The county’s Democratic Central Committee will vote Thursday night on whether to advance its endorsement process by a month, and the result could have a dramatic impact on the San Jose mayor’s race.

Former San Jose Councilmember Forrest Williams plans to run for mayor of San Jose, leaving a little less elbow room in an already crowded field. In a bid to succeed Mayor Chuck Reed, Williams will face off against Santa Clara County Supervisor David Cortese, Vice Mayor Madison Nguyen and councilmembers Pete Constant, Sam Liccardo and Pierluigi Oliverio, amongst others.

The Daily Fetch takes no prisoners—at least that’s what political consultant and lobbyist Dustin DeRollo told Fly when denying he has any role in producing the anonymous links blog. In the past six months, the Fetch—under new ownership—has taken a decidedly aggressive tone in going after everyone from Mayor Chuck Reed, his City Council allies and defeated county supervisorial candidate Teresa Alvarado to Metro and its staff. But one group that has received far less criticism from the blog is the organized labor machine and its elected allies, such as Cindy Chavez. So, when DeRollo’s name turned up as the quasi-editor of a PDF the site posted for a story last week, speculation in Silicon Valley political circles percolated that he and his business partner, Tom Saggau, have been orchestrating the site. Both men say that couldn’t be further from the truth, claiming DeRollo was improperly ratted out as a source for a story he expected not to lead back to him.

All the votes were counted weeks ago in the District 2 county supervisor race, but the total campaign finance numbers have only recently become available. One thing is clear above all: A staggeringly high amount of money was spent in an election in which a staggeringly low number of people actually voted. But why would the county’s Democratic Party spend so much money on one candidate when there were two viable Democrats on the ballot, especially with so many important races coming up next year?

The South Bay Labor Council spent almost a quarter-million dollars supporting Cindy Chavez’ successful run for a county supervisor seat, according to forms filed last month with the Registrar of Voters. The details of the labor organization’s staggering campaign fundraising and spending have not been made public until now. Taking into respect money spent by the Chavez campaign and other groups supporting her, it appears more than $750,000 was spent getting her into office. While few candidates can pull together a coalition of support like Chavez, the coordination between her campaign and outside groups raises some serious questions for the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Mike Potter, husband of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, appears neither ready to forgive nor forget slights real and imagined in the lead-up to last week’s election. At last week’s Democratic Central Committee meeting, Potter blasted the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce for its efforts to help defeat his wife, and/or support her opponent, Teresa Alvarado—perspective dictates the distinction. There’s just one issue with this indignation—Potter’s job as a state and governmental affairs rep for Cisco, one of the largest members of the local Chamber, requires him to work directly with the Chamber and its policy makers.

Almost two weeks before she won the election for Santa Clara County Supervisor’s District 2 seat, ex-labor leader Cindy Chavez said she would not cross a picket line. That promise may get tested early since SEIU 521, the 8,000-employee county union whose contract is up for renewal, strategically postponed negotiations until Aug. 11, after the special election, in hopes of gaining a more favorable outcome. About 6,400 of those union members work at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The day after Chavez was voted in, some technicians in the hospital’s radiology department staged a “sick out,” which is not quite a strike but a coordinated effort to call in sick to work to make a statement. Enough participated that it left the hospital scrambling to schedule replacements.

In what may turn out to be one of the most expensive races ever for a local county office, Cindy Chavez has captured the District 2 Supervisor seat held by her disgraced former ally, George Shirakawa, Jr. The victory places the largest county government in the global home of leading edge technology—from Teslas to Google Glass—firmly in the hands of an old-fashioned political machine; a classic one that delivers votes, wins elections, rewards its followers and dispenses benefits. Over the next two years, the board will vote on billions of dollars in employee compensation contracts—the county spends $3 billion a year on salaries, benefits and pensions—for the members of the unions who returned the former San Jose city official to public office.

Election nights have morphed into a game of cat and mouse between Fly and Stacey Hendler Ross, PR flack for the South Bay Labor Council. In the county supervisor primary and then the runoff, which took place Tuesday, Hendler Ross has taken to her new role as bouncer. No more than a minute into this week’s election night party for new county Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Hendler Ross grabbed a San Jose Inside reporter by the arm and tried to escort him out before realizing she should use her words. Noting that it was a private party and only “legitimate media” could enter, Hendler Ross also gave an SJI intern the boot, once again stifling the free press. Or so she thought.

Voters in Santa Clara County’s District 2 will choose a new county supervisor Tuesday, when Teresa Alvarado and Cindy Chavez face off in a special election. The two Democrats are vying to replace the seat vacated by George Shirakawa, Jr., who resigned amid scandal in March.

On Tuesday night, the pundits will come out in force, as a small group of voters will decide who represents District 2 on the Board of Supervisors. The chattering class will flock to praise the victor, while the defeated candidate will be accused of doing everything wrong. Some pundits will opine that the losing candidate’s career is over. They will posture that the “loser” will never be able to run for elected office again. They will say that the losing candidate will have lost two elections, noting it is some kind of bar to future public service. That is horse manure.

Judge Arthur Weisbrodt drew boos from a handful of San Jose Rotary Club members when he quoted an anonymous source as saying “I would tell the voters that voting for Cindy Chavez is the same as voting for George Shirakawa or Ron Gonzales. The same corruption, dishonesty and back deals.” Weisbrodt was moderating a debate last wednesday between Chavez and Teresa Alvarado in the runoff election to fill former county supervisor George Shirakawa Jr.’s seat.

With less than three weeks remaining in the county supervisor runoff between Teresa Alvarado and Cindy Chavez, supporters on both sides have now volleyed accusations of illegal assistance from outside groups. A little digging shows lots of money being spent by groups coordinating with the Chavez campaign, and very little attention being paid to update their contact information.

The latest turn in the race to replace disgraced former county Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr., the Santa Clara County Democratic Party has filed a complaint against candidate Teresa Alvarado, alleging that she illegally coordinated with a political action committee. Alvarado and fellow candidate Cindy Chavez, who has also been accused of illegal campaign coordination and is supported by the county Democratic Party, will face off in a July 30 special election. With only three weeks left in the race, an important debate is being waged on what constitutes unfair campaign assistance.

The District 2 county supervisor’s race is one of the most important in this region’s history. Two-thirds of the county budget—about $3 billion annually—goes to compensation and retirement benefits. Virtually all of the public employee union contracts are up for negotiation in the next two years, and there’s an unfunded $1.7 billion liability for retiree health care. The election will determine whether those issues are tackled by a board majority firmly in the pocket of the South Bay Labor Council—or one that might be a little more independent. For this and many other reasons, Metro and San Jose Inside endorse Teresa Alvarado for county supervisor.

Most election observers thought Teresa Alvarado’s second-place finish in the June 4 primary exceeded expectations. Coming within 10 percentage points of Cindy Chavez for the District 2 county supervisor seat was seen as a momentum-builder, considering Alvarado’s campaign didn’t really get its act together until the final two weeks. But not everyone agreed—namely, Alvarado. Shortly after election night, Alvarado dismissed her entire campaign staff.