Sam Liccardo held a press conference Wednesday calling on the South Bay Labor Council and San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce to return political contributions received from the city's two casinos. But a source tells San Jose Inside that the chamber has received far more money from one particular card club than Liccardo noted.

In the end, it took longer to put former county Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr. in jail than the time he actually served. But that might not be the case for long.

A report going before the San Jose Ethics Commission is expected to clear Sam Liccardo’s mayoral campaign of breaking city fundraising laws, save for one count of improper disclosure.

Judge Diane Ritchie scored a shocking victory in 2008 when she won a seat on the Santa Clara County bench, but now she's running for re-election and has no shortage of critics.

This week’s City Council meeting could be over in the time it takes the mayor to tell a meandering public commenter that his time is up. One of the few items not deferred to next week's meeting is a $12 million award to repave some of San Jose's streets.

Philip Bump’s ascension from suspected hatchet man to prodigious blogger and Tweeter has been an extraordinary rise over the last half-decade.

Elected officials in San Jose and Santa Clara County have expressed diplomatic, if not cautious, public support for a proposal that would have the Sheriff’s Office assist an undermanned San Jose Police Department. But behind the scenes, the two law enforcement agencies have been at odds for more than a year over services already contracted.

Kathleen King ran the county's $450 million sales tax campaign, and she also happens to be CEO of the organization most likely to get leftover money from Measure A. So, coincidence or kickback?

Local labor legend John Neece said he was so "sickened" by Councilman Xavier Campos' decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment in a grand jury hearing that he has decided to endorse Magdalena Carrasco.

San Jose Inside has learned that the Santa Clara County Office of Education cut tutoring services for foster youth and filed questionable federal grant reports while wasting more than a half-million dollars that could have helped the county's most needy children.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee (DCC) finalized its endorsements for the June primary, giving three sole and two dual endorsements in San Jose’s five City Council races.

Councilmember Ash Kalra recently violated rules on elected officials using city resources to do campaign work. In an interview Friday, he readily admitted his mistake.

Campaign records with the Secretary of State’s office show that an alleged co-conspirator in State Sen. Leland Yee's pubic corruption case contributed money to just two political candidates since the beginning of 2010: Yee and Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose).

Paul Fong may not be breaking any rules by letting a lobbyist hold a $100,000 debt over his head during his entire time in the State Assembly, but his latest campaign transgression could be seen as a violation of state law and local police policies.

George Shirakawa Jr.’s next day in court got kicked back six months to Sept. 15, meaning the ex-county supervisor could be nearly four months out of jail before his political mail fraud trial begins. That may or may not be a good thing for other people involved in the case.

A rule of thumb for the protracted battle between Casino M8trix and the city of San Jose: When things seem to be going swimmingly, introduce new actors to vent into the microphone.