A lot of people in charge will say—whether they believe it or not—that they are only as good as their staff. It’s difficult to tell for State Assemblymember Nora Campos (D-San Jose), because almost all of her staff has been replaced. In fact, no elected official in the entire state Legislature has experienced a higher turnover of staff since the beginning of 2011 than Campos.

Almost four years ago, John McCain came within a Sarah Palin of capturing the White House. But last week, the U.S. senator huddled with several of Silicon Valley’s most powerful CEOs and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed to talk green technology, Obamacare, tax reform and ... sports. The meeting was part of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s semiannual trip to Washington, D.C., which features a parade of meetings with Capitol Hill’s influence makers.

Santa Clara County’s Democratic Central Committee held a meeting Thursday to sign off on its endorsements for this June’s election, and things got weird. Factions formed when it came time voice support for candidates in each district of the San Jose City Council, and the choices showed a surprising split in the house of labor.

Never mess with Bob Kieve—that’s the lesson San Jose Councilmember Ash Kalra learned after trying to bow out of San Jose Rotary Club’s pension reform debate next week against council colleague Pete Constant. David Ginsborg, a Rotary member and the right fist of County Assessor Larry Stone, says Kalra was scared he would be branded as anti-pension reform in the debate when really he’s just anti-Mayor Reed. But others tell a different tale.

Money talks during election season, and it seems the closer a person is to San Jose’s City Hall, the louder their voice. That could be why San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio and planning commissioner Edesa Bitbadal raised the most money in the first two and a half months of the year with more than $121K and $86K in campaign contributions, respectively. Councilmember Rose Herrera didn’t do too shabby either, hauling in almost $49K. But Kansen Chu just topped Herrera’s total and, according to his campaign disclosure forms, the money he spent suggests he might be currying votes and/or future favors with cash.

San Jose Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio says he didn’t raise campaign money at the end of December out of respect for the holidays. At this point, he’ll also be able to solemnly respect Easter, Passover and Cinco de Mayo. Campaign disclosure forms go public later this week, but Oliverio proudly leaked that he raised the maximum amount of money allowed for the District 6 primary—$121,000—in just the last two and a half months.

Just when things seem to be going better for Mayor Chuck Reed, with a solid council vote on his pension reform ballot measure and his first-ever projected budget surplus, his predecessors have to go and steal his thunder. Instead of waiting for Reed to follow through on his plan to open four new libraries that closed the day construction stopped, former mayor Susan Hammer and council members Frank Fiscalini and Trixie Johnson trotted out their own plans to save libraries—show-offs.

A campaign fundraiser flyer for San Jose’s District 10 City Council candidate Edesa Bitbadal made its way on to The Daily Fetch website this week, and an unexpected name was at the top of the guest list: Gonzo! That’s right, former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales.

Just when the San Pedro Market in San Jose looks poised to take off and become a credible attraction downtown, the market’s manager has called it quits. Steve Borkenhagen left his role as the head of the wine bar/barber shop/restaurant complex last week to go back and run his family’s restaurant, Eulipia, on South First Street.

Some people can’t wait to start campaigning. Case in point: Leslie Reynolds, a District 10 City Council candidate in San Jose. On a hot summer day last August, Reynolds erected a booth at the “Grande-licious” event in Almaden put on by 95120 Magazine. Her booth included a banner declaring her intention to run for Nancy Pyle’s termed-out seat in 2012 as well as free glasses of lemonade featuring her campaign logo. (See Facebook for photos of the good family fun.) A couple months later, Reynolds says a friend of her son designed her sleek campaign website pro-bono. While Reynolds, a San Jose Unified school board member, says she has tried to comply with city rules by not accepting contributions until Dec. 9, that might not matter.

Two of San Jose City Hall’s most prominent political figures are causing quite a dustup in Milpitas. The mayor’s budget director, Armando Gomez, also a Milpitas councilmember, has been battling behind the scenes with Chuck Reed’s longtime political consultant, Vic Ajlouny. As recent as four years ago, the two men sat in on Reed’s senior staff meetings. While maintaining decorum in Silicon Valley’s capital, the political paintball has busted loose a couple exits up the freeway.

Electing a judge for the Santa Clara County Superior Court is usually more about comfort level than name recognition. To put it bluntly: People prefer female judges. That might be why an unknown attorney named Alex Cerul listed his first name as Alexis on the ballot for the June 5 primary. Cerul, a staff attorney for the county, faces the battle-tested Paul Colin out of the District Attorney’s office. With more than 35 judges endorsing Colin in the race, one would think the deputy DA is a shoo-in to replace the retiring Jerome Brock on the bench (he got Brock’s endorsement). But insiders think Cerul has a shot based on “The Ritchie Effect,” named after the shocking 2008 upset scored by Superior Court judge Diane Ritchie.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed makes no secret of his distaste for the union-aligned sentiments of some City Council members. And while he may or may not have beat the bushes for challengers in the upcoming election, rumors suggesting just that may have something to them. This weekend Reed will open his home to host a campaign kick-off fundraiser for Tam Truong, the San Jose police detective who favors pension overhaul like the mayor and is challenging Kansen Chu in District 4.

One of the best ways to raise money this election season appears to be counting Chuck Reed as an enemy. The mayor of San Jose’s apathy for labor-backers appears to have lit a fire under the fundraising efforts of union candidates.

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George Beattie surprised some folks last November when he resigned from his post as president of San Jose’s police union. He surprised some more people a short time later when he then withdrew his retirement papers.