Quick Notes

• The Council returns from its off-season next week, with trade speculation rampant. Will District 3 dump Liccardo to get under the salary cap? Is Nguyen still going on waivers?
  
  The Council agenda, true to form, runs the gamut of unfinished business. From eager anticipation to Councilmember Pyle's upcoming trip to Ireland (which happened last week), to recognition of August 5th as 'National Night Out' (that is, the same day as the meeting itself, which should help promotion) - the Council has a lot to dig in on.
  
• Crime alert: By printing a letter from "Hugh Jardonn" in this week's issue, the Metro has assisted in the commission of a misdemeanor offense, a tipster notes.
  
  If Hugh's name is a pseudonym (which it either is, or he's got the meanest parents since Johnny Cash), the letter is in violation of California Penal Code Section 538a. Mr. Jardonn is a frequent contributor to the Metro's other property, Obnoxious Blowhards, so no doubt Pulcrano is either a) ignorant or b) happy to try and shield a big fan of his other site. Of course, c) all of the above is also a likely determination.
• Speaking of Pulcrano's sycophantic relationship with Tom McEnery, a tipster faxed in a leaflet promoting a series of movies in San Pedro Square. Check out this rogues gallery:
  
  You got your Downtown Association, your Metro, your 'McEnery Family' and 'Cucuzza Family' - all that's missing is Pat Dando. Which is even more surprising, since on July 16th they showed Harold and Maude, which is based on her and Pulcrano.

Tournament of Champions: The Winner Is...

Domination. Flat-out domination.

Mike Honda, in completing his march to victory, averaged a 52-point margin of victory. He started by clobbering the Republican Party, and ended by whupping the Dems. (Iambic heptameter!) His closest battle, against the Democratic Party that nurtured and encouraged him, saw him win by nearly 40 percentage points.

So, in summary: it looks like I got at least one of the number one seeds right.

Thanks to those who voted. Enjoy the final, filled-out bracket. The first person to pull out some ridiculous stat I overlooked gets a pony.

Tournament of Champions: The Final!

Before we begin, please press play, below. You know you want to.

This is it.

The 63rd and final match-up in our epic single-elimination attempt to determine, once and for all, the most politically influential group or individual in the city of San Jose - capital of the esteemed Silicon Valley!



Longtime public servant and national Democratic Party higher-up Mike Honda faces his local Party for ultimate domination.

Who will win? It's up to you! Vote now!

Solving Mysteries

On Obnoxious Blowhards today, there's finally something written that I found interesting. Namely, at the very bottom of the page, in big type, this:


Naturally, being nosy and looking for dirt, I inquired with my tech expert. And what he brought back, I'm happy to say, was interesting.

One mystery is solved: San Jose Inside is definitely part and parcel of Boulevards, Inc. The code, it seems, is part of a tracking mechanism by a company called Quantcast. And plugging that code in the right place, we learn that San Jose Inside is being tracked as part of the Boulevards City Guide Network. Along with all of Dan Pulcrano's other web properties.

Setting aside, for the moment, the implications of this (a Councilmember generating traffic, and money, for the publication that endorsed him? The lack of transparency in assessing issues that impact the Metro and Pulcrano?) - let's look at the numbers.

First of all, this network of sites gets a robust 4.1 million pageviews a month, 3.7 million of whom are in the USA. That's a lot. But, digging deeper, we see why.

You may remember that Dan Pulcrano is being sued for fraud. The reason for this is that he (according to the plaintiff) snatched up the domain MrMovieTimes.com with a promise to give money back, and then didn't. Well, today we learn that MrMovieTimes is absolutely Boulevards' cash cow, netting 2.1 million pageviews a month. This, for a site that Dan Pulcrano wheedled away from some sucker not too long ago.

Puts a different perspective on the issue. According to Alexa.com, MrMovieTimes is the 10,776th most popular site on the web. The web, as you may know, is big. So that's saying something. There's definitely some significant value that was lost by the site's previous owner.

Those numbers also mean that all of Dan's other sites bring in only 1.6 million - which is divvied among a lot of other sites. The other top generators are LosAngeles.com, SFStation.com, SanFrancisco.com and Houston.com. Metroactive only pulls in about 80,000 views a month - or just over 2500 views a day. Which is only about twice what we get, and we don't have a paper backing us up. (WillowGlen.com, in case you're curious, only brings in about 100 views a day.)

In case this information is hidden (though, as of this writing, it's publicly available by simply typing an address into your browser), here are some PDFs of the content.

• Traffic stats, overall
• Referring site statistics
• Traffic stats, by site, part 1
• Traffic stats, by site, part 2

Missing from the list, though: San Jose Inside. This may be, according to our web guy, because the code was installed wrong, hence its appearance on the front page. Dan - if you need somone competent to fix that for you, let us know.

What Is It With Garbage?

Some tipsters, apparently, work weekends. So, unlike those of us slacking around, trying to find a parking spot at the Great Mall, they are busy typing and faxing and giving us the skinny. Kudos to them.

So, a quiz to start us off.

Q: Is regular-old garbage a recyclable?
A: According to the city's new rules, yes.

Here's the scoop (as I understand it). In order to encourage recycling, the City, way back in the day decided to waive the fees (a franchise fee, to be specific) it charges for garbage dumping if the load is recyclables. This used to be just the recyclables we leave on the curb in the little bins.

But in May, Chuck "I love the environment so so much" Reed okayed a new City policy that establishes that MSW, municipal solid waste, plain old garbage, is now covered under that policy, as below.


Please note the part that says, it must be "taken to a proper facility." In other words, for it to count, for the folks picking up the solid waste to have it count as a recyclable and therefore as fee-exempt, they have to take it to a facility that can pull out the recyclables. Here's the extensive list of places that do that:


Yes, one place. If you start to smell something nasty, it ain't the garbage. Let me clarify further, by showing you a section of Chuck Reed's contributions report from his run for Mayor:


So Greenwaste, who gave the maximum contribution to Chuck Reed's Mayoral campaign (and no others), gets a sweet deal in which the City gives a huge financial incentive for everyone else to bring all of their recyclables to Greenwaste. And, as icing on the cake, Greenwaste doesn't even have to take the leftover trash and dump it in a City facility, thereby potentially avoiding paying any fees to the City whatsoever. Done and done.

Just when I was starting to feel guilty for generating sales tax revenue in Milpitas, the City shows me that, apparently, it doesn't need my money anyway. We've reached the limits of Chuck's commitment to improving the general fund: when doing so would interfere with a contributor and supporter's bottom line.

Everything You Could Ever Want

This may be our 386th post (and, in fact, it is), but for a pure ratio of exceptional content to post count, it would be hard to beat Little Saigon Inside.

Covering a total of seven robust posts over the past two months, the blog craftily set aside two (or a full 29%!) to covering attractive women (something we've only done once - a measly .26%).

Then, setting aside a much-needed post covering some church in Oakland, the rest are dedicated to the topic du jour - what I like to call the Saigon Business District. Because, I think that's what the protesters support, if I remember correctly.

The most interesting post on the blog is the most recent, as it claims that the mailer pictured below is on its way to houses in District 7.

But, you know what? I'm skeptical. What's on the reverse side, for example? Why isn't it on the official recall website? Is it a coincidence that this comes out a week before they have to report what they raised and spent, when we'll know where their money went?

And why, oh why, does it look almost exactly like the hit pieces done by Vic Ajlouny? Someone playing both sides of the field on this one? Is this Chuck's strategy to keep the Vietnamese vote?

We'll see if folks start getting the piece over the weekend. But in the meantime, for all of your beautiful lady / virulent protest / pretty church news, you know where to go.

Tournament of Champions: Final Four!

If the continually declining vote tallies are any indicator, all of you out there in internet-land are as excited about the imminent conclusion of our Tournament (and the month of July) as yours truly.

Each of our four randomly-named divisions has crowned its champion. Next Monday through Wednesday, we'll feature each of our final three games, as follows:


Monday: Berryessa Division champion Phaedra Elis-Lamkins vs. Willow Glen Division champs the Democratic Party

After mutual upsets, long-time allies will face off to see who goes to the final match-up.

Ellis-Lamkins, after a controversial win in the previous round, eked out a victory over Mayor Reed, despite the Chamber of Commerce violating funding statutes and pouring several million into the race (in a spiritual sense, anyway).

The Dems outspent John Sobrato, who would have killed them if this thing had been set in Cupertino. Look for a Sobrato-funded CupertinoRevealed.com anyday now.

Is this blog read by more Dems or more labor flunkies? Find out next Monday!


Tuesday: Downtown Division winner Mike Honda vs. Almaden Valley Division winners the Police Officers Association

Mike Honda, the only non-upset entrant into the Final Four, and only number one seed to make it, handily beat Ken Yeager in their long-awaited rematch - giving him the right to face the cops to go to the Finals.

The cops, in a surprise win, took out expected heavyweights The Mercury News. Of course, more people are familiar with the cops than a small, local paper. Or maybe we should have used their much-discussed new name: Little Saigon Daily.


There you have it. The gloves are off and, by the end of next week, we will know who is the objective most politically influential person or group in the City. Maybe some sort of trophy is in order. A certificate at least. We'll see.

Quick Notes

• Little Saigon, Little Saigon, Little Saigon. Little Saigon? Little Saigon.
  
  Little Saigon Little Saigon Little Saigon, Little Saigon Little Saigon. Little Saigon Little Saigon - Little Saigon! (Little Saigon.)
  
  Little Saigon Little Saigon, "Little Saigon! Little Saigon!" Little Saigon, "Little Saigon." Little Saigon Little Saigon?
  
  Little Saigon: Little Saigon. Little Saigon Little Saigon Little Saigon.
  
  Madison Nguyen.
• Interesting to note that, for all the fulmination and furor in San Jose about the afore-mentioned issue - nothing about it cracks the top ten in a Google search for the term. Tempest in a teapot?
  
  And, for God's sake, now that the naming issue has been ceded, who cares about 20 or 40 or 100 or 256 million signs? Joe Horwedel is going to stand strong where the entire Council gave in?*
  
  Anyway, let's be honest. That particular area of Story Road could use some sprucing anyway:
  
  
• Victims advocates and public defenders take note: Scott Herhold is helping to grease the slippery slope.
  
  From his column today:
  

  The media faithfully covered [Marion Jones'] denials, even when they began to sound repetitive. Maybe we should have taken a clue from the sheer ferocity of her counter-attacks.

  Yes, indeed, Scott. That's how you can tell someone's guilty: when they tell you in no uncertain terms that they aren't. That's how I know that Scott Herhold is guilty of treason! Just ask him! He'll say he isn't!**

* I couldn't come up with a good analogy from the movies of a lone soldier who wages a fierce battle just when all seems lost, and conquers the enemy against impossible odds. At least, not one not set in Vietnam, which seems a little tasteless.
** Because he isn't, at least, to quote Hillary Clinton, "as far as I know."

Little Saigon Fight Gets Ugly

Go First Amendment! Hooray for the sanctity of free speech and of the press!

Okay. Got that out of the way. Now, I gotta say: the Mercury News should shut down the comments on their two most recent Molina stories - about Chuck's lame fundraising efforts and the interruption of a planning meeting by protestors.

Sprinkled throughout the comments are some good questions and interesting points, but the vast majority are virulently offensive and racist, contributing nothing to the quality of conversation on the issues and simply spreading dissent and hate.

See for yourself - here are, as of writing this, PDFs of the comments from the first and second articles. The most repugnant comments aren't worth excerpts, but they run the gamut of offensiveness. Think of a slur - even money says it's in there.

There is no question that the Merc is aware of the flow of the comments, which are publicly visible (and would be even if Pete Constant's precious filters were in place). Discussion of this sort, such as it is, is fine, tucked in some back, dingy, racist corner of the internet. But sponsored and sanctioned by the City's only newspaper? Why is this comment thread still up?

Simple. The pages they're on are showing a lot of ads to a lot of people. There's a good lesson in the merits of capitalism right there.

Also Helping: Santa.

The Mercury News runs a piece discussing the Mayor's engagement in the Nguyen recall fight, giving Josh Molina another opportunity to write about his favorite subject.

Beyond the story managing to squeeze 635 words out of the Mayor's raising a modest $10,000 - in a situation where, unless I'm mistaken, there are no contribution limits - the piece comes off, fairly blatantly, as an attempt to stroke the ego of our beloved Mayor and his cronies.

Take this quote, for example:

Even Reed's longtime political consultant Vic Ajlouny also has played a small role, saying he has offered counsel to Nguyen's backers. In fact, when Nguyen locked up the endorsement of former San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta, she left Ajlouny a voicemail message, "just to let me know."

Vic Ajlouny offered counsel? That and a buck seventy-five will get you on the light rail. If you choose to pay.

I mean, come on. Can we, once and for all, put to rest the notion that Vic Ajlouny is a good political consultant?

I mean, the guy managed only one vote when he ran for office in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He managed the campaign of Pete McHugh, when he took on Larry Stone for Assessor in 2006 - and lost by over 50%. He ran Hon Lien's Council campaign while ensconced in City Hall, a race that took place in Chuck's base - and lost by nearly 30%. The only Council races he's ever won were Chuck's.

Yes, there's Chuck, who won handily. But Chuck happened to be the crotchety Council naysayer who ran for Mayor in a year where the adulterous Ron Gonzales was brought up on bribery charges (coincidentally, of course), and where the Mercury News devastated his strongest opponent.

My point is this - Vic Ajlouny likes when we make him out to be the bogeyman. He, I'm sure, is happy to have folks think he's this mysterious force, controlling the City and moving the pawns into position on the 18th floor.

The truth, unfortunately for him, is that he's just a guy from Nebraska who hitched his wagon to the right horse, which is an analogy worth exploring more. He's no master Svengali, controlling our lives. He's just the guy who came in fourth place in a bid for the Omaha Sanitary and Improvement District.

Thanks for giving him something to do, Chuck. Without you bolstering his confidence, I'd worry about the little guy.

McEnery's Vision Suffers A Setback

We mentioned briefly, a few weeks back, that the fine folks at Taste Über Lounge weren't the only victims staring down the San Pedro Square-cleansing bulldozer driven by Tom McEnery and his business partner Frank Cucuzza. However, their second attempt to drive out an unwanted tenant was far less successful. (In extending the bulldozer metaphor, I thought about referencing either Arthur Dent or K-k-k-Ken, but thought that those references might be a little too out there.)

The story goes like this, according to a tipster. Clan McEnery decides that a tenant, in this case, Sabor Tapas Bar and Lounge, needs to go as they, for whatever reason, don't mesh with their vision of what San Pedro square should be. Or, maybe, they are behind on their tribute. (Kidding!)

Apparently, the tenants couldn't be forced out through eviction, so, instead, the police are called to pull the restaurant and dance club's entertainment permit. Last week, however, Judge James Emerson ruled against the police and City and reinstated the permit.

According to the tip, Frank Cucuzza's reason for wanting the club out was that it "brings certain kind of people to downtown that he does not desire." This is third-hand, at least, but it certainly seems of a piece with the other rumors out there. In fact, rumors abound that a suit is being filed against the City and McEnery for their actions in trying to mold San Pedro Square, including charges of racial prejudice. Such an unexpected charge to level against the champion of the Thomas Fallon statue.

As more information develops, we'll update. Not that we want to spread bad news about our friend Tom McEnery, of course. Not at all. Not us.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me.

If I were to ask you, humble readers, what regular punchline on this website you'd first suspect of having a bit part in a C movie, who would you pick?

What if I told you the plot of the movie Julie and Jack, as relayed by IMDB.com?

Jack Livingston is looking for true love. He is a successful computer chip salesman for STELLAchip Corporation in high-tech Silicon Valley. With a suggestion from his best friend, Mark Stevens, he reluctantly subscribes to an Internet dating service, CupidMatchmaker.net where he meets Julie Romanov, a beautiful genius computer software developer. Jack falls madly in love with Julie. Julie and Jack begin an intense and passionate affair. With Julie, Jack has found his soulmate. And love is forever. But this seemingly perfect love is more than he had visioned. And so Jack's love for Julie is put to the ultimate test!

You have a guess yet?

Yes, that's right. Playing the part of the cleverly named "Tom Davis" in this 2003 blockbuster was none other than our very own Pierluigi Oliverio.

Neither IMDB nor the website for the movie has a photo of Pierre in character, which is a mighty, mighty shame. The site does, however, have a trailer (below), with looping background music that sets exactly the right tone of tedium.



The movie is portrayed as a romance, but appears to have a thriller twist, according to IMDB, involving (cue looping scary music): nanotechnology! Is Julie a robot from the future? Is there more to Jack than meets the eye? Does Tom Davis love erotica? Find out, in this James Nguyen-produced winner of the Festival Prize from Sacramento GAFFERS!

You realize, of course, that I'm going to have to issue a bounty for the first person to produce a clip of Mr. Oliverio's star turn. To get you started, it's available for download. But damned if I'm paying eight bucks for Pierluigi's life story.

Tournament of Champions: The Elite Eight

Can you feel it? Can you feel the excitement building? The raucous crowds, the breathless announcers? You can? Well, I think you're having a stroke.

The Tournament of Champions is down to the last eight contestants, a group I refer to and hereby trademark as The Elite Eight.™ As usual for Friday, here's a look back at how we got to this point.

Berryessa Division, Round 3

• Chuck Reed (1) defeated Larry Stone (12) 32-26
• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins (3) defeated Nora Campos (2) 10-9. Kinda.
  

Last week, I predicted that the final showdown in this bracket, no matter who won either of these match-ups, would be a doozy. And it will - if only because of how it shook out.

By now, the tale of how I wasted a ton of time Monday trying to figure out how to stop rampant cheating is an old one, and not really worth repeating. But, since everyone loves a good analogy, please indulge me for a moment.

Imagine, if you will, the NCAA tournament, which is similar in surprising ways to our Tournament of Champions. In one bracket therein, Duke and North Carolina are ranked 1 and 2 with, I don't know, Baylor in at number 3. During the climactic Tar Heels / Baylor (what's their nickname? Not worth Googling) game, some Tar Heels fans, despite their being up by 15, start throwing rocks at the Baylor players. And tripping them. And murdering them in cold blood. What would the NCAA do?

Bad example, perhaps, since the NCAA would immediately license powder blue t-shirts expressing condolences. But I think they might also give Baylor's team a pass. But they might not. Who cares, really.

The point is this. Chuck Reed and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins will do battle next Monday for a spot in the Final Four. Who has more political influence? Pins and needles, folks. Pins and needles.

Downtown Division, Round 3

• Mike Honda (1) defeated Sam Liccardo (4) 41-16
• Ken Yeager (2) defeated Joe Coto (11) 38-20

The most lopsided match of the week saw upstart politician Liccardo smothered by that karaoke-loving institution from the United States Congress. Better luck next year, Sam.

Honda will face Ken Yeager, as he once did, twelve years ago, in the race for the 23rd Assembly seat - now, of course, coincidentally held by Yeager's victim this round. See how much fun we're having?

Will Honda emerge victorious again? Will Yeager have his revenge? Will Liccardo ever recover from this emotional trauma? Does anyone ever call Joe Coto, Joseph? Doesn't that sound funnier - Joseph Coto?

Willow Glen Division, Round 3

• John Sobrato (4) defeated Ira Ruskin (9) 21-16
• The Democratic Party (6) defeated Zoe Lofgren (2) 23-16

As predicted, this bracket comes down to Sobrato vs. the Dems. And by "as predicted" I mean, of course, huh? These are the two most influential groups in a bracket that included Tom McEnery, lobbyists and Judy Chirco? Well, if you say so.

This, mind you, is the only bracket in which the number one seed (the afore-mentioned McEnery) didn't make it to the final match-up. Ain't that a shame.

Anyway, I couldn't tell you which way this will end up. If I'm lucky, both sides will spend a mill or so trying to influence the election. My email is writer@sanjoserevealed.com, folks, and I'm happy to set up a PayPal account.

Almaden Valley Division, Round 3

• Mercury News (1) defeated Susan Hammer (5) 24-18
• Police Officers Association (2) defeated Dave Cortese (2) 30-11

This bracket continues to be the least surprising, as the numbers 1 and 2 seeds face off next week. The Police Officers Association (or, as the graph says after it cuts their name off, the 'Ice Officers Association', which is kind of a cooler namer, no pun intended) has its work cut out for it. Cortese was probably a tougher match-up against the Mercury News, but we'll see.

Hopefully both sides play fair - I'd hate to see the Merc's editorial board find heroin planted in the back of their Priuses, and it would definitely devastate the POA's chances if the Merc continued their awesome redesigns.


Anyway. Two more weeks of this nonsense. Next week, we get our Final Four (also trademarked!) and the week following, our Terminal Two and then our Wonderful One. Keep up the voting, lay off the cheating, and let's go John Sobrato!*

* sponsored by Sobrato Development, a wonderful provider of quality homes and other crap.

...And When They Go Online, You Get This

The Merc resdesigned their Valley page. It now looks like this.



I don't know why it looks like that, it just does. Is this a preview of upcoming changes to the whole site? Who, besides me, ever visits the Valley page anyway?

Or is this Web 3.0, in which hazy background images and slapping dark borders on your existing content generates millions in profits? Time will tell!

Too Slow, Traditional Media!

While its demise is not as imminent as the Merc's, thanks in large part to, um, "non-traditional" advertising, the Metro is still a newspaper. And, to its disadvantage, a weekly.

So when, as a tipster reports, they're given a story about Pat Waite's endorsements being out of whack with reality, they slowly gin up the printing press, set all the type (or whatever they do), and Dan Pulcrano himself turns the giant crank and folds the printed pages.

Meanwhile, we brash 1990s internet types cover the story, as we did one week ago.

Having been scooped, the Metro resorts to an also-ran piece about Larry Pegram who, while he hasn't endorsed Waite, doesn't really seem that put out by it.

Sorry about your luck, Dan. Maybe once you figure out how to wrest control of San Jose Inside away from the old man, you'll be a little more spry.

The Delicate Dance Continues

The relationship between the Metro and the Merc is a wonder to behold. The Metro goes out of its way to establish itself as the Merc's equal and rival (in much the same way that AMD "rivals" Intel), while the Merc tries hard to pretend the Metro doesn't exist (see preceding analogy).

Which makes today's article about revamping news racks a wonder to behold. The City, you see, thinks the various newspaper boxes that clutter some downtown corners are ugly. (Which, of course, they are - but who cares?) So, in order to further Los Gatosify the downtown, they want to create standard boxes to contain the ever-important rental guides and such.

How the Merc covers this is a hoot.

On May 20, San Jose redevelopment officials discussed the proposal with representatives from 11 publications - from USA Today and the San Jose Mercury News to Auto Finder and Fugitive Watch.

Anyone noticeable missing from that list?

Meanwhile, the Metro continues to try to pretend that it doesn't care about losing valuable branding opportunities in its core area. Frequent Metro columnist Gary Singh dissed the issue on Obnoxious Blowhards (raising again, incidentally, the question of that site's ownership, and ethical requirements to reveal it). Guaranteed - a hefty percentage of the comments on the Merc article will be from a certain Metro publisher or his minions.

But, since the Merc is okay with the deal - as evidenced by the article - Pulcrano must at least pay lip service to it, or admit that his minor paper is heavily dependent on these street corner racks and unkempt piles of recycled pulp left outside of burrito joints. Keep reaching for the stars, Dan!

It's like watching an over-the-hill former champ battling some over-confident, undertrained obnoxious punk on an undercard at the Reno Circus Circus. You don't care who wins, it's sloppy as hell, but man! is it fun to watch. You just kinda wish you could bet against them both.

Tournament of Champions: Cheaters

Whoever wins the Tournament of Champions doesn't get a million dollars.

No parade, no trophy - not even really any acclaim. Which makes cheating pretty stupid.

Today was a banner day for it - Nora Campos once again saw several illicit surges of support after one of the blocks on cheating was removed.

Now, you might wonder why I care. Frankly, I don't know. But I do.

Unlike most of us who have suffered from cheating in games we love, I have an advantage in this situation: I can throw the results. So, as of now, the Ellis-Lamkins / Campos match-up is over.

I was very tempted, given the cheating, to have Nora lose the match-up. But it seemed clear that Nora was likely to have won, given, as best as could be told, the non-cheating votes.

Then again, that's the best I could tell. And I don't feel like dealing with this next week. So you know what? Ellis-Lamkins wins. 10-9. To hell with it. If you disagree, vote for her opponent next week.

But I am a Bay Area sports fan, so there's one other little adjustment that must be made. Ellis-Lamkins wins, but will be labeled with an asterisk in the competition.

Done and done. Feel free to complain in the comments.

The Golden Bore Takes Some Hits

The Golden Bore, a nickname I just made up for Chuck Reed and kind of like, ain't having the kind of month he's used to.

First, a columnist in the Business Journal blasts Reed's hypocrisy and lack of vision, writing, in part:

Transparency in government was Reed's campaign mantra; he may have won the election because of that theme. Perhaps things are different when one actually becomes mayor. Reed apparently now finds that that he doesn't want everything to be transparent -- like an agreement with Lew Wolff over building a soccer stadium, or the budget negotiations, or what really happened in the auditor's office. Yet by talking about sunshine, Reed raised expectations about openness. Unfortunately, transparency has become more opaque....

Moreover, Reed's part-time close aide, Vic Ajlouny, who is paid by the city, was out prominently campaigning for Lun[sic], which sounds like a conflict of interest to me. While it may be legal, I happen to think that a paid city employee, especially an aide to the mayor, shouldn't be out there working for a specific council candidate.

For some reason, these themes sound familiar to me.

Then, of course, there's Prop 8. For those not yet worried about the dozen-or-so Propositions on the November ballot, this one seeks to once-and-for-all eliminate the possibility of gay marriage by amending the State Constitution to prohibit it.

For weeks, folks have been trying to pin Chuck down on the issue. As far as we can tell, CBS was the first outfit to do so, scoring an interview in which Chuck Reed said:

I support the extension of benefits, and I supported the exension of protections from discrimination for same-sex couples and I'll continue to do that — but I don't support changing the definition of of marriage.

New to the issue? Let me translate. This is the standard double-speak for insecure politicians worried about the reaction of either the gay community or the conservatives. The question that should always arise when someone says this is: which group are they trying to hide their true feelings from?

In this case, I think we have our answer in the following (always disconcerting) video that we've shown before:

This is the Mayor you elected, San Jose. Turns out he's a social conservative with no vision who was duplicitous in his campaign promises. Surprise! Maybe a better nickname: the Chuck-in-a-box.

A Second Breath

The final two weeks of our Tournament of Champions begins today, as the Sweet Sixteen battle for the final eight spots.

Since we know the system ain't perfect, we're wiping the slate clean. If you've been blocked from voting in the past by the system, try it now. We'll keep a watchful eye out for cheaters, but everyone should be able to vote away.

Good luck to all of our competitors, except the ones we don't like.

Tournament of Champions: We Have Our Sweet Sixteen

Our weekly wrap-up brings us to an exciting point in the tourney: the final 16 competitors, the top 25% percent.

The week saw some upsets, some surprises, and even some cheating. Here's your recap.

Berryessa Division, Round 2

• Chuck Reed (1) defeated Ash Kalra (8) 39-26
• Larry Stone (12) defeated Barry Swenson (4) 36-26
• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins (3) defeated Firefighters (6) 37-30
• Nora Campos (2) defeated Carl Guardino (7) 42-26

The week was off to an upset-ty start, as Larry Stone edged out Barry Swenson to make the cut. Didn't I tell you to watch this one? Yes, I did.

Larry, who I will not refer to as a Cinderella story just yet, has a tough match-up next week - do folks out there think he has more juice than Chuck Reed? Time will tell.

The other Elite Eight match-up will be a battle from the other side of the spectrum, a tough struggle between Nora Campos and her political ally, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. Either way, the match-up for the Final Four spot from the Berryessa Division will be a good one.

Downtown Division, Round 2

• Mike Honda (1) defeated Vietnamese Activists (8) 44-13
• Sam Liccardo (4) defeated Scott Herhold (5) 40-14
• Joe Coto (11) defeated Dan Fenton (14) 41-14
• Ken Yeager (2) defeated Pat Dando (7) 39-17

A fluke exposed: last week, I indicated that we would find out if Dan Fenton's victory over Madison Nguyen was more anti-Nguyen then pro-Dan. Answer: yes, as Joe Coto, himself an upset winner, trounces Fenton handily.

Speaking of trouncing - not a close match-up today. Honda easily takes out the number 8 seed, Liccardo wallops Herhold, and Yeager eviscerates Dando. It seems pretty easy to tell who will be in the Final Four match-up in this bracket but, then again, I never would have thought Joe Coto would be in the running at this point.

Willow Glen Division, Round 2

• Ira Ruskin (9) defeated Tom McEnery (1) 26-25
• John Sobrato (4) defeated Jim Beall (5) 25-24
• Democratic Party (6) defeated Lew Wolff (3) 34-15
• Zoe Lofgren (2) defeated Evil Lobbyists (7) 27-22

Speaking of things that I wouldn't have predicted.

The two closest matches in the tournament to date result in one huge upset - the first number 1 seed bounced from contention. And we couldn't be happier about who succumbed to that fate.

But the other upset here shouldn't be discounted. Even before the Merc relayed how swollen their coffers are, the Democrats pounded our poor, down-trodden champion of European football, leaving us only two of the original top four seeds in this tournament.

Next week will be interesting - Ruskin vs. Sobrato could go either way, as could Lofgren vs. Democrats. I, of course, will be quietly lamenting the loss of a McEnery - Lofgren rematch. Although, I guess we already know who won.

Almaden Valley Division, Round 2

• Mercury News (1) defeated Forrest Williams (9) 25-17
• Susan Hammer (5) defeated Bob Kieve (13) 31-12
• Dave Cortese (3) defeated George Shirakawa (11) 29-13
• Police Officers Association (2) defeated Neil Struthers (10) 27-17

As usual, Thursday gives us our lowest vote tallies and, perhaps as a result, the fewest number of upsets. This is the only bracket with the top three seeds still in contention, and all got there easily. Frankly, I'm surprised there weren't any editorial comments in Bob's favor on KLIV.

Speaking of contests we're sad we don't get to see: Nora Campos vs. Neil Struthers for the whole cannoli.

But, as a result, the big match-up for next week will be that bottom one - Cortese vs. the POA. Who has more pull in San Jose? Download the updated bracket, then come back next Friday to find out! (I always wanted to sound like a TV announcer.)

Sorry, Pat. That's Not How It Works. UPDATED

We've had a good bit of fun with Pat Waite, lo, these past few months. But a first-time candidate he is, and some first-time mistakes he's making.

Take, for example, Pat's endorsements page. Those of you who can remember back to June may recall that the Mercury News endorsed Pat's opponent in the run-off, Rose Herrera. Well, as a tipster points out, that little technicality certainly won't keep Pat from trumpeting their endorsement. Of him.

Granted, this isn't the first time pulling praise from the Merc out of context has been tried. But I can't recall someone being brazen enough to have it directly under the big, bold word 'Endorsements'.

He's got some huevos, that Pat Waite. But a little honesty might be more beneficial.

UPDATE: Pat, in the comments section, indicates that he has fixed this issue. He was upfront and responded quickly, to his credit.

Give The Domain Back.com

It has been brought to our attention that the difficulties facing Lighting at Willow Glen are deeper than originally thought.

For those just joining us, last week we profiled the plight of Paul Cullen, owner of a lighting shop in Willow Glen, and former proud owner of willowglen.com. Former, that is, until Dan Pulcrano, in his quest to own a domain for every rinky-dink town or neighborhood, sweet-talked Cullen out of the domain.

Now, Cullen's business is in rapid decline, while Pulcrano, who snatched the domain to provide information of interest to the community (which apparently means Fry's ads), is laughing all the way to the bank.

We put the ad at right up last week to help, but now are calling for more drastic action.

Announcing GiveTheDomainBack.com. On the site is a brief version of the story above, with links for more information - but, more importantly, tools to help get Pulcrano to do the right thing. From there, you can send him an email, sign a petition, or spread the word.

Give it a visit and tell your friends. Buying a lamp is good medicine. Even if it's done out of spite.

Since You've Already Expressed An Interest In Crap...

After receiving a suggestion from an anonymous tipster, yesterday I set out to create a new account with the Mercury News. For those who haven't done so, or haven't done so under the new system - you're in for a treat.

After filling out my personal information (fake name, of course), and making sure I unchecked all the various awesome email newsletters they offered, I was taken on what some might call "a magic carpet ride of excitement". Others might refer to it as "a choatic descent into an avalanche of garbage".

For, you see, after confirming my information, the good folks at CoolSavings.com took over. The Merc appears to have a partnership with this group which, I'm guessing, is the same outfit that tells you you've won a free* iPod nano, then blanketing you with completely unappealing trial memberships and discount offers. In the case of signing up for more info from my local paper, I got these:

In order, those are plugs for: diapers, DirectTV, CoolSavings itself, Stonecliffe College (affiliated with the prestigious Colorado Technical University), increasing my reading speed, selling my car, cigarettes, and a stroller. I imagine it goes without saying that I don't need any of that crap, especially since I have no infant children and don't smoke.

Which brings me to my second point (the first being that this process was ridiculous). The two advantages of web-based advertising over regular print ads are 1) the person can buy the product with one-click and 2) you can target who sees your ads.

I'd have a little more (but not much) respect for the Merc if they'd at least asked some questions up front like, I don't know, do you smoke? Do you have kids? At least then the process might possibly present some relevant ads. And maybe, to make up a decent profit, they wouldn't have to show me eight of them.

That's it, Merc. No more advice for you. I've taught you all I know.

Cheaters Occasionally Win

We're trying to run a clean contest here, folks. Trying.

So imagine my surprise when, looking at yesterday's finals this morning, they looked like this:

Substantially different from the trends all yesterday, with suspiciously high vote totals.

So I crunched the numbers. Here's how the voting went yesterday, in each race:




As you may notice, each game had a big spike at about 8:50 last night - right about when, to be honest, I was walking in to the AMC Saratoga. Damn it.

Can the rudimentary cheating-prevention system for the Tournament be beaten? Sure. The only way to prevent it would be to require a log-in for folks, tied to an email. But no one wants that. You don't, I don't.

So here's the deal. Yesterday's scores have been set to where they were at 8:50 - a good representation of the day's results, with Larry Stone continuing his upset streak.

But if, as it appears may already be happening this morning (never mind - fixed it), rampant cheating persists - I'll have to change the system for tomorrow. Which annoys me. All other readers have my permission to hunt these folks down and, well, chastise them.

Calming Jagged Old Nerves

When most people get dinged, however slightly, by the Mercury News, they're out of luck. The Merc certainly won't go out of its way to make it up to them. They certainly won't get, in response to an opaque query about the role of their influence in solidifying $6 million in tax funds, an obsequious front-page article about their amazing perspicacity. But then most people aren't the bitter embarrassment that is Tom McEnery.

Mark Purdy's congratulathon today makes sure to pat the heads of McEnery, Dean Munro and Pat Dando for making San Jose "a real city". I imagine each of them this morning, curled up in a shaft of sunlight somewhere, purring softly and lapping at a saucer of milk.

Setting aside the complete unctuousness of the piece, there's a simple issue that needs to be addressed: the Arena, by almost no objective calculation not done by a sports reporter, is not what made San Jose a "real city". In fact, claiming that a facility best known for its Marc Anthony concerts, Disney on Ice and support for a perpetual also-ran from a second-tier sport makes a city "real" does more to demonstrate exactly how small-minded we are than anything else.

As for what made San Jose real - ever hear of something called technology? The internet? Processors? Semi-conductors? Any of this ring a bell?

I feel confident that, if the Sharks had never swum down the Guadalupe to take up residence in our fair city, the world would still be familiar with San Jose. Look, for example, at Cupertino. Cupertino has no major league sports team. But its known world-wide for its main corporate resident: Apple. Here, we have dozens of major businesses - more than enough to assure that, come 2003, folks knew about San Jose.

But then again, John Chambers, Meg Whitman and Andy Grove didn't lobby their way into millions of RDA funds. So, in other words, no ass-kissing required.

Tournament of Champions: Week 1 Recap

As the exciting and wonderful Tournament of Champions proceeds, each Friday I will recap the previous round of action.

However, no one will be reading this website tomorrow. Hell, I'll be lucky if anyone reads it today. So, in order to fill my vainglorious need for attention, we're bumping up the inaugural recap to Thursday, even while the fourth bracket completes its first round of play.

(As we proceed in this recap, it may be helpful to refer to either the PDF version or the handy-dandy live version (which updates as votes come in) of the 64 competitor bracket.)

Berryessa Division, Round 1

First and foremost, remember that the division names have no relation to the competitors therein. Just to get that out of the way.

• Chuck Reed (1) defeated The Wave (16) 64-34
  
• Ash Kalra (8) defeated Vic Ajlouny (9) 45-42
  
• Larry Stone (12) defeated Community Papers (5) 50-46
  
• Barry Swenson (4) defeated Scott Knies (13) 66-21
• Firefighters (6) defeated Blanca Alvarado (11) 69-18
• Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins (3) defeated Paul Krutko (14) 73-21
  
• Carl Guardino (7) defeated Kansen Chu (10) 60-26
  
• Nora Campos (2) defeated Pat Waite (15) 117-67
  

Only one upset in this division, as a most-likely-underseeded Larry Stone pulls off an upset against an underrespected Community Newspapers, in one of the closest matches of the tournament so far.

The real story here, though, is the monster showing by Nora Campos to shut down the Pat Waite juggernaut. Consider this: Waite's score would have been enough to win five of the other races - and Campos almost doubled it.

As expected, the 8 seed vs. 9 seed was a close one, with Ash Kalra demonstrating that presumptive-Council-elect is a stronger hand than shadowy-backroom-manipulator.

Last note - Blanca Alvarado does not get much respect. Even Scott Knies got more votes.

What to look for in Round 2: The Larry - Barry fight should be a good one, as we see if the forces that drove a low-seeded Stone to victory can defeat trillions of dollars. And, of course, the battle of union power between Ellis-Lamkins and the firefighters.

Downtown Division, Round 1

• Mike Honda (1) defeated Republican Party (16) 75-17
• Vietnamese Activists (8) defeated Elaine Alquist (9) 54-33
• Scott Herhold (5) defeated Nancy Pyle (12) 48-31
• Sam Liccardo (4) defeated Deb Figone (13) 66-22
• Joe Coto (11) defeated Cindy Chavez (6) 84-62
• Dan Fenton (14) defeated Madison Nguyen (3) 63-59
• Pat Dando (7) defeated Dean Munro (10) 42-37
• Ken Yeager (2) defeated San Jose Revealed (15) 55-31

This bracket saw two upsets. The Coto / Chavez race could have gone either way, but Joe got out to an early lead and built on it from there.

But the Nguyen / Fenton race was a shocker. Most of the day, the two were within 10 votes of each other, Madison leading nearly the entire time. This alone is a surprise, as it takes a pretty thorough knowledge of the City to know who Fenton is. But, in the late going, Fenton outpaced Nguyen to creep past by a razor thin margin.

There is, of course, a likely culprit: some of the many folks out there who have expressed dissatisfaction with Nguyen, because of a shopping center or something. (The same folks, incidentally, who beat Elaine Alquist by a healthy margin in the 8 vs. 9 seed game.) But if it were that group, I'd have expected the final to be Fenton 1,062 - Nguyen 8. So who knows?

Another thought: lots of folks in this bracket did better than they should have, probably. Dean Munro nearly beating Dando? The final score is a wider margin than that race saw most of the day. And San Jose Revealed, this humble blog, getting more than half the votes Ken Yeager did? I appreciate the loyalty, but come on. The real surprise, of course: 17 people think the Republican Party has more sway in San Jose than Mike Honda?

What to look for in Round 2: Honda vs. the Vietnamese activists should be a walk, but who knows? We'll look to see if Fenton's success was a protest vote as he takes on Joe Coto. And Yeager / Dando will provide a rematch of their sparring from their City Council days.

Willow Glen Division, Round 1

• Tom McEnery (1) defeated Andy Diaz (16) 40-17
• Ira Ruskin (9) defeated Metro (8) 32-30
• Jim Beall (5) defeated Richard Hobbs (12) 45-8
• John Sobrato (4) defeated Redevelopment Agency (13) 32-23
• Democratic Party (6) defeated Jude Barry (11) 40-13
• Lew Wolff (3) defeated Larry Pegram (14) 50-6
• Evil Lobbyists (7) defeated Rose Herrera (10) 43-9
• Zoe Lofgren (2) defeated Judy Chirco (15) 45-8

The same 17 people who think the Republicans out-influence Honda feel the same way about Andy "Abe" Diaz, apparently. And even on a low-voting, getting-ready-for-the-Fourth day, McEnery whupped Diaz. As most of us could have.

The story here, of course, was the great Ruskin / Metro match-up. As befits an 8 vs. 9 match, the battle went back and forth all day, with neither competitor going up by more than three or so, and the two often tied. But usually, when the tie was broken, Ruskin was ahead, as the final results indicate. Farewell, Metro. We'll see you in the funny pages.

But this division was also the division of the smack-down, with Herrera, Chirco, Pegram and Hobbs all getting demolished, ending with single digit scores. Many of their opponents had scores that would have been respectable even on the higher-scoring first day, but these five got smacked. Feel free to read into this however you want. I'm sure Pat Waite will soon release a statement trumpeting his having outscored Herrera by a factor of 7 to 1.

What to look for in Round 2: Probably the most interesting fight here will be Lew Wolff vs. the Democrats. But then, we'll see. We've been surprised before. And, let's be honest - we're all just waiting to see that Lofgren - McEnery 1 vs. 2 match-up for the Final Four, should it come to it.

Almaden Valley Division, Round 1

• Mercury News (1) defeated Larry Gerston (16) 36-16
• Forrest Williams (9) defeated Pierluigi Oliverio (8) 31-21
• Susan Hammer (5) defeated Business Journal (12) 29-24
• Bob Kieve (13) defeated Greg Jamison (4) 29-21
• George Shirakawa (11) defeated Pete Constant (6) 35-27
• Dave Cortese (3) defeated Michael Mulcahy (14) 38-12
• Neil Struthers (10) defeated San Jose Inside (7) 40-16
• Police Officers Association (2) defeated David Pandori (15) 47-3

Low voting, sure - but the day before the Fourth resulted in some of the most interesting battles so far, with four upsets: Williams, Kieve, Shirakawa and Struthers.

Of these, the Kieve / Jamison battle was the most interesting. The two were tied most of the day until Kieve had a late surge, putting him up handily. Mind you on day 1, most of the losers had more votes than Kieve. But no matter - on he goes to Round 2, facing the Susan Hammer powerhouse.

The biggest trouncing so far happened, as I suppose it should, in that 2 vs. 15 battle, as the cops brutalized, tazed, stunned, abused... just plain dominated David Pandori. Sure, the guy was a Councilmember in the 1930s, and came in third for Mayor but, still. Three votes? Who out there will admit they joined David and McEnery in voting for him?

So next week is Round Two. Feel free to download your Round 2 bracket as a PDF, and play along at home.

The Hustler Hustles. Or, Let's Help The Little(-ish) Guy

After the Berlin Wall fell, the media was swamped with East Germans coming forward, relaying harrowing tales of their experiences under a terrifying regime of restrictive information control.

Which is my overblown intro to the following: turns out people don't really like Dan Pulcrano.

With our opening up a world of scrutiny on Mr. Pulcrano, publisher of the Metro, people are willing to come forward and share other tales of alleged malfeasance. Like, for example, the sad tale of willowglen.com.

An anonymous tipster relayed the tale to us:

[Pulcrano] tricked the owner of willowglen.com, formerly owned by a glass company, to give him the name so he could use it for the "community good".

Go to it. it is full of pay advertisers only. not much community good. he basically tricked a small business owner into giving it to him for free.

Now, I'm not so stupid as to link to the site and drive up his pageviews, but let's just say it closely resembles one of those ad-filled fake search sites you'll get if you mistype a popular domain name. You know what I mean. You type in amazn.com and, next thing you know, some stock image of a beautiful woman looking over her sunglasses and holding a paperback appears next to 'amazn.com' in big purple letters and there are a bunch of random text links about books. That's what the site looks like. So now you don't need to go there.

The issue was covered in the Willow Glen Resident (which the Merc owns, don't you know) last week. In the article, the owner of the shop clearly expresses frustration at a deal gone bad.

When Virtual Valley [We know them! - ed.], a network of community sites, approached Cullen about gaining rights to the name so it could post information beneficial to the community, he agreed to sell it.

After once receiving millions of visitors at Willowglen.com., the hits on Cullen's new website www.LightingAtWillowGlen.com are now drastically down, and so are his sales.

"It literally dropped overnight," he said.

Long story short, Mr. Cullen was tricked. Saying the new willowglen.com is 'beneficial to the community' is like saying the deals on amazn.com can't be beat. (Side note: I just actually went to 'amazn.com' to see what it looks like. It goes to Amazon. But you get my damn point.)

In the article, the shop owner is running a contest to see who can direct the most traffic to his new, less popular domain. We're not in it for the free lamp products - we're in it for the justice. So, for the immediate future, a link to LightingAtWillowGlen.com will hold a position of prominence - just above the counter tracking how long the media has been ignoring the fraud lawsuit against Pulcrano, and just below the anonymous tips box, where other mistreated community residents can air their greivances.

Karma. It's a beautiful thing.

UPDATE: The lighting shop's contest page has a briefer version of the tale. And, for God's sakes, Danny P. - if you're going to create bullshit knock off sites for every little town, at least change all the names correctly:

Mr. Sunshine Goes Dark

We are, as always, pleased to bring you the latest news in the lawsuit against Dan Pulcrano.

To recap, and to ensure this is nice and high in Google searches for his name, Dan Pulcrano, the skeezy publisher of the skeezy Metro, is being sued for fraud by a former business "partner". The word "partner" is in quotes because, according to the suit, Mr. Pulcrano and his company acted less like partners and more like Gordon Gekko dismantling an orphanage.

But now, according to a tipster, Dan Pulcrano, that member of the City's Sunshine task force and obsessive advocate for openness, has managed to finagle a deal with the plaintiff in his case to have the suit go to mediation - meaning, we won't be able to see what ends up happening.

According to the judgment in the case, the judge determined that:

...this case is ordered to mediation and the parties shall mediate this case with David J. Meadows of the Law Offices of David J. Meadows by a mutually agreeable date no later than September 30, 2008.

And so, it seems, ends the public awareness of an accusation of fraud against someone that purports to be a paragon of our fair city.

Hypocritical? Sure. But rest assured, fair reader. Our efforts to expose Mr. Pulcrano for what he really is won't relent. Especially when he makes it so easy.