Turning the page on 2012, it’s also time to close out the final chapter on emails between politicos and Barbara Marshman, the opinionated opinion editor of the Mercury News. Marshman apparently got in hot water with her bosses this winter after Fly published excerpts of some emails she sent. Those messages included Marshman extending an offer to bestow “lavish praise” in print to Water District candidate Barbara Keegan if Keegan removed herself from the race, as well as some righteous indignation that former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and others would be such “jerks” about a library ballot initiative that the paper opposed. But after an extensive review of emails between city staff and the entire editorial board, thanks to a Public Records Act request from a Washington D.C.-based firm called Public Records Strategies, it’s obvious that Marshman and some city staff members have a sense of humor. For example, when Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio mentions that his cat was happy about his re-election in June, Marshman speculated that opponent “Steve [Klein]‘s cat must be inconsolable.” She shared the political wisdom of consultant Vic Ajlouny in analyzing Chuck Reed’s 2006 victory: “In the Reed mayoral election, Michael Mulcahy signs were all over Willow Glen—but Chuck won the district handily,” Marshman writes. “Vic says, “If lawn signs could vote, Michael Mulcahy would be mayor.” City staff also shared thoughts they probably thought would stay private. David Vossbrink, the city’s communications manager, fretted about a TV station’s report on Mayor Reed’s use of $650 million as a worst-case estimate of the city’s unfunded pensionsand benefits liability: “True to form, here’s NBC Bay Area’s narrow version of reality,” he wrote. And in one of her final kerfuffles as a councilmember, Nancy Pyle declared in August that she would no longer speak to Merc reporter Tracy Seipel because of “bullying behavior.” Pyle’s office says the matter was eventually smoothed over. Now uncharacteristically quiet, Marshman limited her comments on the matter to an email, which reads in full: “In developing ideas and researching issues for editorials, my staff and I conduct many conversations on background with people engaged in or knowledgeable about the topics. This is typical of how journalists generally gather information. In our case, because we write opinion, the discussions may include expressing opinions, exchanging ideas and letting people know what we are thinking of writing. What matters is what is published as an editorial in the Mercury News or on http://www.mercurynews.com.” Oh.