Earlier this month, a lawyer for Chavez threatened to sue her San Diego counterparts for the way she claimed she was treated as an applicant for the $400,000 post.

Lawyers for the Santa Clara County supervisor cite irregularities, including breaches of confidentiality and discrimination, in San Diego County’s search for a new top administrative officer.

An aggressive public campaign by organized labor for a Chavez appointment, which included outdoor rallies, attack mailers, disruption of public meetings and personal attacks on supervisors, appears to have backfired.

Labor union members rallied outside the San Diego County administration building on Tuesday, pushing for Chavez' appointment to the county’s top staff position.

The fortunes of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez in San Diego appeared to have dimmed, as business and community leaders and county Republicans advocated for a local administrator with knowledge of San Diego County and no ties to the organized labor and partisan Democrat connections that had initially pushed Chavez for the job a year ago.

If no other candidate emerges, Mayor Matt Mahan will be the first unopposed mayoral candidate since the first popular election of a San Jose mayor in 1966.

Cindy Chavez’ strong Democratic Party and organized labor credentials had vaulted the Santa Clara County supervisor to the top of the list of candidates for Chief Administrative Officer, but these strengths could prove to be her undoing.