On Prop 50, Mahan and SJ Council ally with radical left Democratic Socialists
SJ Mayor Matt Mahan and his supporters on the SJ City Council continued their trek to the far left by endorsing Prop 50, the election-rigging initiative that will disenfranchise voters with minority viewpoints all around the state. CMs Mulcahy, Foley, and Doan voted with Mahan to endorse 50, as did CM George Casey, who was the lone vote at council opposing the misguided Measure A. Prop 50 is endorsed by the California Democratic Socialists of America. Their argument for 50, excerpted below, bears many similarities with Mahan's contorted logic endorsing 50.
Read More
Mahan, Ellenberg ally with local hard-left socialist party on taxes
SJ Mayor Mahan says he wants to "govern from the middle." That middle appears to be rapidly tilting left. He's a fellow traveler with the Silicon Valley Democratic Socialist Party on Measure A. The DSA's reasons for supporting A, excerpted below, make for interesting reading.
Read More
Investigation: Santa Clara County pushes tax hike with “no plan to reign in spending”
To address a budget shortfall, Measure A will raise the sales tax up to 10.5%. This comes after the supes scoured the budget for savings, right? According to Santa Clara News Online, no such effort has been made. Instead, SC County leaders let rising costs strain the $13 billion government without even asking why, much less attempting to trim the fat. Robert Haugh reports.
Read More
☆ Election integrity expert: the ability to vote is a “bipartisan issue”
There’s nothing more partisan than a disputed election, however, voting and cybersecurity consultant Harry Haury says that as US citizens, “we all ought to be paying attention to whether our government is working like it’s supposed to, lawfully.” We caught up with him during his recent visit to the Bay Area for an Opportunity Now exclusive Q&A.
Read More
"No on Measure A" files FPPC complaint over campaign law violations by “Yes on Measure A” committee
On Wednesday the No on Measure A committee filed a formal complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against the Yes on Measure A, Santa Clara County Public Health and Safety Coalition, sponsored by public health, safety, and labor organizations, and Sheriff Robert Jonsen, alleging multiple violations of California’s Political Reform Act and Government Code Section 3206. A press release from the "No on A SCC 2025" committee is below.
Read More
☆ Money for nothing? Pat Waite asks where Santa Clara County’s tax dollars have gone
SC County residents have already begun voting on a 5/8-cent sales tax increase, which they’re told will be “temporary” and will “save the hospitals.” But are either of these incantations believable? SVBA’s Pat Waite flips through county’s greatest hits: so-called “temporary” taxes that never went away—and underdelivered on what they promised. An Opportunity Now exclusive Q&A.
Read More
Cupertino Mayor: there’s a better way than Measure A to rescue public hospitals
Measure A is “good money after bad,” said Cupertino Mayor Liangfang Chao at a rally last week, citing mismanagement as the problem which a sales tax won’t fix. The coming $3 billion yearly deficit has nothing to do with federal cuts: the hospitals were already “bleeding money.” She urged those gathered to look at El Camino Hospital, which runs at a surplus and isn’t asking for a regressive sales tax to stay afloat.
Read More
Measure A piles more taxes on a “broken healthcare system," says local youth leader
Taxpayers should demand accountability from their government, said Los Altos Institution fellow Athan Joshi. At a rally against Measure A, the Opportunity Now wunderkind contributor (he's in high school) reminded his audience that the 5/8-cent sales tax is the latest, but not the last, in a decades-long cavalcade of tax hikes funding “mediocre services.” Some residents will even be “double taxed,” he warned, to prop up bloated payrolls and retirement benefits for SC County employees.
Read More
☆ Opinion: why Santa Clara County deserves real solutions, not another tax
Santa Clara County Assessor candidate Bryan Do says that when the government faces a budget shortfall, the easy answer is almost always the same: raise taxes. Measure A, the County’s proposed 5/8-cent sales tax increase, is exactly that kind of “easy answer.” But just because it’s easy, says the East Side Union High Trustee, doesn’t make it right. An Opportunity Now exclusive op/ed.
Read More
The Force awakens
Mayor Mahan and faux pro-business SJ CM's link arms with The Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America in endorsing the widely-panned Measure A. But George Casey, CM for District 10, sets them straight.
Read More
☆ Local leaders support Cupertino’s vote to oppose Measure A
Cupertino Mayor Liangfang Chao and the City Council called out Santa Clara County’s “suspicious special-election timing,” says Purissima Hills Water District Director Brian Holtz. By voting to oppose the sales tax hike, Cupertino demonstrated “true leadership” says County Assessor candidate Rishi Kumar. Silicon Valley Business Alliance Treasurer Pat Waite commends the “principled stance against Measure A.” An Opportunity Now exclusive commentary.
Read More
Measure A unmasks systemic corruption
The county Measure A campaign reveals deeply unethical impulses informing our local political ecosystem. Citizens need to demand better, or risk becoming enablers. Our Weekend Reading unpacks the issues in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read More
