2004
Google goes public at more than $100 a share – Ex-NFL player Pat Tillman killed in action in Afghanistan – Facebook opens in Palo Alto – Ousted HP chairperson Patricia Dunn goes on trial in San Jose for spying on reporters – Investment banker Frank Quattrone convicted for obstructing justice – Google’s founders announce plans to scan and archive books – Restored California Theatre opens – Palo Altan Robert Klein spearheads Prop. 71 for stem cell research
Golfzales
When Ron Gonzales became mayor of San Jose, he sat in nosebleed seats at 49ers games and putted at the San Jose Municipal Golf Course. Now he’s rubbing shoulders with billionaires at “the next Pebble Beach”—an exclusive championship course [Corde Valle Golf Club] in San Martin where memberships cost a quarter-million dollars—thanks to his generous lobbyist friends.
While community members, local business people and members of the media can only hope for a return call from His Mayorness (he was way too busy with more important matters to talk to us for this article), his silver-tongued buddies get hours of quality face time in a gorgeous, relaxed setting far from the earshot of the pesky media or others concerned about access, ethics and influence. Afterward, they can enjoy roasted John Dory over baby eggplants with roasted red bell pepper sauce prepared by chef Vincent Russo, or a fat, moist stogie in the cigar room. Dan Pulcrano, June 16, 2004
The Next Four Years
Well, the first thing to do is get drunk—sloppy, swearing drunk. You’ll have company, because Bay Area bars are swollen with grief-stricken men and women. Getting drunk isn’t going to hurt anything. You may be an irresponsible drunk today, but maybe you’ll be president tomorrow. It’s happened before. Before passing out, fix one image in your mind: the great Wheel of Fortune, first described by the fifth-century philosopher Boethius in The Consolations of Philosophy: What comes up must come down. RvB, Nov. 10, 2004
