News & Politics in Silicon Valley | Columns

The Fly: 09-10-08/fly-0837.html
Building Consensus | Empty Nest Syndrome | Two giants of San Jose's jazz world died in late August within a week of each other.

The Fly: 09-03-08
Not So Fast and Sig Alert

The Fly: 08-27-08
Who Needs Bolt? | Pillow Talk

The Fly: 08-20-08
Pay the Man | Multilevel Housing | Due South

The Fly: 08.13.08
Tesla Motors in San Jose? and Greens Strike Back

The Fly: 08.06.08
Cortese vs. VTA, Not Not Over and The Latest Dirt

The Fly: 07.30.08
Goodbye to Red Racks?, Banner Week and By Any Name

The Fly: 07.23.08
Red Alert and Lung Goodbye

The Fly: 07.16.08
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Can't Waite and Watch Your Head

The Fly: 07.09.08
Retail Hype, A Banner Week and Adult Swim

The Fly: 07.02.08
Square Pegs and Sketchy Politics

The Fly: 06.25.08
Just Like Starting Over, Snippy Cups and ABC & SJPD

The Fly: 06.18.08
Recall Totals, Internal Affairs and Missing Person

The Fly: 06.11.08
Certified crazy, Thanks for nothing and Racks rocked

The Fly: 06.04.08
Bradley Video closes and credit, but no credits

The Fly: 05.28.08
Sleeping in The Sunshine, Don't Mess With Teflon and Therein Lies The Scrub

The Fly: 05.21.08
Los Gatos skate park, District 2 County Supervisor and Bike to Work Day

The Fly: 05.14.08
I Don't Hear the Train A-Comin', Almost Never Forget and Old Country For No Men

The Fly: 05.07.08
Positive campaigning, Google Eyed and March Madness

The Fly: 04.30.08
Pete Constant uniform, Vietnamese-American candidates and an increase in the beer tax

The Fly: 04.23.08
San Jose needs a theme song, Nora Campos and the BAREC property

The Fly: 04.16.08
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, Chuck Reed's blacklist and Cyclist safety

The Fly: 04.09.08
San Jose Medical Center, Nora Campos and the VTA train wreck

The Fly: 04.02.08
One Hand Slapping, Right to Lie and Tiny Town

The Fly: 03.26.08
Who You Calling A Promoter?

The Fly: 03.19.08
He'll Drink To That, Recycling Progress and Gang Related?

The Fly: 03.12.08
Cold Calling, Daylight Savings, Saigon Split and Tiny Details

The Fly: 03.05.08
All a Board, Hollywood or Bust, It's Easy Being Green and The Best Defense

The Fly: 02.27.08
How misconduct allegations changed the Little Saigon battle; why the Eric Hernandez case doesn't add up

The Fly: 02.20.08
Mr. Saigon.

The Fly: 02.13.08
Just like starting over.

The Fly: 02.06.08
A little change of heart.

The Fly: 01.30.08
Swimsuit issues.

The Fly: 01.23.08
Riches to Rags.

The Fly: 01.16.08
Viet-ervention.

The Fly: 01.09.08
Stop the Merc, I want to get off.

The Fly: 01.02.08
Taser grand jury?

The Fly: 12.19.07
Nora's No-Shows, Bullet Measure & Bye Said Ted.

The Fly: 12.19.07
Supe or Sally, Fong Memories & Dome Love.

The Fly: 12.12.07
To Cross or Not to Cross, In the Dark & Tuesday Is Fight Night.

The Fly: 12.05.07
Sewer Services Down the Drain, Porno for Poli-Sci & Warning: Contains No Actual Juice.

The Fly: 11.28.07
Tap Dance, Recall by the Numbers & Wilcox Revisited.

The Fly: 11.21.07
Subplot of The Week, Win Like Nguyen & Need For Speed.

The Fly: 11.14.07
Gilroy Uprising, Grand Premio & Council's New Naysayer.

The Fly: 11.07.07
The Health Care Cliché Crisis, Who Hearts Porn & Peace In Our Time.

The Fly: 10.31.07
Fox Hunt, Elections—Not Just for 2008 & Palms Down.

The Fly: 10.24.07
Bait and Switch, The Diridon Factor, Shock Blocker & Log Jam.

The Fly: 10.17.07
No End In Blight, A Different Kind Of Council Race & Match Point.

The Fly: 10.10.07
Runaway Gonzo, Civic Minded & Get On With It!

The Fly: 10.03.07
Top-Heavy Dome, The Audit Couple, Ruff Life & Block Bloc.

The Fly: 09.26.07
Review This, Sam I Am Not (Running) and Stay Off Our Block.

The Fly: 09.19.07
Better Sled Than Dead, The Truth About Rubber Chickens and Throwing Up the Issue for Debate.

The Fly: 09.12.07
Hammer Time, Little Diddy and the Big Stink.

The Fly: 09.05.07
Parks, schools and retail projects in North San Jose.

The Fly: 08.29.07
Practically lost in last week's four-hour-plus City Council meeting was the unanimous approval of a CityWide Aquatics Master Plan.

The Fly: 08.22.07
Invasion San Jose.

The Fly: 08.15.07
More BANG for Dean Singleton's buck.

The Fly: 08.08.07
Wasting time in Santa Clara, part 2.

The Fly: 08.01.07
How to waste time In Santa Clara.

The Fly: 07.25.07
Blue Monkey gone to heaven.

The Fly: 07.18.07
With no Mexican border in sight, who would have guessed East Bay Minutemen are demonstrating in Campbell?

The Fly: 07.11.07
Nguyen weds: Madison's secret nuptials.

The Fly: 07.04.07
'Monday Night Live' recap.

The Fly: 06.27.07
Bill for Breakfast.

The Fly: 06.20.07
Gonzo vs. Sunshine.

The Fly: 06.13.07
Pierluigi to the rescue?

The Fly: 06.06.07
Jeppesen On Trial.

The Fly: 05.30.07
Sunnyvale's Trivial Pursuit.

The Fly: 05.23.07
Marco! Polo!

The Fly: 05.16.07
Singleton shuffle.

The Fly: 05.09.07
May Day! May Day!

The Fly: 05.02.07
Cinco de Mayo: Party with your pants on.

The Fly: 04.25.07
Radical thoughts for big VTA problems.

The Fly: 04.18.07
Get on the train.

The Fly: 04.11.07
Singleton to sell Sentinel property.

The Fly: 04.04.07
YouTube For President.

The Fly: 03.28.07
For those about to rock, we salute you.

The Fly: 03.21.07
No press pass for Sentinel.

The Fly: 03.14.07
A Pierluigi by any other name.

The Fly: 03.07.07
Scot Hunsaker's big splash.

The Fly: 02.28.07
Red-baiting apparently made a comeback when two Vietnamese opponents in San Jose's District 4 race started throwing around the 'C' word: 'communist.'

The Fly: 02.21.07
We knew things were getting messy in San Jose's District 6 race, but the hit piece that recently ran in the Merc was just ridiculous.

The Fly: 02.14.07
The Santa Cruz Sentinel becomes the latest Bay Area paper to get snatched up by MediaNews.

The Fly: 02.07.07
Wags around town are all aflutter about whether Nora Campos or Cindy Chavez will run next year for the seat of termed-out county Supe Blanca Alvarado.

The Fly: 01.31.07
Longtime resident James Rowen is blogging local Santa Clara politics with a page he calls Mission City Lantern, but one of his regular targets says he's got a hidden agenda.

The Fly: 01.24.07
Montecito Vista Park's real name should be No Baño Park.

The Fly: 01.17.07
After the thrill of election victories, San Jose's leaders will have to face an inconvenient truth: they're more white and more male than the city's government has been in a decade.

The Fly: 01.10.07
Exclusive photos of Mayor Chuck Reed's Jan. 9 inauguration.

The Fly: 01.03.07
Outgoing District Attorney George Kennedy is making sure new DA Dolores Carr has a full plate when she takes over.

The Fly: 12.27.06
San Jose has been scrambling for political cover since Metro revealed that SJ has the least swimming pools per resident of any big city in America.

The Fly: 12.20.06
Gonzo almost gets off.

The Fly: 12.13.06
Protesters get heated over one of the Downtown Ice skating rink's sponsors.

The Fly: 12.06.06
Merc employees are kept waiting in suspense as the new owners decide who goes and who stays.

The Fly: 11.29.06
Starbucks encourages customers to 'become more involved in your community through your local Starbucks store.' So why did they take down paintings provided by 'Screaming Man' creator Robert Therrien Jr.?

The Fly: 11.22.06
We all knew money was tight, but Fly didn't think it would come to this. Retired SJ cop Ken Stewart was forced to take the city to small claims court to make good on a pecuniary promise city officials made him several years ago.

The Fly: 11.15.06
Lost amid the hoo-hah of the higher profile races on election night was incumbent Jane Kennedy's re-election victory for a city council seat in Campbell.

The Fly: 11.08.06
You know you're in suburbia when inmates at the local county jail are more afraid of you than you are of them.

The Fly: 11.01.06
Has DA candidate Dolores Carr been doing business with a convicted child molester?

The Fly: 10.25.06
Why was Mountain View City Councilmember Michael Kasperzak so eager to have his colleagues vote on a resolution opposing Proposition 90?

The Fly: 10.18.06
Did Cindy Chavez violate independent expenditure guidelines when she showed up at the South Bay Labor Council's phone bank to cheer on her completely independent troops?

The Fly: 10.11.06
Fly's been getting complaints about what's becoming the most controversial funding pot in the valley, the city of San Jose's Healthy Neighborhoods Venture Fund (HNVF).

The Fly: 10.04.06
Is the South Bay losing the Montalvo Arts Center? That depends on who you talk to.

The Fly: 09.27.06
Corny jokes flew left and right at last week's Rotary Club meeting, which featured a face-off between the San Jose mayoral candidates.

The Fly: 09.20.06
One minute they're at each other's throats in one of San Jose's most competitive mayoral races; the next they're loitering in the shade together on a sunny afternoon. That's San Jose politics for you.

The Fly: 09.13.06
As the handout line grows at San Jose City Hall, Fly can't help but remember the last time city leaders considered dishing out for our 'national image.'

The Fly: 09.06.06
Today, things are looking a wee bit better for disgruntled Milpitas bar owner Frank Palladini.

The Fly: 08.30.06
Cindy Chavez slings mud at Chuck Reed.

The Fly: 08.23.06
The valley's worst new trend is hate crimes.

The Fly: 08.16.06
Fly has been busy poring through the more than 2,000 pages of grand jury transcripts released last week in the Gonzales indictment case. It's some of the most entertaining bedtime reading you'll ever encounter.

The Fly: 08.09.06
Who's watching that new blog Mayor Watch?

The Fly: 08.02.06
Check out the ginormous catering bill our hard-working public servants ran up at the San Jose Grand Prix.

The Fly: 07.26.06
Did former Mountain View City Councilmember Matt Neely give the finger to the City Council?

The Fly: 07.19.06
Staff and visitors at San Jose's downtown City Hall will soon be bringing steaming lattes to City Council meetings.

The Fly: 07.12.06
In a time when San Jose's government is at its dirtiest, can famously straight-arrow Chuck Reed stay clean?

The Fly: 07.05.06
Ron Gonzales didn't waste any time in playing the race card at last week's special City Council meeting.

The Fly: 06.28.06
Smug Alert! Mayor Ron Gonzales says, 'Not guilty! Y'all got to feel me!'

The Fly: 06.21.06
Is District Attorney George Kennedy playing musical chairs with his chief assistant spot again?

The Fly: 06.14.06
Medical marijuana activist Jim Lohse's race for the City Council should prove interesting.

Fly Extra: June 6 Election Coverage
The night in review.

The Fly: 06.07.06
An ongoing federal lawsuit against Santa Clara County has dragged more skeletons out of the coroner's closet.

The Fly: 05.31.06
Ron Gonzales could become the first mayor in modern San Jose history to resign in disgrace rather than face criminal charges.

The Fly: 05.24.06
Mayoral frontrunner Cindy Chavez gains allies in her feud with the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The Fly: 05.17.06
Mayoral frontrunner Cindy Chavez could face new problems in NORCAL investigation.

The Fly
The assessor's race is going to get downright brutal, that's for sure. Oh wait, it already is!

The Fly
Franklin-McKinley School District Supe Larry Aceves is set to retire from public duty, but he may be leaving some controversy in his wake.

The Fly
President Bush swaggered his way into San Jose to take part in the most boring panel discussion ever.

The Fly: No Subway Sandwiches in Downtown Saratoga
Saratoga residents disagree over bringing new business to downtown.

The Fly: Norcal Garbage Contract Scandal
San Jose City Attorney Rick Doyle arranges for several members of the council to be served with subpoenas in investigation.

The Fly: Eminent Disdain
San Jose Redevelopment Agency is target of initiative to limit powers; the future of newspapers look grim at Internet panel with San Jose Mercury and Salon.com speakers; Santa Clara VTA must improve bus safety for wheelchair passengers after losing lawsuit.

March 29-April 4, 2006
The Fly looks at the tiff over the Measure A sales-tax initiative in Santa Clara County; plus William Den Singleton and the San Jose Mercury News; garbage contracts and mayors's races in San Francisco and San Jose; and update on California textbooks and teaching Hindu history.

March 22-28, 2006
Did frontrunner DA candidate Karyn Sinunu flip-flop during last week's district attorney debate at City Hall?

March 15-21, 2006
San Jose lobbyists point the finger at San Jose mayoral candidate Michael Mulcahy; West Valley Mission Community College faculty wants a million a year in back pay; Cindy Chavez's mayoral campaign wassacked by ex- San Francisco 49er Ronnie Lott.

March 8-14, 2006
Should it be a crime to help an immigrant?; The new San Jose City Hall's custodians watch their jobs go down the toilet.

March 1-7, 2006
INS snafus delay Ballet San Jose dancer from Cuba; California leaders are turning to the Santa Clara University profs to examine the statewide criminal justice system; why did California Assemblymember Rebecca Cohn drop out of the race for Santa Clara County Supervisor?

The Fly
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales will leave behind a costly legacy.

The Fly
As if San Jose needs another controversy, we may soon have 8-year-olds marching on the Dome, thanks to an ordinance that would restrict the use of inflatable houses in local parks.

The Fly
Déjà vu for SJPD chief Davis.

The Fly
Prosecutors make a living off pointing fingers, so it's no wonder that they've resorted to that schoolyard tactic in the race for county D.A.

The Fly
San Jose still hasn't stepped forward on medical marijuana, but developments at the county level look promising.

The Fly
Zyng ends SJ fling.

The Fly
Legal marijuana is in limbo.

The Fly
San Jose Water Company withdraws its plan to log 1,000 acres on the Los Gatos Creek watershed.

The Fly
Fly has learned that Michael Mulcahy is seriously entertaining a bid to become mayor of San Jose.

The Fly
The verdict in the Michael Walker trial angers supporters of Walker's shooting victim, Rudy Cardenas.

Silicon Valley News
Palo Altans fight to save the Spangenberg Theater.

The Fly
This past week was surprisingly good to La Raza Roundtable chairman Victor Garza, yet he still isn't happy.

The Fly
A local taser death intensifies the debate over taser policies.

The Fly
Local nightclub owners are angry about the police's new club ordinance and how it was railroaded through.

The Fly
Valley Transportation Authority's Zero-Emission buses aren't all they're cracked up to be.

The Fly
Fly has been getting some disturbing calls from locals who've run into trouble with Child Protective Services.

The Fly
Halloween is over, but anyone following the Merc's coverage of the murder of Pamela Vitale has plenty of reason to be frightened.

The Fly
Putting the Race in DA Race.

The Fly
Hear that giant sucking noise? That's the sound of Knight-Ridder devouring independent media from the Silicon Valley.

The Fly
Electile Dysfuntion.

The Fly
Carol Myers, white flight watchdog.

The Fly
Measure C Déjà Vu?

The Fly
A FARSE of One.

The Fly
The Constant Gardener: Pete Constant quietly plants the seed for his District 1 campaign.

The Fly
Jungle George v. Garbagemayor.

The Fly
Maybe They'll Call it 'Classic Merc.'

The Fly
Bizarre Write-Up II the Flipsyde.

The Fly
You down with PHP?

The Fly
The San Francisco Chronicle has let its South Bay coverage go to pot.

The Fly
Grand Heft Auto: The Grand Prix was the most exciting auto-related thing to hit San Jose since Clint Eastwood filmed that car chase on what's now known as Highway 85 (that's how old that movie was).

The Fly
Newspaper deliveryman Manuel Coello's death shocks the Metro family.

The Fly
Hey kids, reading is fun! But giving you a place to do it is a different story.

The Fly
The Amazing Race: Cindy Chavez throws her hat into the ring.

The Fly
A Matter of Hubris.

The Fly
'Mercury' Falling.

The Fly
Regarding McEnery.

The Fly
How Strong Is Your Mayor?

The Fly
Fixing a Hole.

The Fly
Conan the Incumbent Booster.

The Fly
Dave Cortese's Bizarre Double-Take.

The Fly
No Stapler for You!

The Fly
District 7: The Contenders.

The Fly
Will the Mystery Sunnyvale City Council Whistle-Blower sign in, please?

The Fly
Dude, where's my web domain?

The Fly
4.20.05: This week's political bites.

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4.13.05: This week's political bites.

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4.06.05: This week's political bites.

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3.30.05: This week's political bites.

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3.23.05: This week's political bites.

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3.16.05: This week's political bites.

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3.09.05: This week's political bites.

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3.02.05: This week's political bites.

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2.23.05: This week's political bites.

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2.16.05: This week's political bites.

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2.23.05: This week's political bites.

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2.02.05: This week's political bites.

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1.26.05: This week's political bites.

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1.19.05: This week's political bites.

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1.12.05: This week's political bites.

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1.05.05: This week's political bites.

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12.29.04: This week's political bites.

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12.22.04: This week's political bites.

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12.15.04: This week's political bites.

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12.08.04: This week's political bites.

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12.01.04: This week's political bites.

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11.24.04: This week's political bites.

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11.17.04: This week's political bites.

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11.10.04: This week's political bites.

Silicon Valley News Notes: Election
From Palo Alto to the Almaden Valley, we buzzed through the parties of the political elite to find who had the best to offer this electoral season.

The Fly
11.03.04: This week's political bites.

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10.27.04: This week's political bites.

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10.20.04: This week's political bites.

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10.06.04: This week's political bites.

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10.13.04: This week's political bites.

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9.29.04: This week's political bites.

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9.22.04: This week's political bites.

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9.15.04: This week's political bites.

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9.08.04: This week's political bites.

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9.01.04: This week's political bites.

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8.25.04: This week's political bites.

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8.18.04: This week's political bites.

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8.11.04: This week's political bites.

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8.04.04: This week's political bites.

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7.28.04: This week's political bites.

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7.21.04: This week's political bites.

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7.14.04: This week's political bites.

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7.07.04: This week's political bites.

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6.30.04: This week's political bites.

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6.09.04: This week's political bites.

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6.02.04: This week's political bites.

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5.26.04: This week's political bites.

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5.19.04: This week's political bites.

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5.12.04: This week's political bites.

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5.05.04: This week's political bites.

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4.28.04: This week's political bites.

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4.21.04: This week's political bites.

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4.14.04: This week's political bites.

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4.07.04: This week's political bites.

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3.31.04: This week's political bites.

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3.24.04: This week's political bites.

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3.17.04: This week's political bites.

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3.10.04: This week's political bites.

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3.03.04: This week's political bites.

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2.25.04: This week's political bites.

The Fly
Could San Francisco's progressive gay marriage policy affect San Jose?

The Fly
Silicon Valley's business elite gives thumbs up to Schwarzenegger's bond plan.

The Fly
Mayor Ron Gonzales' lost State of the City speech; students protest Gov. Schwarzenegger's education cuts.

The Fly
New superintendent left to clean up school district financial mess.

The Fly
Schwarzenegger's camp is most likely rejoicing after the abrupt departure of Assemblymember Sally Lieber's anti-Bush district director, Doug Winslow.

The Fly
San Francisco's new mayor ducks questions about his SCU past.

The Fly
Metro's new column kicks off with a report on the announcement of San Jose's next police chief, Rob Davis.