Campaign spending in the 2024 Santa Clara city election came close to $3.1 million, with PACs spending $2.9 million, dwarfing the $205,000 spent by individual candidates. 49ers Maintain Historical Spending, Related and Police Union Pull Back The 49ers’ $2.4 million in spending was similar to what they spent in the 2022 election. Related spent $115,000 … Read more
The simple story of Santa Clara’s 2024 election is that individual candidate finances are almost not worth talking about because of the way they are dwarfed by independent expenditure committee spending. As the 2024 campaign winds to a close, campaign donations to individual Santa Clara candidates for city races total $143,000 — 5% of close … Read more
As you might expect during the election season, a lot of money is being spent on election materials arriving in your mailbox. Some of these contain a grain of truth, some are forthright and a few are outright lies. Personally, I like most of our sitting council members. I like the courage they have exercised … Read more
Real estate lobbyist and political maven Jude Barry has emerged from the shadows, playing a possible role in the November election and in a local politician’s perjury trial. Barry attended a July 19, 7 p.m. meeting on a “Related Santa Clara update” on Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s calendar. Gillmor met with Barry and District 6 council … Read more
Is it possible there is political manipulation in Santa Clara? Maybe not crossing the line into Al Capone territory, but perhaps enough to cause residents to ask the question. There are a few questions for which voters would like explanations — explanations that are not quickly forthcoming. One of these is why the Santa Clara … Read more
Nearly a week after the county deadline for filing ballot resolutions, opponents of appointing Santa Clara’s police chief are threatening to sue over the March 2024 ballot measure. They say the language is misleading when it asks voters whether the City’s police chief should be an appointed position. The complainants make no similar complaint against … Read more
The Santa Clara Police Officers Association (POA) and its PAC appear to be violating — or at the very least skirting — laws barring unions from using member dues for political campaigns as well as FPPC disclosure regulations. The police union and PAC declined to answer The Weekly’s questions about its political activities. An “Informational” … Read more