Just as we predicted in March 2012, a Sicilian American, Bellarmine-educated attorney was elected mayor of San Jose this week. As of 2am, Sam Liccardo held a 2-percent lead over Dave Cortese.

A discussion over corporate influence in Milpitas politics took a dark turn last week when Rajeev Madnawat, a candidate for City Council, lobbed a thinly veiled death threat against termed-out Councilman Armando Gomez.

One of the most overlooked races this election cycle focuses on one of our most precious resources: water. Gary Kremen, founder of Match.com, has taken the fight to enviro nerd Brian Schmidt, the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s North County trustee. And it’s getting expensive.

It billed itself as “Silicon Valley's Biggest Annual Gathering” and the “biggest tech event of the year”—a bold boast for an event that had yet to draw a single attendee. Unfortunately for Techmanity and it's organizers, attendance numbers don’t always align with ambition.

Four former San Jose police chiefs got together last month for an orchestrated media event. While they blamed the city's pension reforms for driving officers away, none bothered to mention that their huge pension payouts boost the argument as to why pensions needed to be scaled back.

For a serial officeholder, Paul Fong sure has issues running smooth campaigns. The state assemblyman who carpet-bagged his way from Cupertino to San Jose to run for a seat on the City Council has found trouble yet again. This time his campaign manager has thrown out the race card.

Few scenes illustrate the fall of a once-powerful political family like a former labor boss passive-aggressively stalking people at Starbucks.

At this point, anyone interested in running for elected office should be required to take a crash course in social media. For example, one candidate running for San Jose City Council might want to stop posting pictures of vagina cupcakes.

Mike Wasserman’s special brand of milquetoast conservatism has made him the Ray Romano of local politics. He’s beloved for his affable nature, frequent banquet and ribbon-cutting attendance and unwavering commitment to ensuring no boat is rocked unless steady to sleep.

Congressman Mike Honda is no stranger to falling asleep in meetings and missing votes. But it appears that absenteeism has carried over to his re-election campaign.

Ernie Konnyu has been on a terrifying roll when it comes to making the people he likes look bad. On Friday, Konnyu attacked the Chamber PAC and Jim Cunneen for supporting State Assembly candidate Evan Low—mainly because Low is gay and Konnyu believes gay blood kills people.

Dave Cortese’s campaign in the San Jose mayor’s race has a couple new faces—and one unusual new storyline. Just a year ago his new spokesman, Jay Reed, was making painfully sexist jokes on Twitter. UPDATE: Dave Cortese has fired spokesman Jay Reed.

Summer brings a brief reprieve for local elected officials—for some more than others.

County Supervisor Dave Cortese has taken an unusual approach to email in recent months. But perhaps more worrisome for the San Jose mayoral candidate, Cindy Chavez' successful run for a county supervisor seat last year could cut into funds that were expected to help him get elected.

As Bay 101 floats plans to build a new casino with adjoining hotels closer to competitor Casino M8trix, our selfless public servants in Sacramento are trying to do the right thing by green-lighting the San Jose card club’s exit to Milpitas. At least that's one version of the story.

Fly has learned that the FBI has been investigating county ambulance provider Rural/Metro for its creative political activity. The investigation’s scope is not fully known, but sources say investigators have been looking into the ambulance company’s connection to Pacific Printing, a political mail house aligned with local organized labor.