Josué Garcia, a lobbyist who previously worked in Councilmember Xavier Campos' office, is once again trying to get around a policy designed to prevent former city workers and elected officials from holding undue influence on public projects.

Local labor legend John Neece said he was so "sickened" by Councilman Xavier Campos' decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment in a grand jury hearing that he has decided to endorse Magdalena Carrasco.

The staff churn in Speaker pro Tem Nora Campos’ office is the talk of Sacramento, raising questions about the assemblymember’s ability to advocate for constituents who’ve been shortchanged by ineffective leadership.

Neil Struthers is out as CEO of the powerful Santa Clara & San Benito Counties Building & Construction Trades Council, a source tells San Jose Inside. The circumstances of his departure from the labor organization are unclear. The Building and Trades Council oversees the training and representation of 23 craft unions and more than 30,000 construction industry workers employed in Silicon Valley, according to the organization’s website.

Cindy Chavez’s campaign manager, Ed McGovern, acknowledged Tuesday evening that his client has a found a way to circumvent state laws that prevent independent committees from coordinating with candidate campaigns.

There’s a lot of jockeying going on over who will succeed local trade union boss Neil Struthers, but reports of his departure to Sacramento may be premature. In October, the state Building and Construction Trades Council will meet in Santa Monica and vote in a successor to its chief of 20 years, Robert Balgenorth. The two presumed candidates for the position: Struthers, who’s married to Assemblymember Nora Campos, and Robbie Hunter of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties chapter.

While it might not signal a real truce in the endless, tedious factional conflict that is San Jose politics, the business community extended an olive branch to local unions last week. The setting was a soiree introducing Matt Mahood, the new CEO of the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.