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.

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.

The Mercury News reported over the weekend that Andrea Flores Shelton, county Supervisor George Shirakawa’s deputy chief of staff, is changing positions to become a coordinator for the county Public Health Department. The newspaper said that Shelton insisted her “departure has nothing to do with Shirakawa’s more recently publicized troubles,” which we can only assume is a euphemism for the fraudulent expense reports Shirakawa has filed, wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars on lavish dinners, alcohol for friends, golf trips, casinos, and … the list continues.

We tried to do a Q&A with Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone back in late March. That didn’t happen, but it wasn’t Stone’s fault—there weren’t enough questions at the time. But here we are, three months later, and we’ve got the tax man’s answers to a couple submitted questions, relayed in a telephone conversation, as well as his thoughts on the fight between the county and Redevelopment Agencies, the odds the Oakland A’s will relocate to San Jose and how he views the local housing market five years after the subprime mortgage crisis.

It’s not often a press release from a government official includes quotes with exclamation points and all CAPS. Apparently, Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith either has an overly excited stenographer or he’s mad as hell with the city of San Jose and he’s not gonna take it anymore.

A political comic strip/hit-piece lampooning Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong was sent to 7,200 Cupertino voters over the weekend, just two days before the city’s election on Tuesday. Titled “The Adventures of Gilbert Wrong, Mayor of Cupertino,” the comic strip sets out four different scenarios in which Wong is contacted by a secretary with someone waiting to bend the mayor’s ear. Nonetheless, Wong was able to be re-elected as mayor.

Kicking off the first of three budget workshops this week, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors launched on Tuesday the first review of a proposed budget that will have to cut $219.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year. The proposed budget calls for an estimated 110 layoffs, 122 county employees would be bumped to lower-paying positions, and 300 would be transferred to different departments.

The New York Times report following the release of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan yesterday summarized the harsh facts succinctly: “Mr. Schwarzenegger … has proposed eliminating the state’s $1 billion welfare program for families with children, ending a $126 million health insurance program for children, reducing the state’s Medicaid eligibility to the minimum to save over $500 million, and ending the state’s network of subsidized home health care providers for the poor.”

While the healthcare imbroglio meanders on in Congress, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is being forced to decide how to resolve California’s own healthcare crisis. The state ranks last nationwide in terms of medical coverage for low income residents. This means that poor people are forced to turn to emergency rooms for everything from undiagnosed cancers to the common cold and, as a result, more than half of state hospitals are operating in the red.