And that is part of Larry Stone's charm. He is a consummate politician and community leader with strong opinions on everything: arts, education, sports, housing and, of course, Proposition 13. He's been elected the county's assessor three times in a row. He's widely believed to be one of the most powerful leaders in Silicon Valley.

A visit to his office in downtown San Jose confirms this. Just outside his room is a section of wall dedicated to some of the important moments in Stone's political life. There are pictures of him with former President Bill Clinton, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and other public officials, along with memorabilia and framed newspaper articles about Stone. At 64, he has more than 30 years of public service experience.

He's a person one can like or hate but definitely can't ignore. He seems to show up everywhere. In fact, he won the honor of being named the 2004 Royal Schmoozer by the San Jose­Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

His two-time stint as the mayor of Sunnyvale (1979­1980,1987­1989) is still remembered as one of the glorious periods of the city's administration. In fact, the city's governance had become so effective then that it became a model for Clinton's efforts to reform the federal bureaucracy. Today, Stone is considered an influential deal maker with enough clout to hobnob with the upper echelons of the Democratic Party while at the same time lobbying Major League Baseball to bring the Oakland A's down to San Jose. He's also one of the founding members of the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation and the Arts Council of Silicon Valley.

Stone manages to have a finger in every significant pie in the valley.

"I've always felt the need to know the power structure of the community I live in. I need to know who the movers and shakers are," says Stone, as he sits in his office wearing his trademark suspenders over his business garb. He's been wearing suspenders since the 1970s. His metal-rimmed eyeglasses shift every time he flashes a smile.

Stone grew up in a middle class household in Seattle, Wash., and he recalls his father being actively involved in Boeing's union activities and later running for the state legislature.

"He lost by a narrow margin and never ran for any office again. But perhaps some of his political ambition rubbed off on me," Stone says. "But to me politics is not about going to events and gatherings so I can garner enough support for the next election. In that sense, I'm not a politician ... But I do enjoy a good debate and a good campaign. And I like winning. Not all public offices excite me. But positions where I can manage people and lead them are more exciting that mere policy making." He's referring to the time in 1995 when Norman Mineta quit his congressional seat mid-term to go to work for Lockheed Martin and offered the seat in Congress to him. But Stone says he turned it down because that was not the direction he wanted for his career.

This was not the only catapult to high power politics Stone shied away from. After Clinton was elected president, he gave Stone the option of choosing any job he wanted in the administration. "Of course, it was not any of the secretary-level jobs. But I could lead any department," Stone says.

For more than a week, Stone poured over a book that listed all the federal government job openings.

But there were only two that excited him--the General Service Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Clinton had already promised to two other people. "I could have picked anything else. But these were the only management kind of jobs that excited me. So I chose not to take up anything else," Stone says.

If there is on thing that will energize Larry Stone more than talking about politics, it's his vision for creating better communities. Having lived and worked on Wall Street in New York during the ´60s, Stone saw the influence arts and sports had on the Big Apple. He's passionate about every community needing good local museums, art foundations, sports arenas, excellent schools and affordable housing.

"That's the way to build a community that offers a rich quality of life. And being involved in politics gives me the ability to influence decisions to create a better community," Stone says.

Which why his name is bandied about as one of the vociferous proponents for bringing the Oakland A's to San Jose. While the whole process is embroiled in the territorial rights claim by the San Francisco Giants, who technically control the Major League rights in the San Jose area, Stone has been working behind the scenes for months to sort out the legal and financial fallout of such a move.

"There are so many naysayers in this community who claim it's impossible. But that's not the entrepreneurial mindset of this valley. We've always achieved what would once have been impossible. You need to have deal makers in the public office to achieve these things," he says.

Stone is the man San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales seeks out to broker these deals. "He is good at anything he decides to do. He gives it 100 percent," Gonzales says. "And Larry has a great deal of knowledge about the territorial rights issue. He's one of the main people I turn to when I need input."

Whether it's creating the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation, the Arts Council of Silicon Valley or partnering with the California Air and Space Museum Educational Foundation, Larry Stone leaves an indelible mark in all the projects he undertakes.

In 1984, Stone, along with Cupertino banker Don Allen, came up with the idea of selling surplus land owned by the Cupertino Union School District to create a fund for its educational projects. Today the endowment is worth more than $9 million and is one of the largest endowment funds in California.

Eleanor Watanabe, the executive director of the foundation, says, "Larry is a creative problem solver. He has the ability to listen to various perspectives of an issue and come up with a solution that captures all the angles. The creation of the fund itself is an example of that."

Bruce Davis, the executive director of the arts council, says the annual Hands On the Art Festival, organized by the city of Sunnyvale, would have been impossible without Stone's initiative. This multi-cultural children's art festival, in May of each year, allows children from toddlers to pre-teens to experience different art mediums, including Japanese brush painting, kite making and creating cornhusk dolls.

"Larry is extremely grounded to this community," Davis says. "Even if he is in Washington, D.C., on some political visit, he will always take my calls. He advises me on various issues. Many elected officials have huge egos and are very arrogant. Sure, Larry has a huge ego, but he can never be arrogant."

Stone knows how much clout he has, and he's not shy about putting his weight behind candidates he likes. And if they disappoint him he doesn't mince words letting them know what he thinks.

Last year, Stone supported Dean Chu for mayor of Sunnyvale. He says, "Dean is a smart guy. But being liked by the people around him has become more important to him than exercising good judgment."

In fact, Stone is outspoken about the entire council. "Right now you have a dysfunctional group of people sitting on the city council who pander to the loud voices. This is true of Sunnyvale and many other cities," he says. "You can be a political success by doing the right thing and not trying to please people to get re-elected. I'm a poster child for that."

Stone remembers a couple of years ago, when the city considered increasing its business license tax. He says he spent 1¹/2 hours on the phone giving his opinion of the issue at the request of council members. "In the end they did not have the guts to increase the tax. They bailed out when they have huge corporations sitting in their city," he says.

This two-time mayor recalls serving on the city council in the 1970s and ´80s with Ron Gonzales, a Sunnyvale resident then. "Those times we used to have huge debates. We [on the city council] did not see eye to eye on all issues. But it never became personal, like it has become now," he says.

One of Stone's biggest concerns in the 1970s was the passing of Proposition 13.

And he has continued to be vocal about his objections for years because he has never agreed that the law should give the same property tax breaks to multinational firms like Hewlett-Packard and Intel as it does to senior citizens. But he admits he was wrong to think that Prop. 13 would usher in the collapse of California's educational system.

But Stone, who is the president and CEO of the real estate development firm Larry Stone Partners, says he worries that the current housing and educational crisis in Silicon Valley will cause the ultimate collapse of this region. "Since the ´80s I have predicted five times that the housing bubble in this area was going to burst. But all five times I was proved wrong. The cost of housing in this area has just continued to skyrocket." He says his concern is that housing and the quality of education in this area could be the downfall of this place.

Stone equates the current state of things in Silicon Valley to the auto boom of Detroit in the 1920s, ´30s and ´40s. "Once that boom subsided, without good education and housing, that area could not sustain itself. Silicon Valley could become another Detroit. The only solution is to expand and enrich our communities," he says.

Stone's association with the real estate market while serving as a county assessor has raised a few eyebrows. The San Jose Mercury News recently ran an opinion piece suggesting that his longtime career as a developer and his public office could be in conflict with each other.

Stone responds unapologetically, "When I took over this office, everybody knew I was a developer. Nobody questioned it then. I've nothing to hide. Everybody knows that the only two properties I own in this county are my home and a 247-unit, low-income apartment building that I'm constructing. I strongly believe that people in public office should disclose all their assets and liabilities to the general public. In fact, four years ago or so, the Mercury News ran a front-page article listing all my income and assets much to my wife's disgust. So I'm irritated by these recent suggestions."

But Stone's life is not just about his political victories, breakthrough deals or community recognition. In a world that is obsessed with perfection, Stone's achievements also pay homage to overcoming personal obstacles. He has a speech impediment, an issue he has wrestled with all his life.

"I'm a very self-critical person," he says. "So when I go out and give a speech, which is about 65 times a year, I have to worry not just about the content of my speech, but also be conscious of whether I stutter because people don't have the patience. It's a double requirement for those with speech impediments."

Though his stuttering is hardly noticeable these days, his longtime friend Ron Gonzales says 30 years ago, it was more pronounced. "I'm full of admiration for Larry for the way he has overcome this issue. It has taken a great deal of practice and patience," Gonzales says. When many in Stone's position would choose to shy away from public life, Stone has embraced the struggle.

"He's an extremely passionate man, and he's passionate about so many things. Some might call it being obstinate," says Carmen Stone, his wife of 36 years. The couple also has three grown sons. "When he sets his mind on something, it's very difficult to stop him."

Carmen is perhaps the biggest grounding influence in Stone's life. "I'm his biggest admirer, and I'm also his biggest critic," she says, though she does not share his enthusiasm for political gatherings. She picks and chooses the events she wants to attend.

"I enjoy campaigning for him--walking precincts, making the phone calls and that sort of thing. But I stay away from parties and events," she says. Of course when the Clintons invited the Stones to stay at the White House, Carmen decided to go, she says with a twinkle in her eyes.

So what is in store for Larry Stone in the future? "Whatever I do I need to have an agenda that far exceeds my capabilities. Big decisions are things that you don't plan for. They just happen. But the one word that scares the hell out of me is 'retirement.' I don't ever intend to retire," he says.