Letter to the Editor: Enough Is Enough

We recently received an e-mail from a San Jose resident with a concern about the mayoral race. We suggested that he leave a comment, but he wanted a more effective forum to voice his concerns. So now we would like to introduce our first "Letter to the Editor". This article was not edited by us in any way. Enjoy!

"Enough Is Enough.

I can no longer stand idly by while Cindy Chavez’s name is dragged through the mud of political spin and irresponsible misrepresentations. San Jose cannot lose one of the best mayoral candidates the City has ever seen to unfounded rumors and innuendo. Quite frankly, we need Cindy Chavez as our next mayor.

Cindy Chavez is the only choice for mayor with the ability to put us on the map as one of the best cities in the world. Chavez’s ethics are impeccable. Yet her increasingly desperate critics have resorted to deceptive wordplay in order to raise implications that would border on slander if stated forthright. Chavez’s detractors know that she never concealed any information related to the controversial Norcal garbage contract, and that she never orchestrated a secret payout to the San Jose Grand Prix organizers. But instead of presenting the truth, Cindy’s critics simply suggest what they cannot say.

Both candidates actually agree on the substantive issues for the most part. They both want to attract businesses and jobs, ensure our safety, protect the environment, reduce traffic congestion, increase access to quality education, and recognize and celebrate our rich diversity. The question is who has the ability to get it done?

The only answer is Cindy Chavez. There is a reason why she has been endorsed by both of San Jose’s Congressional representatives, and every single City Councilmember who is not running for mayor. I would rather put my safety in the hands of Cindy Chavez who is supported by the San Jose Police Officers Association than any other candidate. And we can trust Cindy Chavez with our children’s education because she led the recent effort to successfully rebuild Horace Mann Elementary School.

The stakes are high. In many ways, San Jose is a city on the brink. We are the tenth largest city in the country, but no one seems to notice us. We thrived during the early internet revolution, but shouldered the brunt of high unemployment rates as our speculative high-tech economy collapsed. We have convention centers, museums, and professional sports teams, but still our downtown businesses struggle.

The actions we take within the next few years will likely determine the city’s ultimate identity, and place in the world. We cannot allow petty politics to squander San Jose’s uncharted potential. San Jose can set an unprecedented example as an attractive destination city with responsible growth balanced against quality of life considerations. Cindy Chavez has the collaborative spirit and proven experience necessary to build a greater San Jose.

It is time for the city between the hills to become the “City upon a Hill.” It is time for Cindy Chavez."

If anyone else would like to submit a "letter to the editor", feel free to e-mail it to the Governator or myself and we will probably include it in our next edition!

According to New Polls, Chavez Has An Uphill Battle

A new poll has been issued by the Reed camp and the mayoral election has appeared to blow open a little. Figures show Chuck Reed receiving 47 percent and Cindy Chavez receiving only 20 percent from the sample population that was polled. With this 27 percent deficit, Cindy Chavez will require a new strategy if she wants to stay in this election.

It would appear our dear old friends at SV411 have once again utilized their wholly objective reporting by stating that the upcoming election is nothing more than a technicality. And as much as it pains me to say that I agree with SV411, their claim doesn’t seem to be too far off. With the election creeping up, it will take a miracle for Cindy Chavez to get back in this election. But much to the disappointment of every San Jose media outlet, Chuck Reed’s Stanford band can’t come onto the field as they did in “The Play” just yet.

Accusations have been flying back and forth from both sides about the credibility of these polls. Reed’s political consultant, Victor Ajlouny, has been accused of juicing the latest polls to show Reed with a dramatic lead. And while there is a large group of people who believe this claim to be true, it would be pretty tough for Ajlouny to juice the polls so dramatically. So maybe it wasn’t just the polls that have been juiced by the Reed Campaign.

Recent Grand Jury testimonials have shown that Reed wasn’t as in the dark about the Norcal deal as he has tried to appear. The testimonials reveal that Chuck Reed knew about the Norcal deal as long as Cindy Chavez has. Some testimonials even suggest that Reed has known about the Norcal “scandal” for longer than Chavez has. The Reed campaign didn’t just juice the polls; they juiced the minds of every voter in San Jose. Perhaps this new information is the exact squib kick that Cindy Chavez needed to lateral past the Stanford band and into the end-zone. Whether or not things pan out for Chavez on this one, it’s clear that Mr. Ethical isn’t quite as squeaky clean as his campaign tries to paint him out to be. I guess you have to Reed between the lines to find out the truth about good ol’ Chuck.

The Notorious Cindy Chavez

Just like any good story, this mayoral race has two sides. Though candidates Cindy Chavez and Chuck Reed seem like Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper in their similarities, both Chavez and Reed have tried to emphasize their differences on the City Council. So now, in the spirit of invading the privacy of public figures, we would like to give you a deeper look into the personal and political life of Cindy Chavez.

Cindy Chavez was born in 1964 and attended Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward. After graduating from high school, Cindy Chavez went onto San Jose State University where she graduated with a B.A. in Political Science. After college Cindy and her husband Mike Potter, the District Director for State Assemblymember Joe Coto, bought their first house in Downtown San Jose and Cindy was getting ready to settle down. However, on July 4th 1997, a stray bullet hit Cindy’s bedroom window. Instead of releasing a hot rap album like so many others who have been shot at, Chavez discovered her passion for neighborhood safety.

Cindy got involved as the staff director for the South Bay Labor Council and was elected to the City Council as the representative for District 3 in 1998. On the council, Cindy fought for safer neighborhoods and established the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. As a parent, Cindy felt compelled to organize a five-point education plan to improve schools and to provide access to health care insurance to every child in San Jose. And finally, Cindy championed the effort to bring BART to San Jose.

The Grand Prix that Chavez fought so hard for has been the biggest thing to put San Jose on the map since the hip lyrics of Dionne Warwick’s “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” As the tenth largest city in the country, San Jose is on the brink of a new horizon and Cindy Chavez has big ideas to continue to improve the city. So now that you know more about the woman the San Jose Mercury loves to hate, we hope that you feel a little bit more comfortable with the upcoming election.

-SJ Rookie

Out and About

Chuck Reed and Cindy Chavez were both spotted Saturday at a barbecue fundraiser for Zoe Lofgren. While Zoe Lofgren is running for re-election to Congress in the 16th Congressional District, candidates from all around gathered to try and get their names out there. Attending the event were the usual suspects of Mike Honda, Karyn Sinunu, James Beall Jr., and of course, Chuck and Cindy.

Once again, Chuck Reed found himself in a somewhat uncomfortably liberal environment. However, though Lofgren has openly endorsed Chavez, Chuck Reed was able to find some friendly faces amongst the sea of Cindy Chavez stickers and literature. Reed stuck around the barbecue for a little while, but left before Lofgren acknowledged his presence during her speech. I have to hand it to Reed though; it takes courage to show up at an event being thrown by a woman who has openly endorsed your opponent. And it took even more courage for Reed to show up sporting the same radicool Hawaiian shirt and slacks combo that looked so hot at the Santa Clara County Democratic Picnic last weekend.

Cindy Chavez received a warmer welcome at the barbecue partly because her campaign team was roaming the crowd putting Chavez stickers on every guest. The Chavez campaign team also took some advice from the Governator Jr. by setting up a booth with Cindy literature and a Reed piece in which he claimed that Republican women endorsed him. Some may call that harsh or even malicious, but I call it hilarious. If Chavez is going to be challenged on ethics, I can't think of anything fairer or more ethical than helping distribute your opponent's literature.

All in all, the event was a great display of maturity from both candidates. Once again, Reed and Chavez were cordial with each other and neither tried to steal the spotlight of the event. It's good to know that even though the voters are at each other's throats about this election, the candidates can keep their composure.

-SJ Rookie

The Finish Line (The Other Big Race in San Jose Part II)

The results are in from the Grand Prix and Sebastien Bourdais was crowned as the winner of Sunday’s main event. And while the smoke and hordes of people in attendance have cleared, the mayoral candidate who benefited most from the Grand Prix this year remains up in the air. Grand Prix organizer Dale Jantzen reported over 155,000 attendees during the three-day race, an increase from last year’s turnout despite the dark cloud hovering over the race this year. So it would appear that the Grand Prix was a success considering the circumstances.

However, despite the increase in attendance and the improved racing conditions, many remain skeptical about the Grand Prix in San Jose. Jantzen maintains his optimism regarding the economic impact of the race, but the Grand Prix is still in the red looking to make up the losses next year. Some spectators also had complaints about phantom bleachers that were never built. Any fans with tickets to the silver section 4D were surprised to find out that their seats didn’t exist. These fans were offered an upgrade to the gold section bleachers, but some fans remained unappeased and demanded their money back more adamantly than fans after an Ashlee Simpson concert.

Though some fans had a rough time at the race, when we look at the big picture, the Grand Prix made major improvements this year. The construction team created three bridges along the track to allow spectators to move freely from one side of the track to the other without the fear of a hit and run and 170 mph. Race organizers also spread out the bleachers to avoid congestion along busy streets in an effort to make the experience more appealing to spectators. While most of the kinks of the race were worked out during the Grand Prix’s sophomore year in San Jose, local businesses didn’t receive the boost they were expecting. Hotels lining the track were completely booked during the weekend, but the bars and restaurants at these hotels reported a drop in their sales. Other downtown restaurants also reported a drop in on-site sales, but an increase in race-related catering during the weekend.

Perhaps the Grand Prix isn’t quite as “grand” as it claims to be. Though great improvements have been made from the Grand Prix’s first year in San Jose, complaints have still surfaced. While the checkered flag defines a clear winner for the drivers, it doesn’t do much to help us find our mayoral winner. Like every news station in the 2000 election, maybe we called the winner of this Grand Prix controversy prematurely. Reed gets to stick to his guns that the Grand Prix is still in the red, and Chavez gets to boast the attendance numbers and money that came into the city. I guess it’s time we accept the Grand Prix for what it is, a Mediocre Prix. And who knows, maybe in a couple years they will work everything out and we can once again be home to the Grand Prix.

-SJ Rookie

Is Chuck Reed a Closeted Republican?

On Saturday, I attended the Santa Clara County Democratic Picnic at Rainbow Park. For the low price of a $10 donation, I got barbecued food, Doritos, and even a delightful Safeway Select Brand Cola. Needless to say, I didn’t go for the food. I went to hear some candidates speak. But while both mayoral candidates Cindy Chavez and Chuck Reed were in attendance, Chuck did not receive the opportunity to speak.

Reed, a life-long Democrat did not receive the endorsement of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. And if you take a look at his record, it is clear why. Mr. Reed should take a cue from Lance Bass and finally come out of the closet… as a Republican, or at least an Independent. I don’t have a problem with Lance Bass’s new identity and I don’t have a problem with Chuck Reed’s. It’s okay to be conservative – but just be honest about it. Let’s look at the facts…

-On October 25th, 2005, Chuck Reed voted against the City Council’s symbolic vote against Governor Schwarzenegger’s anti-abortion proposition (Prop 73 on the special election ballot). To clarify that triple negative sentence that my 4th grade teacher would kill me for writing, Reed is pro-life.

-On March 4, 2004, Chuck Reed voted against the city recognizing same-sex marriage. Again, on September 20th, 2005, Reed voted against a resolution urging Governor Schwarzenegger to sign a Civil Marriage Protection Act. All of the sudden, the Lance Bass analogy seems a little inappropriate. Ironically, the Civil Marriage Protection Act is the one thing that Chuck Reed agrees with Mayor Gonzales about. They provided the only two votes against the item. You see, nothing unites people more than intolerance.

-If there’s one issue Reed is not afraid to be conservative about, it’s money. He votes against the mayor’s budgets and against numerous subsidies, most notably, the Grand Prix subsidy and the new City Hall subsidy. Chuck Reed is like San Jose’s Grandpa, giving the city a nickel and telling the city not to spend it all in one place.

With all this in mind, it is no surprise that at the end of Cindy Chavez’s speech at Saturday’s Democrat Picnic, she recognized Mr. Reed’s presence but did not invite him up to speak. This decision from Chavez wasn’t made to spare the audience from Chuck’s classy Hawaiian shirt and dress pants ensemble, but more to spare Reed from a not so friendly welcome. After all, Reed has a mailer that declares, “Republican Women Endorse Chuck Reed”. To say the least, Chuck’s presence was much like a hardcore Boston fan in the bleachers at Yankee stadium…it was only a matter of time before his Hawaiian shirt was covered in peanut shells and sunflower seeds. San Jose can still thrive under a Republican or Independent or Democratic mayor. But a spade’s a spade and Reed should be upfront about his political affiliation. We all know how damning a “flip-flop” label can be for a candidate.