Magdalena Carrasco’s campaign on Thursday accused San Jose Councilman Xavier Campos of hiring a private investigator to follow her and her children.
In a press release, Carrasco claimed that one of her neighbors was approached by Bob Pifferini Jr., a Scotts Valley private investigator, to secretly take pictures of the candidate and her children at their home on Campos’ behalf.
“Subsequently, the investigator has been spotted tailing Magdalena to her children’s school, her mother’s home, her campaign office and even to her home,” the campaign said.
Campos’ political campaigns have been accused of worse.
In 2010, Carrasco lost the District 5 primary by just 20 votes after a fraudulent political mailer depicted her as a proud communist to Vietnamese voters. Late last year, a grand jury indicted ex-county Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. in connection with the mailer, and a search warrant of his home turned up evidence that appears to link Campos’ then-campaign treasurer Linda Delgado to producing the mailers. Campos invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering grand jury questions on the matter.
Carrasco’s campaign called the hiring of the private investigator not only unseemly but also a campaign violation. Campos “has not reported the private investigator’s expense on his campaign reports as required by law,” according to the press release.
"We have no comment at this time," said Garrett Radcliffe, a council assistant in Campos' office.
Pifferini could not be immediately reached for comment.
Carrasco's campaign went on to note in its release the Fair Political Practices Commission’s ongoing investigation into Campos’ 2010 campaign, as well as his use of registered lobbyist Ed McGovern as a campaign consultant in that race.
McGovern was not paid for his work in the race but received tens of thousands of dollars from Campos’ sister, Nora Campos, who was running for her State Assembly seat during the same time period.
Wow, the dirt is beginning to fly. it’s funny because it hard to believe anything that comes out of ones mouth running for mayor or council,
All I know is we need a major change, especially those running for mayor.
Vote Cortese.
Retired, if you want to vote Cortese it’s the same thing as giving car keys to someone who has a history of DUI’s. In Cortese case, he’s been drunk giving handouts to union bosses like Cindy Chavez with reckless disregard to the fiscal health of our fair city.
He represents the very worst in the public sphere; someone so malleable and spineless that his positions and values can change to whoever promises the most campaign cash.
San Jose simply can’t afford to go the way of Stockton and Vallejo with the bankruptcies that were caused by outrageous public employee pensions and union-bought politicians.
It is always funny when people who endorse Cortese say they want change from the same old politicians. Don’t you realize that Cortese is a life long politician who comes from a San Jose political dynasty family. How is a vote for Cortese a change from anything? He’s been a part of the voting groups that have put San Jose and the county in the crappy financial position they are in now.
It wasn’t Cortese who put San Jose into this downward spiral ? It was Reed , Liccardo , Nguyen , Hererra, Constant , Oliverio , and that is the change that needs to happen . Im not a fan of Cortese but he is the best choice of what there is
ANYTHING is better than a mayor coming out of those currently sitting on the council. It’s funny how they haven’t been able to do anything to better this city or to move forward toward healing this city and now that they are running for mayor, all of a sudden, they want to come up with ideas saying what they can do and how they have a plan, yada-yada. My question is…why weren’t they putting all of their ideas and plans out there before they decided to run for mayor? It’s simply a ploy to get elected. Garbage in-garbage out. Elect any one of those council members running for mayor and this city simply stagnates. We DO need change and a little change is better than SOS, different day. If we want this city to move forward and progress out of the sewer mess that it is in, we are going to have to have change. Any one of the council members becoming mayor will keep this city on the downward spiral; loss of employees, loss of services. With a mayor from the outside, at least there is hope to move forward. You vote. You make your choice. Which chance would you rather take?
Count me in for Cortese. Anyone but Reed and not anyone who is aligned with him. Looking forward to new life on the council.
I know all about him but he is a lot better that the chuckie clones that are running. Your wrong on one point it was Chuck, his clones and Measure B that has brought San Jose to it’s knees.
Vote Cortese
Retired, you’re settling for too little in Dave Cortese. I think he’s more of a “chuckie clone” than you imagine him to be.
Honestly, just consider Pierluigi. I’m pretty sure he understands the importance of police and fire and, if elected, would be in a position to prioritize their services because he wouldn’t already be promised out to dozens of other special interests.
Thanks John, I will he is #2 on my list
What was Carrasco hoping to gain from this?
I don’t think anyone’s going to care if Campos hired a private investigator. All it really does is make people wonder what Campos was hoping to find. Or what Carrasco is hiding?
I have been following comments and rhetoric from all points of this campaign and I agree Cortese is the right person for the job at this point. As observing City Hall officials namely City Council, does not care about the people, only about making profit for the city. High Rents equal homeless. We need to stop building and start infra-structuring for our future. Impose a Rent Control Ordinance for our city before building!
I think Magdalena hired the investigator herself. Why would an investigator ask a neighbor to take pictures of her? Why hasn’t anyone talked to the investigator or better yet why hasn’t Magdalena gone to the news media to do an investigation? So many questions and no answers. Another question is why was she fired from Alvarado’s campaign? Why is her ex husband a powerful politician from Southern California so involved in her campaign and why did he fire LIsa Jensen when she was working with her on her campaign? Why did Omar Torres refer to him as her husband when he was questioned by the grand jury when interviewed? Is Magdalena still married and where does her current husband work and why is she never seen with him?
Aurelia Sanchez,
How much are you invested in making change for District 5 do you live in District 5? What does it matter if M Carrasco is not seen with her husband – do you personally know her private family schedule – if you dont, then dont make assumptions. The Campos family and campaign office have been in the papers so much for the last couple of years for fraud, theft, corruption and yet people dont seem to open their eyes that Mr. Campos himself cant seem to answer honest questions regarding his ethics or views that he knows are unjust on his part. If you do live in the Eastside then you should know we need new blood from someone who will actually do something for the community at risk and keep their word and not proclaim that it was “i” who did this or that but a “we or as a community we did this” have you ever thought about that – dont throw rocks at glass houses because i am sure your not a saint – no one is perfect if we were we’d be living in a Walgreens commercial but we dont – Campos has been intimidating her campaign office and other individuals because he thinks he is the Man to vote for – he is a fraud ( just like he lied about graduating from SJSU) that should have been a red flag for everyone when his dumb ass did that – -political player he is trying to make a name for himself that is not getting him anywhere but a reputation as an idiot.