I can’t resist bringing up a few items in light of Election Day’s results. First and foremost: Where were you missing voters? I went to my downtown polling station at 3:30 p.m., where there are nearly 1300 voters registered, and I was voter number 88 for the day. The poll workers were bored stiff. Is there no sense of civic responsibility any more? I know that many voted “absentee,” but still—88 voters in more than eight hours of polling! According to the official Santa Clara County website, 229,172 voted out of 747,644 registered, including absentee. That’s a little higher than a 30 percent turnout throughout the county. 106,436 ballots were cast for mayor, somewhat less than 30 percent in the city. This is pathetic. Under the circumstances, do we get what we deserve?
The campaign of Manny Diaz in San Jose City Council District 3 set a new low. However, it didn’t keep Diaz from making the runoff by coming second to an astronomically better candidate, Sam Liccardo. Who are you voters who think that the ethically-challenged Diaz is the best person for the job? It seems like a Dr. Frankenstein clone of Karl Rove is running his campaign. In fact, all the smoke and mirrors over false claims of endorsement reminds me of the story from the early 90s where Rove planted a “bug” in his own office then called in the FBI and blamed it on his opponent’s campaign. Diaz’s blaming the “printer” for the publishing of endorsees’ names without permission is laughably disingenuous. I spent 20 years in and around the publishing business and I can tell you that printers only print the text they are given by their clients. I can’t wait to see what the Diaz campaign Einsteins try to pull in the run-up to November.
The only stupider bunch than the Diaz gang may be the Chamber of Commerce. If this were 18th Century Japan and the COMPAC directors were samurai warriors, it would be seppuku time. Not only did they assist in sinking their own anointed candidate, Michael Mulcahy, but they actually managed to garner sympathy for Cindy Chavez through the use of sheer hypocrisy. And you know good and well that the Chamber would love to be in on some backroom deals anytime it benefits their agenda.
Finally, congratulations to Chuck Reed, an obviously honest and decent man, for running a clean campaign and coming out on top. He has to be seen as the leading contender for mayor at this point. Also, congratulations are in order for Cindy Chavez for making it to the runoff from a strong field of candidates, albeit with a much smaller percentage of the vote than the hype would have had us believe. It’s not the ideal new-blood, clear-cut pairing that I wanted to see for November, but it does give voters a choice. If only they turn up.
Meanwhile, Blind Lemon Dubya and his merry band of deaf fiddlers are busy playing their old tune with new words, sounding the deadly threat of “flag-burning illegal gay immigrants” while Rome burns.
Does San Jose / Silicon Valley Chamber equally serve both San Jose local businesses and Silicon Valley businesses? How can they serve 2 very different groups with different goals fairly?
Who are the people and groups other than Dando who are actually setting policy for Chamber and CAMPAC? Will that change?
Seriously, the lack of apathy amongst voters is laughable. I went to the polls first thing in the morning and they looked so happy to see me, yet the camera crews looked bored stiff already and I think the place had been open for 15 minutes.
Anyway, Diaz voters – can anyone come forward or was it the surname that got his votes? Maybe Liccardo should change his name to Liccardez?
The chamber mail pieces were the sleaziest of the sleazy?
How quickly we forget the vicious and untrue hit on Ed Voss accusing him of taking a bribe, the untrue racist pieces accusing Rich De la Rosa of being from the eastside and having reaped millions from suing the city, the blatantly racist piece accusing Tony West of being an Oakland Raider….
All these pieces had one thing in common: they came from labor backed candidates who used labor backed consultants. Crafted by Darren Seaton, crowned the king of sleaze by the Mercury News and KLIV’s Robert Kieve.
For labor to cry foul now when these pieces were 100% true and based on Cindy’s public record is preposterous. Granted, there were some issues with the fundraising that paid for them- BUT THEY WERE TRUE!
It seems that labor can’t handle a small dose of their own medicine.
James Rowen, you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph.
whatch for us in Nov. CC.
Regarding #5: I don’t think it is lack of apathy that is the problem, 1,2,3 get rid of ronny g. It’s apathy. For someone who takes an opportunity to bash Latin voters, you probably should brush up on your knowledge of American English.
Secondly, what’s with the openly racist comments about voters for Manny Diaz? Is that how you decide who you vote for? By scanning the last names to be sure that you don’t vote for anyone with a Spanish surname?
#5 If only there was a LACK of apathy among SJ voters, but the opposite is true. Gotta say finfan made some interesting observations yesterday about why that might not be such bad thing. I’d rather have a smaller bunch of educated voters than a huge numbers of uneducated ones. We are all paying a steep price for November of 2000 when masses of sheep were herded to the polls and if a lower turnout will avoid that kind of thing, then maybe it’s not so bad that we’ve got that situation here.
As for Manny’s strategy I’m sure he’s relying on the large number of voters in D3 who will in fact blindly vote for a hispanic surname rather than educate themselves and vote for the candidate that will actually do them some good and not take advantage of them. It worked in the primary so no doubt he’ll be continuing that same strategy going into the runoff. Let’s hope Sam has a serious teflon coating because he’s going to need it with the sleazy attacks Manny’s camp will be making on him.
I agree with #6. I do not recall the Chavez campaign ever saying she didn’t have secret meetings regarding the race/the hidden costs. All I can recall is that she complained about being exposed.
Perhaps the Chavez campaign finally got a taste of some hard ball politics and just did what comes naturally….they played the victim card.
From my perspective Pat Dando, the Chamber, Mike Fox Jr., etc. showed lot of balls for the audacity of exposing the truths and then being man enough to stand up and say “yeah that was me. “
I do wonder why the Chamber did not endorse Reed in the first place though. Wasn’t he a former Chamber President and generally supportive of their policies/goals for years?
I have said to the whole world for decades, Paint your first impression!!!
We know what Mr. Reed’s contribution to art was to North San Jose. It is as tacky as his taste in 9.95 ties.
The same with voting, vote for a candidate based on your first impression!
My first impression of Chuck Reed is that here is a man, who frankly would rather be someone else!!
#12 as long as that someone else isn’t Cindy or W, I think we’ll be OK.
Fools!!!
I am still Mayor and no one has won yet. I still reign and all of you can go move to Milpitas.
Ron G Rex
Jack,
Thank you for talking about our remarkable D3 Candidate, Sam Liccardo. Sam not only has what it takes to be a terrific councilmember, he worked harder than any of the other council candidates to gain the support and respect of neighborhood leaders and residents throughout the district.
Others have mentioned that in order to win in November Sam and his wonderful volunteers will need more support. I would encourage you to offer your assistance to Sam’s campaign for the long push between now and November.
Call his office at 408.283.0646 to sign up to help. His website is http://www.samliccardo.com/ which is where you can find more information on him.
Come on Mexi-Chick. Give us a break. No one is being racist. It is well known that candidates exploit their surnames to get the uneducated voter to pencil in their name.
Call it cultural affinity or whatever you want. The fact is that most hispanic voters will vote for a person with an hispanic surname before any other. They believe that this person will have their best interests “at heart”. If anything, this indicates the racism of these voters, not those who point out the fact that this happens.
The fact that any educated impartial voter would vote for Manny Diaz is laudable. He is so ethically challenged, and this has nothing to do with his surname. It is precisely for this fact that some choose to point out the racial voting patterns of some voters. If a person would vote for an obvious ethical bumb just because his last name is hispanic, then the points made are valid, no?
I’m sure a lot of it is apathy, but a lot of it is the fact that, for most people, it doesn’t really matter who is in office. They either have what they want or figure they’re not going to get what they need. And, unlike those of us who are involved in the community and business world in SJ, they don’t translate what their vote means in the context of what’s going to be policy or action down the road.
People don’t vote if they don’t feel engaged and they don’t vote if they feel they are in the middle of somebody else’s pi**ing match. And, sadly, when they do vote, they often don’t know who they’re voting for.
But, just to put a light on this from another angle..working this last week on the phone I ran across somebody who said he was split evenly and couldn’t decide between…get ready..Chuck and Cindy. I asked if he was serious because I see them as polar opposites, but he was dead serious. So, it just goes to show..no matter how involved we are, the minds of the voters are strange and wonderful things.
Can you imagine any group that Chuck Reed used to be affiliated with endorsing him for anything? Certainly not the BUSD establishment of forking over the FPPC fine that Chuck caused them to pay. Besides the Chamber has a dress code, different ties every meeting.
Does anyone recall what Reed called driver’s licenses once?
Did everyone miss the comment by Carl Guardino that he wants to tax parking lots in Santa Clara County. So now, the Prince of Taxes, wants all of you working executives to pay for his ideas.
How about a tax on everytime Carl opens his useless mouth for useless ideas. We will make a fortune!!
Another idea from a guy who does not work, meet a payroll, or face a impossible work schedule. How about a tax on every press release Carl issues with his name in it?
If Manny’s last name was O’Donald or Lu you still would be voting for the wrong man. Sam will be good for San Jose.
Hey #17 you really nailed it.
I suspect Mexi-Chick is probably aligned with those same people who gave us that pile of high art in the plaza.
And am assuming you meant “laughable” and not “laudable”
Why are Ms. Dando and Mike Fox Jr. still employed by the SVCofC. She didn’t stay very long with Arnie either.
Ditto #17’s response to #9’s response to #5!Here comes the typical lingo when you don’t have a better defense, Mexi-Chick.
”
Mexi Chick – that was just a typo, take it easy, some of us are working at the same time we are blogging, it happens.
But you are living in a dream world if you don’t think a majority of people vote for a Hispanic surname. That isn’t racist, its just fact. There isn’t enough Hispanic representation, that I agree with, so people feel they need to boost it. But often it causes people to pick on solely that basis and not their qualifications. If the people were qualified I could care less what their name was. But Diaz and Chavez are laughable but their surname gets them votes. In the Diaz case, Its the ONLY explanation for his votes.
The whole reason people don’t say what I am saying is people like you call them racist.
Thanks Mark T. You are correct. As you can see I am still working on my “knowledge of American English”!
Can anyone tell me more about the Carl G. and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group? Who are they and what are they about?
Glad you brought up the Chamber of Commerce. They have embarrased themselves with one of the most inept political juggling acts ever seen. First, they endorse a candidate that has absolutely, and I do mean absolutely, no chance of winning. Their rationale seemed to be that Mulcahy looked the part. Please! The Chamber obviously confused the most powerful job in the 10th largest U.S. city with an episode of American Idol.
Then, after they realized their candidate was headed for sure defeat, instead of doing independent expenditures for him, they switched gears and conducted a hypocritical and somewhat ineffective attack against Chavez. While the Chamber PAC has never impressed anyone with their political acumen, this latest episode has stained their credibility and weakened their chances to impact policy in the next administration, regardless of the winner.
Advice is cheap, but here’s mine for the woeful Chamber. Endorse Reed for Mayor, encourage your membership to help him win, stay out of the independent expenditure business (you’re just not good at it) and re-constitute your PAC membership with a new group of business people with a vision for San Jose that goes beyond the pursuit of candidates that most closely resemble a Ken doll.
It had to hurt the chamber that all five of their candidates condemed them in a Mercury News article. I wonder how serious the candidates were. It’s a little late to ask, but did anyone refund their contribution or was this jsut a press stunt take advantage of their blundering?
The more citizens get involved, or are encouraged to be involved in local government, the more they will feel ownership and participate. The low turnout shows that people are not interested in participating in government, and the fault lies with elected officials for doing whatever they can to keep the public out. People like Jamie Matthews in Santa Clara, who act to eliminate public participation on committees dealing with elections, while he, as a candidate insists on chairing it, and also works for the appointment of his “people” to his commissions at the expense of the public, are people that prefer low voter turnouts.
Pat Dando and Mike Fox, Jr., who designed the sleasiest of the sleazy attack pieces and relish their actions as arrogantly as possible, want low voter turnouts.
I will give guys like Rich Robinson the benefit of the doubt. They seem to want to educate citizens on political issues, and they do work ti improve the process by accurately quoting neighborhood leaders in campaign literature, while people like Jay James prefer the closed door rooms to the public chambers, because they do not want public input.
It is incumbent to all of us to encourage public participation and if each blogger on this site votes and gets five people to vote, they will achieve something the Dandos and the people like Jay James fear, public participation.
#32, if your claim about how Measure A funds would be spent were true, I think it would have passed or at least not have lost so badly. The fact that the money could be spent any old way the inept and fiscally irresponsible supes saw fit (can you say “fairgrounds concert hall?”) is what killed it.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group used tio be the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and was started by David Packard. It was soon taken over by Carl G and company. Interesting fact about Carl G. He never worked a day in his life for a manufacturer in any engineering or technical division. He just gives it all “panache”
Oh, his backgroun in the Silicon Valley Industry is similar to one other famous advocate for Silicon Valley, Rony G.
No wonder both want taxes and more taxes.
Carl G says that no one likes paying taxes. Easy for him to say, but we pay for his ideas.
By the way, Carl G also asks groups to ban speakers like Greg Perry when they disagree with him. What a true democrat!!!
Tax and Tax, spend and spend, and no one has a another view.
#29. Here’s the “official” version:
http://www.svmg.org/About Us/staff_guardino.html
http://www.svmg.org/index.html
The best explanation of how evil Carl is and why his sales tax increase was bad can be found here:
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/causes/measurea2006.html
Scroll down to “Who Supports Measure A?”
Hey # 12, Bizzarro, Give Chuck and his tie a rest. The mportant thing is that the voters saw through Spin Cindy and her efforts to come across as the change San Jose needs. The voters showed they were well informed. Had David Pandori declared himself a candidate about a month ealier, he and Chuck would be in the runoff, and we would have a better choice; lesson learned.
Honestly, you should start supporting Chuck instead of trying to can him. Look at the alternative.
I’m with you #32. I voted for Chuck [one of those absentee voters rr hates so much] and I hope all of Pandori, Cortese and Mulchay supporters join me in November.
Let’s all get of the Chuck wagon!
I want afirmative action to extend to the realm of politics. I propose that each ‘minority’ running for office be given a ‘head start’ of votes equal to 15% of the registered voters. That way, all the years of under-representation can start to even itself out.
You thought affirmative action was only about college? Think again!
Si se puede!
#34, That can’t be you…Is it? Is someone trying to start a racial war by claiming to be Mexi-Chick? I can’t beleive (she or he) would write something so shallow. After reading some previous comments, I’m starting to think someone on this blog site doesn’t like people with Spanish surnames simply because they’re Spanish.
For the record, I know a lot of Spanish voters who voted for Pandori because they felt he was the best qualified candidate to be mayor, no other reason. He’s not Spanish, is he?
California, and the bay area in particular, are known for being the most diverse places on Earth. If someone is trying to sabotage the progress we have made, please stop. Many of us have made many sacrifices to get to where we are. Your actions are devisive and counterproductive. I’m sure you could think of something a little more productive.
Whoever wrote # 34 deserves to be pelted with tomatoes and rotten eggs
#22 and #30, all Carl Guardino wants is one thing – to get the SC Valley taxpayers to pay for BART to San Jose – pure and simple! He’ll do anything to accomplish that objective… even to the point of throwing up a smokesceen to make voters believe that Measure A was a general tax that would pay for a multitude of programs. In reality, 95% of the tax would have gone to fund VTA/BART. Too bad, Carl, you lose on this one!
#36 Please, if you are a true Pandori supporter then you would vote for Reed. I think that Pandori even said that he agreed with 90% of what Chuck says. He is much better than the alternative too.
#37
I know David Pandori, and Chuck is no David Pandori. If Chuck will show that he can learn about that 10% then he will get my money, my feet and my vote. But not until that time!
#33
Chuck will need to earn my vote. Give us Pandori supporters some credit. Pandori was right on about landuse issues. Chuck needs to rethink his stance on Coyote Valley, historic preservation and scale back on north S.J. Chuck needs to show the public he can learn and grow. The George W. “stick to your guns at all cost style” has come and gone.
#33, while Pandori was right about Coyote valley he was wrong about north San Jose. NSJ is an area with existing infrastructure and a underused transit system that could benefit from higher densities. Build that and you don’t need no stinkin’ coyote valley development.
Hhhmm, Jack’s got his own tab now; and Jude, who hasn’t posted since October ‘05 is still aboard, shunted off to the far right.
#35—where are all these “spanish” voters hiding? I know a few Salvadoran voters, a couple of Costa Rican voters, a whole lot of Mexican voters…but not a single Spanish voter. Clue: her name is “Mexi-chick” not “Spani-chick”.
Three days after the election, I received for the first time a second piece from COMPAC. Very different from the first; much closer to a “hit-piece”. Pat, call your mail house and demand you $$ back for the woefully late delivery.
Thanks Don,
You just might have tied Cindy to enough backroom dealing to finish her off. You’ve done more than I ever could.
We were cheated! Thanks a lot Don!
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/sunshine/14796185.htm
We need to write-in Pandori for November.
The news today about the $80 mil Quakes deal is status quo for Chavez.
But if voters knew what they did today, would they still have voted for Chuck Reed? If you voted for Chuck, does this change your opinion of him?
Personally I’m bit surprised and feeling ill. If Chuck Reed is not the open honest guy we thought he was, what do we have?
Please, child’s play, quit trying to spin Chuck into an unethical guy. Did you care to note that the entire council was meeting there including your beloved Cindy Chavez? Chuck is open and honest….especially when comparing him to Cindy Chavez.
#43, although I wish Chuck had opposed this like Cortese did, the fact remains that the worst possible outcome of this mayoral race would be a continuation of the Ron Gonzales administration. If CindyGon gets in, it will be a disaster for our fair city.
A vote for Chuck Reed in November is the best way to stop this.
This blog is devolving (We Are DEVO) into a phrase from “For What It’s Worth” by The Buffalo Springfield that goes : “Singin’ Songs and a carryin’ signs, Mostly say “Hooray for Our Side”.
Tom, John IV, Jack, Jude—let’s set up a “debate” between Victor A. & RR; maybe as a prelim for that cage fight stuff that comes to The Shark Tank now and then. We can get all the rancor out in one 90 minute fiasco; then the rest of us can settle down to some nice quiet talk for a change. Progressive Voter can be the ref—he’ll ignore all fouls/rules violations, just like the refs in tag team wrestling do. Admission will be free to all who have posted one rational thought on this blog.
Sounds incoherent to me.
The Downtowner forgets that Reed voted to close out the public, caused a school district to receive a hefty fine, and is controlled by a guy, Victor the sleave, who used firefighter uniforms for a council candidate in Sunnyvale.
Also, Chuick engineered several illegal contributions to his friend Armando in Milpitas and backed another guy in San Jose politics who still is being investigated by the FPPC and the State of California for campaign fraud.
Open and Honest? Boy, Chuck sure has to had out the pints to guys like Mal and the Downtowner so much, it is good he tuck chemical plant money when he was running for council to oppose another development.
Does anyone know what “Reed the Liar” is talking about? Sounds like a smear to me.
Maybe “Reed The Liar” can apply for a job @ SBLC writing fliers for Phaedra.
I find that the number of registered voters on the books to be a bit disengenuous. When is the last time the voting rolls were purged of people who arem either dead or no longer live in the area. My condo has eight registered voters attached to it but only I live there. Why is the system not purged periodically?