In a bid to move on from the scandal ignited by county Supervisor George Shirakawa abusing his taxpayer-funded credit card, the Board of Supervisors will discuss P-Card audits Tuesday morning instead of later this month. Also on the agenda for the first meeting of the year, the supervisors will discuss $15 million in bonds for YMCA, low-income childcare, a new farmers market, ridding the county of illegal pot and a commendation for outgoing San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore.

If you’re interested in making a non-tax deductible contribution to a man who misused thousands of taxpayer dollars, in addition to hiding campaign disclosure forms for years, George Shirakawa would like to speak with you.

While the District Attorney’s Office and Fair Political Practices Commission continue their investigations into Supervisor George Shirakawa, the county has moved forward with updated policies on P-Cards and expenditures. Also, sources have confirmed with San Jose Inside that Teresa Alvarado, a potential candidate to replace Shirakawa if he is forced out of office, is moving to District 2.

The 2012 election is barely over and already people are opining on who will contend for the Presidency in 2016 or who will be the next Mayor in 2014. Who will replace Supervisor George Shirakawa if he resigns? Which brings us to the mental gymnastics some local pundits are making regarding recent changes at the South Bay Labor Council. Is Cindy Chavez running for Mayor? Is she positioning herself for Supervisor?

On the same day the county released a second audit critical of P-Card purchases made by Supervisor George Shirakawa’s office, County Executive Jeff Smith provided his first extended comments regarding Shirakawa’s misuse of taxpayer funds.

Cindy Chavez is out as CEO of the South Bay Labor Council. End of an era? Not quite. Chavez, who joined the SBLC in 2009 after an unsuccessful mayoral run and two terms on the San Jose City Council, will continue in the role of executive director of Working Partnerships, the think tank that helped organize the successful Measure D campaign and shares a building with SBLC.

Leave it to Larry Stone, the county assessor, to call it like he sees it when the vast majority of his fellow elected officials have danced around the issue of Supervisor George Shirakawa’s flagrant misuse of taxpayer money.

The day after a county audit demanded George Shirakawa reimburse $12,772 in improper charges with his county-issued credit card, the president of the Board of Supervisors threw out a checklist of reasons why the media would make up “straight-up untrue” reports about his fraudulent expense reports, misuse of taxpayer money and missing campaign disclosure forms.

County Supervisor George Shirakawa issued his first public comments regarding his reported misuse of taxpayer money in an email Wednesday to constituents. In the letter, Shirakawa uses a myth/fact juxtaposition to clear up “a complicated issue that can’t be explained with sensationalized headlines and scandalous printed ‘sound bites.’”

There’s blood in the water, and the number of political sharks circling Supervisor George Shirakawa’s not yet vacant seems to be growing.

A recent Mercury News editorial called on Supervisor George Shirakawa to resign based on the revelations reported by Josh Koehn in the Metro. Shirakawa’s actions included misappropriating taxpayer money, fraudulent reporting of expenses, misuse of campaign donations and failure to file the appropriate financial documents after repeated warnings. It is right and proper the Mercury News came to its conclusion based on the overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing. Supervisor Shirakawa should resign. But it is a painful conclusion, because I support George’s political agenda.

Supervisor George Shirakawa says he doesn’t want his board colleagues, county staff or the community to be distracted by the “political lynching” taking place in regards to media coverage of his fraudulent expense reports. At its bi-monthly county Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Shirakawa tackled the issue head on by saying he would release a formal statement sometime in the future.

A tip came in Monday afternoon that Andrea Flores Shelton, formerly a deputy chief of staff for Supervisor George Shirakawa, would get the nod as Alum Rock school district’s new trustee. In the end, that’s exactly what happened. Now the question is whether or not opponents of the process will gather signatures for a special election to challenge her appointment.

Will school board and council loser Patricia Martinez-Roach, shown at left with unsuccessful council candidates Brian O’Neill and Steve Klein and labor leader Cindy Chavez in June, get appointed to Alum Rock as a consolation prize?

Alum Rock Union School District trustees are making moves to fill a vacancy left by Darcie Green’s departure. School board watchers believe the existing majority has settled on one of two candidates: Patricia Martinez-Roach, who lost two elections this year; and Javier Gonzalez, who was passed over for a county education post. The apparent fast-tracking of the process has created a firestorm in the community.

An attorney with the county counsel’s office has provided San Jose Inside with a third, previously unreported audit of Supervisor George Shirakawa’s county charge card, also known as a P-Card. The audit shows that county officials were aware of Shirakawa’s free spending and disregard for county rules related to P-Cards as early as November 2009 — yet did nothing to stop the violations.

“Please, just don’t talk to Cindy, OK?” begged a public relator at the South Bay Labor Council’s Election Night party when she spotted our operative. As people scarfed down tri-tip and fried chicken and frequented the open bar, U.S. Congressman Mike Honda kicked into an impromptu karaoke performance. SBLC CEO Cindy Chavez led cheers.