support while she was on the Council, have reportedly given an early endorsement (emphasis on early) to the afore-mentioned Ms. Pyle.

But fret not, Bob. There's always the Deputy Sheriffs! And several "law enforcement" slate cards. Ajlouny has those numbers on speed dial.

Pandori Crossing The Line?

We were sent the following clip by a tipster, and we found it very telling.

You may remember, during last year's Mayoral race, a very specious press conference held at City Hall by Charles "Reimburse Me" Reed, Tom "I'd Be Happy To Have You Put That Money-Generating Facility Near San Pedro Square" McEnery, and David "Deputy DA" Pandori. The topic: that gambling interests were trying to build casinos near our children!!!!!! - and Cindy Chavez was to blame. The evidence for this, of course, was that the local Democratic Party took contributions from innumerable sources which went to a variety of campaigns. Oh. OK.

The conference didn't get much traction, as the Party was easily able to demonstrate that the money was completely unrelated to Cindy. (And, interestingly, because Chuck took direct money from real gambling interests, but that's all water under the bridge. For now.)

That's not why the clip caught our eye. In this clip, we have a self-identified Deputy District Attorney directly accuse an organization and individuals of laundering money. On TV. Take a look.



So you know, when he says 'United Democratic Campaign', he's pointing directly at Democratic Party chair Steve Preminger.

We're not legal experts. But this seems a very compelling point to the end that is being investigated by the DA's office: that David Pandori was very willing to trade on his position in that office to score political points, and was willing to fairly clearly violate ethical guidelines in so doing.

We used the past tense in the previous sentence, but the present tense likely applies.

A Fun Thursday Afternoon Quiz

For your entertainment and edification, let's match the Mercury News editorial board member to a little factoid about where they live and how they're registered to vote.

1. Jeff Kiel, publisher
2. Stephen Wright, editorial editor
3. Barbara Marshman, associate editor
4. Ed Clendaniel, commentary editor
5. John Fensterwald, editorial writer
6. Maria Shao, editorial writer

a. Pleasanton
b. Democrat, District 9
c. Democrat, District 1
d. Not registered in San Jose.
e. Decline-to-state, District 1

Good luck! Answers are in the comments.

Prove That San Francisco Has Nothing On Us

A tipster sends us an article chronicling an odd SF Mayoral debate, featuring a nudist and a clown, with the lament, "Why can't San Jose elections be more fun?"

I have (barely) resisted the temptation to assign similar descriptions to some of the candidates in San Jose last year. However, the comment board is an open forum for you to do your best.

What Makes McEnery's Folks Mad? Democracy.

Today's Obnoxious Blowhards post by "[c]omposer, writer and downtown resident Jack Van Zandt" (emphasis added - you'll figure out why) describes the travails of replacing Kansen Chu on the Berryessa School Board. For those not in the know, two final candidates were selected, David Neighbors and Alkesh Desai. When the four members of the board split their votes between the two, a coin toss settled it, in Mr. Desai's favor.

Van Zandt then rails against the efforts of two School District residents to seek an election to determine the new member, an option the Board declined to take. In classic Blowhards style, Van Zandt lambastes the residents' desire to have the members of the district decide their representation because it will cost almost five hundred thousand dollars.

A few salient points. First, one of the individuals interested in holding an election is Dale Warner - constant (if not incessant) critic of Mayor Reed and his McEnery cronies. There is no question that, were another person leading the charge, the McEnery boys wouldn't have such distaste for it.

Second, I'm sure any local residents who comprise the hundreds of signatures it would take to get this on the ballot would appreciate that a downtown insider doesn't think they should have a voice in the matter. In fact, I would imagine that nearly all of them will read the post and have strong second thoughts, since anyone from downtown knows more than all them rubes out in the sticks.

Third, a quote:

This vacancy should and must be filled by an election.

From, you guessed it, an Obnoxious Blowhards post by non-blowhard David Cortese, concerning the ouster of Terry Gregory. Is it that Tom and his boys hate fair elections, but Dave doesn't? Or is it the driver of this particular election that galls the old guard?

In this representative democracy, it may be worth reminding folks, the represented have the right to select their leaders. I can see opposition to a few select leaders deciding to hold an expensive election, but if your anti-tax sentiment is so strong as to find repugnant the desire of a significant section of constituency to elect its representatives, maybe this isn't the right country for you.

Now, THIS Is How You Send Out A Press Advisory

Nora Campos won a victory last night when the Council voted to rebuild Fire Station No. 2 on Alum Rock Avenue, despite Chuck's objection. (See the location on SJR: Local.)

Understandably, she wanted to let the community know about this victory. As such, she sent out a press advisory with the following headline:

Residents of San Jose Earn Public Safety Victory

Okay. Anyone that they were victorious over?

My only regret is that the Mayor did not participate in building a critical public safety project for our city. My hope is that in the future he will collaborate with myself and the Council to make San Jose the safest big city in the country.

Ouch. Anyway, if you read the advisory closely, something happened with a fire station. My eyes find it hard to focus on that part.

The Mechanics of Investigating an Assistant DA

Pursuant to yesterday's discussion of Pandori's likely jump from the DA's office comes some more information about how Dolores Carr, to her credit, plans to assure that not even the appearance of such an impropriety could happen again.

As the District Attorney's website states:

Cases should be analyzed on evidence and triability, not personalities, friendships, or politics unrelated to likelihood of prevailing before a jury.

And:

The expectation of the defense bar should be that we file what we can prove and prove what we file. Reductions should occur only if we learn we were not correct at the outset.

Clearly, Pandori's escapade toed the line on both of these points, if not crossing over.

In February, Carr's office appointed an ethics advisor, Kathryn "Serpico" Storton, who will be responsible for overseeing, among other things, a new policy that dictates, per Mark Buller,

that attorneys involved in politics should not work on government integrity cases due to the possible appearance of a conflict of interest.

Obviously, even before Kali-Rai and Arreola's lawyer asked, the DA's office was working to determine how to prevent such activity in the future.

Not a good sign for Mr. Pandori. Such a bad sign, in fact, that he looks to be willing to give up a $175,000 a year job.

The Dando Scramble

Nancy Pyle, elected by the skin of her teeth in 2004, put a severe damper on Pat Dando's legacy. By coming back from a double-digit primary deficit to win by a handful of votes over Dando's hand-picked candidate, Pat's influence over city politics dropped dramatically. When she went to work for the Schwarzenegger administration, some speculated that her time in San Jose politics was done.

Then Jim Cunneen left the Chamber, and Pat took advantage of the opportunity (and a six-figure job) to put her fingerprints on a new round of policy decisions. With that, the former Blue Ribbon Task Force on Ethics panelist became a lobbyist and launched a series of some of the most hypocritical attack ads in San Jose history, beyond the boundary of the law.

Last November, she seemed to think she'd turned a corner. Perhaps turning to the Dark Side was the strategy she needed. Unfortunately, though, her two pet causes at the moment don't seem to be going well.

The first is defeating Sam Liccardo's inclusionary zoning policy that would bring an affordable housing requirement outside of redevelopment areas. Butting heads with Sam over a long-professed commitment of his is an odd move - and may be why, as Sam stated from the dais last night, he's open to making decisions based on quotes in the paper from Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins.

The second pet cause is the defeat of Nancy Pyle in 2008. Pat's reported favorite candidate? One Bob Dando, whose wife is some sort of minor figure in the business community. The odds aren't in his favor - only about twenty people in the city were alive the last time a sitting Councilmember lost re-election. (That's an exaggeration. But close. One of them is Bob Kieve, of course.)

As this shapes up, we'll see how the cards fall. Maybe Pat's legacy can be restored, despite her unethical tactics and targetting her purported allies for attack. Maybe, just maybe, she can get something named after Bob, too.

An End To An Ignominious Reign?

Speculation about a David Pandori bid for Supervisor has been rampant for a while now, if only among publishers of content-light paperback books.

A new wrinkle has emerged - rumors abound that Pandori will actually leave his DA post early in order to throw his hat into the ring to replace the termed-out Blanca Alvarado.

But rumors also suggest that that's just spin. The real reason he's leaving, according to our sources, is that he faces an internal investigation by new DA Delores Carr for his role in the Arreola/Kali-Rai debacle.

A quick refresher course: last year, in the heat of the Mayor's race, the George Kennedy's DA office brought charges against the Honorable Ronald Gonzales and, to the Merc's merriment, his former aides Sean Kali-Rai and Tony Arreola.

All of the charges in both cases were dismissed and, in the case of Arreola and Kali-Rai, fingers have pointed to the root cause: Pandori.

By multiple accounts, Carr is taking the accusation seriously, to her credit. Why would an assistant DA, who was running for Mayor on a platform of combating corruption, bring criminal charges against aides to the sitting Mayor based on a civil code - a civil code he himself dealt with while on the City Council?

So now, sources say, Pandori sees the writing on the wall, and is hoping to make his escape before it becomes too politically damaging. Better to leave to run for office than to be kicked out in the middle of a campaign.

As for Kennedy, an early Reed supporter, his retirement makes him better able to avoid to the same sort of scrutiny. It's a shame, because scrutiny is certainly warranted.

The Last Days of Adobe Systems?

With the three of the most prominent buildings on our city's skyline, a staff in the thousands and ubiquity on the internet, one would have thought that Adobe was doing pretty well for itself.

Not so, according to today's Merc. In fact, they're doing so poorly that even hiring maintenance staff at 35 dollars an hour will strain their resources.

This came out in an article that discusses Charles Rufus Reed's plan to let companies do the city's park maintenance work, and let them pay low, low wages for the privilege. That's a pretty good deal for the company, which also gets a little free advertising and another notch in its community involvement belt.

The strategy, coming from Chuck, certainly isn't surprising. After all, he proved during the mayoral race that he's all for having the government subsidize people's charity. Specifically, his own.

In all seriousness, if Adobe wants to help the City, good for them, and thanks. But the City shouldn't sacrifice what should be a core principle - that people deserve a good wage for hard work. Living in San Jose ain't cheap. The City shouldn't be cheap, or partner with cheap folks either.

By the way, I have a recommendation for the first company to be allowed to take over one of these parks. How about Blackwater?

BREAKING NEWS: Pierluigi Likes Trees!

Today on Obnoxious Blowhards (how I've missed typing that!), Pierluigi Oliverio takes a bold stand: he likes open space.

Will this cost him re-election? Only time will tell.

The piece reads like a social calendar item for Charlton Heston. I am glad to know that, in my absence, the quality of discourse over there has maintained its excellence.

At Last, Some Honest Merc Coverage

I was amused yesterday to read the online version of the paper and discover this headline:

Another view: Consensus, respect are valley's highest values

Kudos to the Merc for frankly admitting that it wasn't their view.

(And, am I the only one, or does this piece seem to be a response to this little slip-up?)

Back Just In Time: The Mercury News' Commitment To Excellence

The Mercury News, you may recall, was once owned, in part, by the Ridder family. The Ridder family established a bold precedent for quality unbiased reporting. That, of course is a joke.

And, as evidence, let me present: genetics. Par Ridder, son of Tony Ridder, has been ordered to step down from his position as publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Seems the courts dislike it when you break non-compete clauses and take sensitive data.

Speaking of media ethics, when a newspaper runs a retraction, don't they usually amend the original article when it is online? Just wondering.

Tony's proud legacy of excellence continues on!

Well, Where Have You Been?

A quick recap.

You'll remember that I mentioned being out of town for awhile. It was a job interview, and I got the job, which necessitated that I leave San Jose Revealed behind.

The good news, for all of you out there, is that I'm back and ready to take on our good friends that run (or think they run the city).

Since I've been gone:

• Charles Rufus Reed's favorite District 4 candidate was trounced.
• The San Jose Grand Prix came to an ignominious end.
• Everyone that the Mercury News and our favorite establishment cabal accused of dire and nefarious deeds were exonerated.
• Charles Reed continued to demonstrate his strong Democratic roots by failing to attend the key Democratic Party event of the year.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. More to come.