Judy Chirco Next After Hearing Their Vociferous Cortese Outbursts
After several years of silence as elected officials, San Jose Council Members Nora Campos and Nancy Pyle underwent successful voice box transplants at Stanford University Hospital and, just hours later, were able to attend their first council meeting with the ability to verbalize their thoughts.
“It was awful,” said a lobbyist in attendance who wished to remain anonymous. “They wouldn’t shut up about nuclear capabilities in Iran, OPEC, hunger in Africa and the KTEH-KQED merger—but, of course, poor Dave Cortese received the brunt of it.”
The controversial surgery has been successful in hundreds of mute baboons but, until Tuesday, had never been tried with human subjects.
“Obviously we are ecstatic with the outcome of the surgery,” said Dr. David LeBaron, Chief Otolaryngologist at Stanford Hospital. “Unfortunately the mayoral candidates may fall victim to the surgery’s gruesome side effect: speaking before thinking.”
But San Jose’s current mayor does not seem to be too worried about any loose lips. “We are very excited that the two finally have the proper tools to communicate,” said Mayor Gonzales. “We have been effectively operating the city with the representation of only seven districts.”
Residents of Districts 5 and 10, represented by Ms. Campos and Ms. Pyle respectively, took to the streets and celebrated like it was a downtown Mardi Gras by turning over cars, assaulting innocent bystanders and throwing bricks through plate glass windows.
“This is great,” said one District 10 voter. “Maybe now, with our new-found representation, we can get some money for a neighborhood Grand Prix.”
It’s a wonder that Nora has resorted to this shameless accusation. It seems that since she can’t come up with any positive ideas she has decided to drag up some dirt to help her partner Cindy Chavez. I’m sure Cindy is happy that someone else is making the Mercury headlines. If anyone has compramised the Evergreen Task force it would seem to be Nora with this accusation. I don’t see how members of this task force can continue to work with Nora after her shameless act.
I guess Nora and Cindy will do anything for a vote. I hope the citizens of San Jose are smart enough to judge the candidates by their records not by the charges that some people carelessly throw out to help their causes. After all theses are the same individuals who gave us the $4,000,000 Grad Prix bill and voted to stop the investigation on the Gonzales garbage deal. The more things change the more they stay the same with Cindy and Nora at the helm.
Ash Pirayou was one of the weakest students in our law school. We all expected he be an ambulance chaser. I guess he found a more noble calling when he discovered his patron, Ron Gonzales. It’s the mediocre leading the mediocre. But it’s a good living.
SCU LAW
Where are the Cindyana’s attacking today’s “hatchet” job in the Merc on the new city hall? Just because Cindy was a strong supporter of this budget buster is no reason to reveal the true costs of the project which have been kept hushed until now. Isn’t the timing suspicious. The Merc chose to publish the recently released info knowing that an election is only weeks away. I’ll bet Barry Witt was even involved in this, and probably several editors, and the editorial board is just waiting for the right moment.
Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody could get a grip in this city? We’ve got big problems, lots of questions, and very few answers. Everyday brings a new “surprise” yet life goes on.
It’s more than time for a change. Let the new attacks begin.
BTW – it’s great that Nora and Nancy finally found their voices. Now, if they could only string together some words to form a cogent thought.
What a joke—and I’m not even referring to John’s delightful post.
The Council tightens the restrictions on lobbyists, forcing them to report every meeting they have with Public Officials.
Cortese, the champion of more restrictions, claims he never met with the lobbyists.
The lobbyists report every meeting they attend and poor David is caught in the crossfire—a deer in headlights.
Did he meet with lobbyists? Yes he did, but he did not consider them meetings because other people were there discussing the entire issue.
I would submit that the problem is not with Cortese or the lobbyists. But the stupid regulation that is poorly written and used to play “gotcha” politics.
But then again, we don’t have all the facts. There must be another investigation, another waste of taxpayer money finding out whom Cortese met with and what was said.
The irony in the whole debacle is that Cortese is the self-rightious guy who promotes that “good government” agenda, which calls for more stupid laws with the predictable results.
Wait until they go after Reed. He meets with a lobbyist every day—has that been reported?
Isn’t a Compos Pyle a place where you throw your garbage? It always stinks, is most effective when manure is added, and takes labor to spread.
Campos and Pyle have once again demonstrated that Gonzo’s arrogance has infected far too much of the current council.
Here’s hoping their sloppy investigating backfires into a huge political blunder that embarasses both of them right out of office, and quickly. The more of the current council we can get rid of, the better off this town will be.
I swear, other top ten towns like Chicago and Philly have nothing on us when it comes to absolute corruption in city government. This town may not have much to show for being 10th largest, but when it comes to despicable behavior by civic leaders, we are leading the pack these days.
I have never been so angry over the way things are being done at City Hall. How about re-calling every last one of these jokers and starting off with a clean slate of outsider types?
And I’d love another installment of Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood to hear his nonsensical defense of what Campos and Pyle have done. There is NO QUESTION that this is 100% politically motivated.
Dr. LeBaron should have prescribed occupational therapy for these two transplant patients. Looks like they didn’t make it a week before tripping over their words.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/elections/14507534.htm
As Church Lady said – How convenient – to have short political memory – # 4 Ask Cindy
Yes – BOTH Chamber and Labor BOTH asked City Council for $4 million for Grand Prix – so blame ALL of them for a bad decision
But you WON’T since it does NOT serve your biased business political agenda OR do you support 2 Insiders who untruefully declaring themselves political Outsiders – Which means what ? – more business tax credits, tax subsidies and insider developments deals OR no real plan to improve San Jose as we get worst – great solutions
How about the Dando comment in today’s article about the cost for city hall—she was on the council, supported the project, was another of Gonzo’s vice-mayors, and now she and the chamber object to the costs being passed on to developers, etc. Maybe you should have thought of that before you VOTED to approve the project.
Sometimes, the folks in this city seem dumber than a fencepost.
R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H…“diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation”…something one should do before making questionable accusations in the press, especially if you are doing it for the net benefit of your endorsed candidate. But, then that requires “smarts”. A quality seemingly lacking in the two previously unspoken ones. Or, maybe being silent was the smart thing and now their strategy is blown. Regardless, it was dumb.
The cost of the new city hall is making me ill.
The airport expansion project? Take me to Kaiser.
With each passing day, Milpitas is looking more and more like Carmel by the Sea.
Dear San Jose:
The Mercury News finally published the true cost of the “Taj Mahal” city hall. Over the next 35 years or so, the citizens of San Jose will spend around $25 million a year. City officials claim that the complex will save money, but that’s a little like claiming that you saved money by buying the $80,000 model porsche instead of the $100,000 model porsche, when you could have bought a nice, new family van for $40,000 that would have fit everyone!
Recall, that the new city hall was supposed to provide a “consolidation” of civic offices in the downtown. It was built too small. City employees are located in the old MLK Library building, an asset that could have been sold to help pay for the new facility.
Also recall, that Chuck Reed asked the council to look at cheaper alternatives. (ie buy the Sobrato Building etc.) The alternatives were rejected, in part, because none of them were deemed large enough to accomodate the whole “program.”
RECAP: Candidate voting scorecard on the half-billion dollar government cathedral:
REED: NO
CHAVEZ: YES
CORTESE: NO
Pete Campbell
John,
I forgot to thank you for the additional dig at Ms. Chirco, another waste of space on the 18th floor.
And #8 you are 100% correct.
In response to #8, great job, keep stirring it up…
It will be interesting to see if Pyle and Campos take the lead in presenting their own case against Cortese on Tuesday.
It would be the fair and reasonable after they raised the issue. The question is: now that they have the tiger by the tail can they hold on?
We’ll see…
John-I’m glad you mentioned the KQED-KTEH merger. While KTEH seems to get worse every year I hate to see control of a local institution, built on local donations, handed over to San Francisco.
KTEH’s “members” were never asked to vote on this merger. I think there is a seriously lack of accountability.
In response to # 11, I can blame all of them for the give away for the Grand Prix. If it’s such a great event the corporate world should of fronted the money not the tax payers. I can also blame Cindy for having numerous meetiongs with the Grand Prix folks and then acting surprised at the council meeting with the lack of time council was given to review the proposal. I believe she was fully aware of most of the details a week prior to the council vote but failed to inform the other council members.
Mal, I’m with you re: KTEH. While that station runs on a shoestring compared to the Mighty KQED and the rest of their digital TV and radio empire, it is still locally owned and focused on local issues. I’ll be surprised if that focus continues after the merger. And it was very arrogant to exclude member input. It appears somebody over at KTEH has been taking their cues from City Hall.
First we lose local ownership of the Mercury due to one unhappy stockholder, who ended up with a stock price right where it was when he started the drive to sell KR and thanks to him we have no local presence running the major newspaper here. Now KTEH.
I’m torn about loss #3, which would be KNTV. We lost local coverage, but we gained a better operation than we had when it was still the hokey Doug & Maggie show (no disrespect to either anchor as they had more integrity than any of the fluffed up people who report the news there now) and serving the Salinas/Monterey market. At least they kept their studios in SJ when they moved from Park Avenue.
This town is losing its grip on everything that matters.
Dear San Jose:
Correction: Cortese voted for the building of the opulent new city hall.
FYI The Mercury News published a poll two days before the council voted to approve the project that showed that sixty-four percent of San Jose residents preferred, “the option of a less expensive city hall on its current site.”
Pete Campbell
I can’t believe this. The lobbyists Nora/Nancy complained about back up Cortese’s story:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14507534.htm
The more shocking thing is that Ash wasn’t lined up to fall in line with the Nora/Cindy camp. He is usually fairly shill-like.
I will also say that Nora’s quote in the story that lobbyist reports don’t lie WILL come back to haunt her…since her predecessor is now running for City Council and his last job WAS a lobbyist.
Business Journal
John you are the best! I now understand.
Can’t wait until Tuesday to see egg on the face.
Ms. Campos (a.ka. Señora Struthers) forgot to sanitize her own record before she started to lob accusations on behalf of the GonChavez Administration.
One project that needs to be examined for public review is the Community Housing Developer’s Tierra Encantada affordable housing projects in District 5. The translation of the name can either mean “Enchanted Land” or the more sinister “Haunted Grounds”. I’ll leave it to an investigator to determine which is more appropriate.
An interested party would be wisely served by submitting a public records request to the City of San Jose for all document related to this project (including City Council e-mails and calendars) and reviewing who was involved and where the money to build the project came from. Who is on the board of the non-profit developer? What are their ties to local lobbying and special-interest groups? Which individuals provided donations to certain PAC’s and campaigns? This may take some resources but it is sure to uncover another treasure trove for the Murky News to report.
Candid interviews of the senior city staff working on the project would also be illuminating if they are willing. A recommended question to be asked would be “Why was this project recommend for funding by the City’s Housing Department given the track record of the developer and the City’s adopted funding criteria?”.
Could the answer be the personal involvement of a certain councilwoman with ties to organized labor who would have benefitted from the prevailing wage jobs and the ability to use this “patronage” to dupe the future low income residents and worker to support their political aspirations?
Just tell me that they didn’t use a pig larnyx.
According to the Mercury News article “The Real Cost of S.J. City Hall” 5/5/2006 City official still believe they will save over $200 million over a fifty year period. If they honestly beieve this to be true, does this mean they’ll tap into those assumed savings to balance the current and future budgets?
They’re not even sure they can pay off the loan in 30 years! Does this mean we can look forward to refinancing the loan? If so, at what costs?
It appears those on the city council who approved the purchase of the new city hall sold us a Cadillac knowing we only had a budget for a Honda. Maybe when the current administration is out of work they can sell used cars. WHOOPS, I forgot, someone is already paving their road to Washington.
Anyone want to volunteer as a write-in candidate for District 5? It is obvious Ms. Campos isn’t taking the job seriously. District 5’s gang problems are dragging down our stats as America’s Safest Big City.
Do you think Nora’s marriage to one of San Jose’s biggest lobbyists influences her decision making? Check out some of these decisions:
http://www.svcn.com/archives/almadenresident/20060316/ar-news4.shtml
http://www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/council/dist4/main/docs/pressroom/article.asp?ArticleID=62
Imagine a council with Nora, Manny and Cindy. We need someone to step up.
Captain ( #22 above):
The more I hear about Nora Campos (the wife of Santa Clara County labor union leader Neil Struthers), the more I dislike her.
In my opinion, she is not exactly the brightest individual around, and I feel she exaggerates her accomplishments and pushes the limits, all the time. I have heard ugly stories about her personal life, too.
But just because she and her husband could benefit from a construction project in her district does not necessarily mean she or her husband (or her brother, who is now vice chairman of the San Jose Planning Commission) did anything wrong regarding Tierra Encantada. It is possible Nora and Neil stayed within the letter of the law all the way. Possibly sleazy but not illegal.
On the other hand, I would like to have more sunlight on ALL construction business matters even remotely connected to the City of San Jose. Every time the labor union benefits unfairly (or Nora wins labor union support too easily), it ends up costing us all. So can you give us a more direct indication of any inappropriate or illegal behavior by Campos or Struthers? Can you point to any specific documents we can and should see?
Also I have heard the builder of Tierra Encantada was Barry Swenson. Is he the developer you mention? I know Swanson grew up (long, long ago) in Nora’s district, but does he or his company have well-known ties to Nora or Neil?
To SCU LAW:
Say what you will about Ash Piryou. At least he’s grammatical.
bob kieve
Pete #15: It really isn’t a final number on the Taj Gonzal. The basment leaks, and I heard that the contractor who was supposed to waterproof it has run through its bond already. A new contractor has been hired to re-do the job—a tough call after the building is in place. I’m sure there are other things we haven’t heard of as yet. Hold onto your wallets!
# 25, That’s why we have to get off our behinds and get out the vote for
SAM LICARDO and DAVID PANDORI .
At one time I felt that if you put a council together that got along, things would get done in the best interest of our city. I was wrong. It is apparent that our council, top heavy with labor representation, has been restricted from having healthy discussions on many critical issues.
I must admit, I did not attend every council hearing. However, those hearings I did attend, appeared to be more of a formality than a discussion. It’s time to bring balance back to our city council.
Bob # 27—SCU law #5 may write in ebonics, but at least he does spell Mr. Pirayou’s surname correctly.
Is anyone listening to this meeting?
These are not her words. Forget larynax implants, someone else wrote these words. She can’t even pronouce these “big” words.
Geez!
John:
I’m sure glad Judy Chirco is next for the implant. I live in her district, and have heard not word one from her…or even about her…in four years. I just read in the Murky News that she is running for re-election. Jeez, where has she been for four years? She needs that implant NOW.
Well, at least she hasn’t said a bunch of stupid stuff like Forrest. Stupid is as stupid does.
Dave to The Rules Committee Chair (Chavez)
“Not a question was asked (in the Rules Committee) about the memo. No one was asked if Dave Cortese was going to show up.”
Shame on Chavez!
Read your memo Campos!
I’m listening to this embarrassment we call a city council. obviously campos and pyle didn’t even draft the original memo. They don’t even know what they are requesting an “investigation” of.
This blatant political ploy on behalf of Cindy is shameful. At least have some substance if you are going to launch a smear on a colleague.
Nora seemed nervous while reading her statement. I’d be nervous to if I was attacking a colleague with the flimsy “evidence” that she and Pyle concocted.
And one again, Cindy is dirty on this. As chair of the Rules Committee she mishandled this request for an investigation and did not follow protocols. And she wants to be mayor?
Looks like Dave does a better job supporting neighbors than Cindy. This council meeting is back firing and helping Dave’s campaign.
Aaron Resendez was great telling it like is in D5. Yeah we need a write-in D5.
Judy admits she didn’t want to speak up at the Rules Committee, big surprise there! The memo showed up 15 minutes before the meeting, of course you reject it. Cueva for D9!
Chavez what about OPEN GOVERNMENT? Shame on you! Obviously you didn’t learn from your mistakes on late breaking memos, the Grand Prix.
Say what you want about Campos – when watching the meetings, I always put HER at FULL SCREEN when she’s talking…. – Madison too!
Yeah BABY!
Well Austin (#38 above),
If you love Campos so much, maybe you could sweep her off her feet and take her away from here – far, far away. If you did you would be my hero.
And if you love looking at her video, I have one for you, actually a VHS. I got it at a library book sale. It was at tape of a council meeting a while back. The library was discarding the tape. Whoever watched the tape last left the video at a spot where Campos was asking some questions, trying to sound involved and intelligent, but rather doing almost the opposite, by talking like she was half asleep. Made me sad. Very sad, and disappointed. Angry. If you want the tape, I will leave it out by the garbage. …Sorry, I forgot, I trashed it long ago.
Do not rush out to romance Campos, though. She is married to that five-something (I guess), unimaginative (IMHO) construction union manger blonde guy who is oh so tough and might take care of you the second you glance at Nora. JK
Pandori regains consciousness with Ms. Chavez, his “councilmember” staring down at him, as he is surrounded by the farmers on a Coyote Valley porch. As they drive back to downtown in Ms. Chavez’s car, Pandori describes the political scandal to Ms. Chavez. He explains how industrial acreage is being purchased cheaply by land-grab speculation pending the EIR approval. Cortese was smeared because he was working developers and he butted heads with the mayor:
Pandori: That Evergreen is a con-job…The one you and your fellow council members approved. They’re conning San Jose into building it, but the traffic’s not gonna go to LA. It’s comin’ right here.
Ms. Chavez: To 101.
Pandori: Everything you can see, everything around us. I was at the Hall of Records today. Three years ago Yerba Buena Opco paid nine million for a false study to show that traffic would not be a problem. There were private meeting held inside city hall with developers and council members….They’re blowin’ these neighbors off the highways and then pickin’ up the land up for peanuts. You have any idea what this land would be worth with 6000 new homes? About three hundred million more than they paid for it.
Ms. Chavez: Cortese was working with the developers?
Pandori: That’s why he was smeared.