UPDATE: It turns out San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant did attend the Republican National Convention. Check back for more details.
San Jose City Councilmember Ash Kalra is in Charlotte, North Carolina this week to attend the Democratic National Convention. He is one of almost 6,000 party-nominated delegates.
While he is attending the week-long rally, Kalra will be keeping touch with San Jose Inside. At the end of the week, the councilmember will give us a recap of the events, who he interacted with and his impressions of where the party is headed into the November election.
For those of you who are wondering why we didn’t do the same for last week’s Republican National Convention, there is a simple answer. The lone Republican on the City Council—Pete Constant—has been on the mend from back surgery and did not attend. (There are no indications he would have attended, regardless.) In his place we sent an empty chair.
Below is the statement Kalra’s office released ahead of his trip:
“I am honored to serve as a delegate for President Barack Obama. After a week where we heard speakers filled with vitriol, half-truths and a vision of America that looks to take us backward, I look forward to a gathering with fellow Democrats excited to continue a journey with President Obama that focuses on all of us rather than the wealthy elite and reflects 21st Century values that brings us together.”
Pete’s illness didn’t stop him from being on the news though did it?
Its amazing that with all the “Medical issues” that Good Old Pete has , He still has the strength to Help destroy this once promising City
He had back surgery less than a month ago and he is flying 10 hours round trip, miles of walking and hours of standing at the Rep comvention with a fresh back surgery??? I must call him and get the name of his surgeon because my work incurred back injury surgery layed me up for months!
When our council members take junkets such as this, do they do it on their own dime and take unpaid time off too? Kalra attending the DNC does absolutely nothing for the SJ taxpayers.
A post that has since disappeared noted that Xavier Campos and his sister, Nora, are also attending the DNC. What possible value could the “paperweight twins” add to the convention? Too, I hope that Xavier is paying his own way on this, I don’t see why the SJ taxpayers should be responsible for the cost.
Liberal, ambitious career politicians like Kalra are more interested in shaking down U.S. taxpayers to throw money San Jose’s way than they are in working hard to carve out our own destiny with our own resources.
Ash Kalra doesn’t care about San Jose. He cares about forming connections that will help advance his own “public service” career.
Typical progressive.
This site is becoming quite bizarre. One of my posts has disappeared and a whole column about the SCVWD has vanished. What’s up… was the heat too much regarding your Water District column – were you pressured by someone or did the column contain inaccuracies?
Greg,
We had some technical issues, which is why the stories disappeared. The stories have since been reposted as they were.
Thanks for reading,
JK