We’ve poked fun at his modeling gigs, but Don Rocha has proven to be more than just a pretty face on the San Jose City Council.

In the last few weeks, San Jose City Hall fixture and failed District 9 candidate Jim Cogan‘s Facebook posts have jumped from the occasional cryptic message about being “tired of being sick and sick of being tired,” to a recent barrage of updates referencing ‘90s pop culture.

From Homer Simpson quotes to ruminations on “Reality Bites” and updates on changing his default ring tone to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” it seemed that JimCo suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands. Turns out that he does.

During the past few years, the City of San Jose has annexed 42 county pockets. These annexations came about in two ways. First, the State of California changed the law that made county pockets that are under 150 acres unable to vote on whether not they wanted to be annexed. Second, the County of Santa Clara had wanted San Jose to annex county pockets for years. San Jose avoided the topic until there was a court settlement with the County where the City agreed to annex a portfolio of county pockets from west to east based on the “sphere of influence”—lines that have been drawn for decades that indicate which cities county pockets would be annexed into.

Back in March, when he first launched his campaign, Donald Rocha was careful to a fault. He declined to take positions on controversial issues, saying he needed to first get familiar with the issues, and then to go out into the community and find out what his constituents were thinking.

Seven months later, Rocha has evolved as a political actor. Having studied the policy papers, pounded the pavement and knocked on a few thousand doors, he says he now knows what his district wants and how to get it.

Eighteen months after leading the local battle against gay marriage—and shortly after an aborted plan to move to Tracy and run for U.S. Congress—Larry Pegram promised that his campaign for San Jose City Council would be about fixing the city’s pressing money troubles, not social issues. Since that time, Pegram has emphasized his commitment to balanced budgets and cited his own credentials as a professional financial planner.

Who knew that Don Rocha was related to it-supermodel Coco Rocha? When the District 9 San Jose City Council candidate stepped in front of the camera a few weeks back, Fly couldn’t help but notice what a natural the longtime political aide was in front of the camera.

Without any pushing or prodding by photographer Felipe Buitrago, the former San Jose Redevelopment Agency official instantly stepped in front of the white screen, put his hands in his pockets, pulled a flattering three-quarters stance and looked intensely into the camera with a Derek Zoolander-esque “Blue Steel” look.