“Patrick is not a professional politician.
He will bring a different approach and offer
new solution to the tough problems we are
facing today.”

--Jerry Ebling

“It’s time for a change on the City Council.
I have listened to Patrick’s idea about creating jobs,
fighting gang violence and improving our community’s
education and health care services. I like what I hear so
I’m voting for Patrick.”

--Eugenia Hampton

Press

San Jose Councilwoman Madison Nguyen again fighting for political life

Internal Affairs: New entrant might shake up San Jose council race

By the Mercury News
Posted: 01/31/2010

“At least one incumbent appears to have a serious challenger. Patrick Phu Le, 60, a county health commissioner and longtime community activist who's a friend and adviser to Councilman Kansen Chu, is hoping to replace District 7 Councilwoman Madison Nguyen…Nguyen's resistance to naming a Vietnamese retail area along Story Road "Little Saigon" outraged many of her constituents…"I'd like to give a fair choice to the community," he [Le] said.

Read the full article here: http://www.mercurynews.com/internal-affairs/ci_14296808

Past spending decisions haunt San Jose budget

By John Woolfolk
03/14/2010

San Jose is in the red — deep, deep in the red.

And as the City Council this week prepares to vote on Mayor Chuck Reed's yearly budget message, four key spending decisions from the past are under scrutiny like never before.

In richer times, city leaders saw them as savvy uses of the public's money. Turning a historic mansion into a conference center and building a Latino arts center were touted as ways to preserve San Jose's heritage. Two new golf courses promised to capitalize on the Tiger Woods-inspired golfing boom. And sweetened retirement benefits for police officers, firefighters and other city workers were crafted to keep employees from jumping ship amid the dot-com craze.

Today, those moves collectively add tens of millions of dollars to a $116 million deficit. Critics say they are luxuries San Jose can no longer afford, financial sinkholes that should be unloaded, unseemly handouts as taxpayers' own retirement funds lose altitude.