San Jose City Council Race Takes A Turn For The Nasty

SAN JOSE (KCBS) - With just a couple of weeks to go before the November election, an already contentious City Council race in East San Jose just got more heated.

This latest twist involves a criminal investigation by Santa Clara's District Attorney's office amidst allegations over the past year of misappropriation of funds and disappearing pensions at the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) office on Sinclair Drive.

It has helped fuel the battle for City Council in District Five between Xavier Campos and Magdalena Carrasco. Campos used to be the Chief Operating Officer there until he left in 2008.

KCBS' Mark Seelig Reports:

Computers were seized as well as financial records, but it became clear that Campos is not a suspect in the case.  Campos said that his opponent has been leading the charge against the Center and feels vindicated today.

"Magdalena Carrasco and her downtown corporate backers need to apologize to the residents of East San Jose for this outrageous behavior," stated an angry Campos.

Meanwhile, Carrasco has her own take on the situation and said that Campos hasn't been named a suspect yet and that Campos is claiming a "short-sided victory."  Carrasco issued a press release on Friday urging Campos to address the matter.

She says at the very least, Campos needs to answer tough questions about the way he ran MACSA while he was there and that there are unanswered questions about disappearing pensions. For the past year the district attorney has investigated the agency over whether its officials might have embezzled money connected to teacher retirement funds.

Local pundits have agreed that this race has seen it all, including mystery campaign mailers sent to voters that painted Carrasco as a communist, prompting some to call it one of the nastiest races in San Jose history.

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