Back in March, when he first launched his campaign, Donald Rocha was careful to a fault. He declined to take positions on controversial issues, saying he needed to first get familiar with the issues, and then to go out into the community and find out what his constituents were thinking.

Seven months later, Rocha has evolved as a political actor. Having studied the policy papers, pounded the pavement and knocked on a few thousand doors, he says he now knows what his district wants and how to get it.

Voters must decide on eight state initiatives and referenda next month, all of which will have a deep impact on California politics and culture. These four ballot measures deal directly with how government does its business. Because they will produce structural change in Sacramento and Washington, they may be the most crucial questions state voters have confronted in years.

This is to correct and clarify several points contained in your article “SBLC Helps Big Political Contributors Erase Their Tracks,” [Sept. 22]. Your article states: “Enforcement of city election laws falls on the Government Integrity Unit of the District Attorney’s Office.” That is inaccurate. Section 12.06.260, which prohibits contributions from card rooms to candidates or candidate controlled committees is found in the San Jose Municipal Code, Title 12. Enforcing violations of Title 12 fall within the jurisdiction of the City of San Jose and its Elections Commission. Title 12 lays out an entire regulatory framework for the investigation of Title 12 violations, including campaign contribution violations.

Measure V puts budget control back in the hands of the elected representatives of the people, which is where it should be. It’s our money, and we elect people that we think will spend it in the most productive way possible.

Measure W would allow the city to create new retirement programs for new hires that are in line with today’s employment landscape. It protects current employees’ pensions— nobody who works for the city will be affected by this change.

When Mike Wasserman came to Metro’s offices for an interview back before the June primary, our editorial committee was unanimously impressed. Although we endorsed Teresa Alvarado in that race, we liked what we heard from Wasserman and feel strongly that he will make a good supervisor.

The following is the text of a letter that was hand delivered to California High Speed Rail Authority CEO Roelof van Ark following his Sept. 29, 2010 speech to the San Jose Rotary Club by San Jose Downtown Association Executive Director Scott Knies. In an unprecedented show of unity, the letter was signed by leaders of 10 central San Jose neighborhood associations and the heads of the city’s two leading business associations.

Neighborhood and business groups in central San Jose urge the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to include an underground option for San Jose in the project’s Environment Impact Report.

District 5 voters have a chance to restore balance to the San Jose City Council by electing Magdalena Carrasco, a talented and articulate neighborhood activist who began a grassroots campaign and now enjoys a wide base of support.

Steven Colbert testified before Congress this morning after being invited to Capitol Hill by San Jose’s congresswoman, US Rep. Zoe Lofgren. The visit occurred following Lofgren’s Tuesday night appearance on The Colbert Report, where the mock-Republican mock-newsman interviewed Lofgren, whom he identified as “the Chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, and notorious Mexican-hugger.” VIDEOS.

This event is being held in loving memory of Vahid Hosseini and Officer Jeffrey Fontana. The purpose of this event is to honor the memory of those who have lost their lives due to a violent crime, fallen Police Officers, and Fire Fighters, and to support their loved ones.

This is San Jose Inside’s long-lost weekly open forum, where any topic of local interest is fair game. What’s on your mind?

Yes on Measure J: Bring the Super Bowl, etc., to Santa Clara. Yes on all the school bond measures, with one caveat. Yes on Measure K: A safe and sane sin tax.

Yes on Prop 13: a common-sense tax break for homeowners’ earthquake retrofits. No on Prop 14: a half-baked reform that does away with party primaries. Yes on Prop 15: a step toward publicly funded elections; No on Prop 16: constitutionally mandated monopoly for PG&E. No on Prop 17: a good deal for insurance companies, but not for many Californians.

Two events prompted Teresa Alvarado to run for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. One was the retirement of her mother, Blanca Alvarado, the first Latina elected to serve as a San Jose City Council member and later as a county supervisor. The other was Barack Obama’s candidacy. Looking back, Alvarado says she saw a new, more pragmatic political model emerging. “I felt like it was time for our generation to step up,” she says.

Unlike the San Jose Mercury News, which championed Dolores Carr’s opponent four years ago and has been unrelenting in its criticism of her ever since, Metro endorsed Carr in the 2006 general election. We believed an outsider would be healthy for an office with a succession process as ingrown and medieval as the Vatican’s papal conclave

Sadly, her troubled tenure has been plagued by rookie mistakes, judgment lapses and a tin ear for the appearance of conflicts of interest. And despite the edge she now holds in managing a county department, we’ve concluded that the less experienced Jeff Rosen will grow into the job faster than it will take Carr to repair the county’s damaged prosecutorial apparatus and restore its reputation.

UPDATE—Friday 6pm: Mayor Chuck Reed endorses Carrasco.

Okay: It’s just like the headline says. Rant? Rave? Bring ‘em on. What’s on your mind?