Saturday, August 05, 2006

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

4 Comments:

At 11:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I still don't really get Chuck's politics...

Is he a Demo or a Repub?

What does he officially claim to be?

 
At 11:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Seriously, what is it about San Jose male politicians and their Hawaiian shirts???

 
At 2:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Speaking of Chuck's "Democratic" politics, has anybody been following the Connecticut Senate race? Last night, Lamont was up by 6 points in some local polls. Today should be a very interesting day for the party in general. Being from out here in California, I'm not sure how they do Senate races on the East Coast. I presume we should have a winner by 5! If the Governators could give us any updates they have, it would be appreciated!

 
At 2:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know about Chuck's hawaiin shirts but I did appreciate dhk's earlier post on Chuck's law firm: (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=30709906&postID=115466142863057690)

Seriously, what is this guy about besides being opposed to Ron?!

Let's look at what he's done: http://www.chuckreed.com/voting/votingrecord.htm
(That's his voting record for those too lazy to click...)

On his campaign's website, he delightfully leaves off some of the key votes that the Governor Jr. put up in the earlier article . (Kudos gov/mr. rookie!)

[A quick sidenote: how funny is the final sentence at the bottom of his site - "**Candidates Michael Mulcahy and David Pandori did not appear before the City Council to voice an opinion about these issues." Come on, dude. You can try to make someone look bad for missing a vote, but you can't make a non-elected candidate look dumb for not COMMENTING at a city council meeting!]

Ok, so let's go section by section from the same part of Chuck's website:

Fiscal responsibility:
- ok, in that section, Reed writes about all the different things he OPPOSES.

Open government:
- Reed talks about giving the public more time to comment before the council votes... hmmm, alright. noble. but does this impact anybody in the real world? to me, this sounds more like his reform, reform, reform angle without any actual substance behind it. shoot, you could give me the most "OPEN GOVERNMENT" in the entire world, and if it isn't investing in education, revitalizing our parks, and helping people in their day to day lives, i could care less...

Honesty/Ethics:
- ok, here, Chuck talks about going after Terry Gregory and not endorsing Ron. Didn't the Republicans call this strategy the "Anybody But Bush" approach? any concrete ideas for what you are affirmatively going to do as mayor, buddy...?

Increasing taxes:
- Chuck voted AGAINST imposing a new phone tax and against asking for a new vehicle tax... I'm still waiting to read about something you've actually DONE!

Eminent domain:
- Chuck opposed the City's taking of Tropicana... ok, more oppositional votes... (and in this case, he shows his loyalty to his old buddy de la Rosa and his place in Tropicana...)
- he opposed expanding revelopment area....
- he opposed the Strong Neighborhood Initiative... (do i even need to repeat my original point?)

Support for Local Business
- ah, yes, here we go. finally, something Chuck is FOR... right? wrong... Chuck OPPOSED the labor council's community benefits initiative...
- oh, and he REFUSED to participate in an Eastridge boycott... so.... what have you done dude?

Other important issues:
- supported the investigation of the Mayor... yeah, buddy, you aren't a fan of the Mayor... I think we got it the last 100 times you said that...
- Chuck proposed changing the campaign finance rules... and... what happened? did it pass?

So let's summarize. Chuck, you need to have done SOMETHING to become Mayor. I don't care if you were in the minority on most issues in the Council. A Mayor needs to lead, needs to find compromise, and needs to get things DONE! I think your resume on the Council sets you up nicely to be a D.A. or an internal auditor. But not someone that the city can turn over its reigns to. I just can't believe you've been on the Council for 4 years but have NOTHING to boast of in your record besides things you voted against...

 

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