The announcement of the business advocacy organization's name change immediately shifts focus of ‘The Chamber’ back to the City of San Jose where it started.

Truong framed his exit as striking out on his own, but the position was eliminated June 4, according to an internal memorandum from now-President and CEO Derrick Seaver.

The chances of Donald Trump becoming President of the United States has some people jumpy. But jumpy enough to move to Canada?

Two major political adversaries nearly hooked up last week, threatening to disrupt a rivalry in local politics.

Magdalena Carrasco's sponsored trip last fall to New York City constitutes a violation of state law and will force her to sit on the sidelines for some of this year’s most important City Council votes.

A special election took place in Santa Clara County last week and something unusual happened—it went smoothly. Well, maybe not that smooth for one candidate.

Sam Liccardo will not accept a voluntary expenditure limit for the San Jose mayoral runoff. The decision leaves little doubt that the 2014 mayor's race will end up being the most expensive in city history.

No one in the San Jose mayor’s race received enough votes to get an endorsement from the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce PAC, but it appears the committee considers one candidate especially bad for business.

TV sportscaster and former San Jose City Council candidate Robert Braunstein penned a heartwarming editorial in his newsletter about the reconciliation of two political rivals: the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and Democratic Central Committee. The business backers and the labor supporters, Braunstein wrote, have let bygones be bygones. Except they haven’t.

Great news. San Jose’s elected leaders had a total blast on their “Sister City” trip to Dublin, Ireland. In addition to a bunch of meetings, which appear to have had nothing to do with city business, goodwill was spread and Guinness hats were purchased. And in a true show of solidarity with the Dubliners, some of San Jose’s councilmembers even came back with a case of the common cold! Fly called around to find out what San Jose officials learned during their time in Dublin—at an anticipated cost of $20,000; although one Irish writer called our estimate low—and we’re happy to report nothing substantial.

San Jose Inside takes a quick look at what some of the candidates for the 2014 mayor’s race in San Jose have been up to and what political insiders are saying.

The Emerald Isle is calling. Ten San Jose officials will fly this week to Dublin, Ireland, for the bi-annual “Sister City” trip, which is basically a pub crawl disguised as a city-sponsored economic development junket. Among the lucky 10 are four councilmembers (Xavier Campos, Rose Herrera, Ash Kalra and Johnny Khamis); three department heads (budget director Jennifer Maguire; Joe Hedges, of economic development; and environmental services’ Kerrie Romanow); two council chiefs of staff (Shane Patrick Connolly, for Khamis; and Mary Anne Groen, for Herrera); and one soon-to-retire city manager, Debra Figone. If that seems like overkill, well, it is.

Robert Reich’s powerful new film, “Inequality for All,” breaks down the disparity of wealth that is so pronounced in this country. It solves the riddle of why San Jose is really two cities, and it explains the great political divide we face locally and as a nation.

What in tarnation is Chuck Reed up to? Pension reform, of course. The mayor of San Jose got future benefits for city employees scaled back last year with Measure B, and now he’s taking aim at a state ballot measure with the help of Texas moneymen and California libertarians.

News slows down in the summertime, so San Jose Inside columnist Rich Robinson takes note of some of the bigger and more under the radar stories of August.

The South Bay Labor Council spent almost a quarter-million dollars supporting Cindy Chavez’ successful run for a county supervisor seat, according to forms filed last month with the Registrar of Voters. The details of the labor organization’s staggering campaign fundraising and spending have not been made public until now. Taking into respect money spent by the Chavez campaign and other groups supporting her, it appears more than $750,000 was spent getting her into office. While few candidates can pull together a coalition of support like Chavez, the coordination between her campaign and outside groups raises some serious questions for the Fair Political Practices Commission.