2010 Oakland Mayor's Race

Here are my thoughts on the Oakland mayoral race.  Realistically, there are 3 candidates with the name recognition, experience, and connections to possibly win: Don Perata, Jean Quan, and Rebecca Kaplan.  A fourth candidate, Joe Tuman, is working hard to reach voters and appears to be benefiting from the general anti-incumbent mood (as well as his base among long time friends in Oakland.)  Then there are another 6 candidates, all well-meaning citizens, but who lack the campaign staff and infrastructure needed to make a serious run.  I believe all these candidates should be thanked for giving up months out of their lives to put themselves and their ideas out there..

As many of you know, I am active with the Sierra Club locally.  We conducted interviews to determine our endorsement in this race in late August.  I participated in all the interviews.  We endorsed Kaplan #1, Quan #2 and Perata #3.  Rebecca Kaplan (click for questionnaire) presented in superior vision and  for how to "fix Oakland" in a sustainable fashion.  She has an excellent plan to make Oakland a more transit and pedestrian (and bicycle) friendly city.  She knows who the key people are in the city to get things done, and admits that the next mayor will have a major role to play in appointing department heads over the next 4-6 years (many city employees are set to retire.)  Rebecca has excellent grasp of fiscal policy, as well.  Jean Quan, meanwhile, has very good "green credentials."  She is quick to mention the help she provided to the Sierra Club for our tree planting campaign (which is much appreciated), and I know she is passionate about watershed protection.  Don Perata had a good environmental voting record during his time as a state senator in Sacramento.  He won an award from the Sierra Club California for his work defending AB32 from Republican attacks.  So each has something to champion in terms of the environment and the things the Sierra Club cares about.

In terms of the campaigns, Rebecca appears to be hitting the phones hard, is making appearances all over the city and appears to have a base among the artist / progressive / Oakland black chamber of commerce and younger environmentalist crowd.  Jean Quan meanwhile has a lot of neighborhood activists wearing "Taking Oakland Block by Block" shirts, and also counts many environmentalists among her supporters.  She has basically been campaigning for over a year and I think a lot of her hard work cultivating supporters and volunteers is paying off.  Don Perata, meanwhile, has the best campaign ads and videos.  He also has people walking the streets for him.  When I saw his ad showing him sweeping the street in East Oakland the first time, I had to laugh.  However, Don is allowing his friends the Prison Guards to try and influence the campaign with negative attacks on Jean Quan.

In summary, all three of the top candidates I mentioned could be a good mayor.  But who will win?  And how will they succeed in addressing some of Oakland's problems, such as the looming $589 million budget deficit?  I cannot predict it.  But the next mayor will need to work hard at getting their colleagues on the council to work together.  During the 5 years I have lived here and observed the city council, it has unfortunately been marred by a lot of divisiveness.  The missing element, in my opinion, is a mayor who can bring the warring council members together and get them to agree on important issues.  Will Don Perata be able to bring together the council?  He appears to have his favorites picked out already.  How will he get the rest of the council to work with him, if they do not agree?  What about Jean Quan?  I could see her getting the council to work together.  But there is pretty visible personal animosity between her and some other council members.  So I see Rebecca Kaplan as the best "coach" and "facilitator".  She is a fresh face, positive, enjoys good relations with other elected officials - but she's not inexperienced, either.  I am confident she is the best choice for mayor.

Come Nov. 2nd, I think Oakland voters will vote according to what they believe is best for the city.  America as a whole seems to only accept short term solutions, but Oaklanders in this respect appear to know better.  Maybe that's because they've been through long hard times as a city before.

Sierra Club convention, Feingold for Senate

I'm wrapping 2 posts in one here - one per paragraph.

Today I spent the day at the Sierra Club national headquarters with 60 other chapter delegates from across the country at the meeting of the "Council of Club Leaders."  This is like a convention where people all gather to work out their differences and propose new "rules of the Sierra Club."  It is essentially an excercise in democracy, except of course, we are all pretty much united by our belief in the "John Muir and Redwoods" goals to "explore, enjoy and protect" the planet and nature.  I also got to meet new ED Michael Brune as well as most of the national board of directors.  They are really hard working.  Especially the board always amazes me.  They do all this work for nothing except to serve the movement!  You basically can't do this and have a regular job at the same time.

In other news, I was sad to hear, through the Wisconsin delegate who attended the convention, that Russ Feingold from my home state is trailing in the polls.  This is deeply disturbing.  First, because Russ is a true blue progressive voice, who has never - or let's say much more rarely than any other politician I know - compromised his beliefs.  He was the sole dissenting voice who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001.  Secondly, Russ is such a solid debater, speaker and campaigner, that it saddens me that so many citizens of Wisconsin are buying the claims of his opponent that Russ is wrong for the state.  I took the time to listen to a good analysis of what is happening there posted on the nation online.  The idea that the changing media landscape is allowing a well heeled challenger who allies himself with the Tea Party to "dictate the message" to ignorant voters (because they don't get any news about what their current Senator is really doing) is pretty scary.  Here is what I think: if the people of Wisconsin actually took the time to understand what is going on, instead of blaming the current administration for the economic mess we're in, I cannot imagine that Russ would be challenged to win in a serious way.  And, what happens in Wisconsin is no doubt happening in many other states.  Anger is trumping reason.