August 3, 2009
Morning News Round-Up — 8.3.09: $20 million here, $20 million there…
San Jose employee unions can’t be happy about a new audit the City Council will be hearing about this week. The audit says that the City could save $20 million/ year just be bringing employee health benefits in line with the private sector AND in line with other government agencies. Expect a backlash from labor-backed City Councilmembers. (Too bad there isn’t a local blog reacting to the audit…) Local public employee unions should be glad they don’t operate in San Mateo County. Up there, there is a County-wide task force looking at public employee benefits and pensions… The Merc. Editorial Board also thinks health benefits and pensions should be a priority.
The Merc’s Scott Herhold must read Watch Dog. His piece in Sunday’s paper was titled: DA Dolores Carr deserves a re-election opponent. Amen Brother. We even listed some potential (re-election) suspects (through links) last week.
Changes as the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International (?) Airport are being seen as a good thing by passengers. Unfortunately, as the airport gets better, the flights get fewer…
The East Side Union High School District has a new Acting Superintendent. Raising the obvious question, wasn’t the last one just an “acting” Superintendent. (That’s a pun people…)
Did you know that the next Secretary of State (?) is getting re-married? That’s right. You just probably don’t know who the next Secretary of State was going to be. But it’s State Senator Elaine Alquist… and she is about to be off the market again.
Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro is under fire… and it isn’t (all) about the Recall. This time he is getting dinged for cuts to public safety. Actually, this is all about the Recall — and the saga is growing. Mayor Gage?
The Merc’s Internal Affairs can’t get enough of the blogwars in San Jose, probably because San Jose Inside is getting new (?) information out every Friday afternoon. This time, they SHOW ME THE MONEY… sort of.
Speaking of Phil Bump…
According to Mission City Lantern, the former Campaign Manager for Cindy Chavez for Mayor (Justin Schall) and former Political Director for the South Bay Labor Council (Phil Bump) are working on the campaign for Eric Goia for New York City Public Advocate. The Dream Team reunites… Somewhere on the 18th floor, Mr. Jansen is smiling.
While we are on the topic… San Jose Revealed seems to be down today. But Phil Bump did have time to see 500 Days of Summer this weekend and wrote a review. Whether Phil Bump is Revealed or not, he is a good writer. In short, 500 Days of Summer sucked, according to Phil Bump.