Assemblymember Alex Lee is cozying up to Sen. Aisha Wahab’s recall proponents

BART board director seeks challengers to her colleagues' re-election; Year-old video emerges of Newark mayor cursing out popular YouTuber

Assemblymember Alex Lee speaking at a fundraiser last month hosted by one of the leaders of a recall campaign against state Sen. Aisha Wahab.

LEGISLATIVE NEWS

10TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT

—TREACHERY—South Bay Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee was featured at a fundraiser two weeks ago organized by one of the individuals leading the effort to recall fellow Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab.

—Lee was the guest of honor at a fundraiser in Fremont on July 26 hosted by Romesh Japra, a Hindu nationalist who, along with Democratic congressional candidate Ritesh Tandon, is seeking to recall Wahab.

—The target of their ire is Wahab’s SB 403, legislation that would ban discrimination based on the caste system in California. Conservative Hindus in the South Bay assert the bill actually discriminates against them and they have been very vocal in the opposition in both Sacramento and Fremont.

—For Lee, the appearance at the Japra fundraising is a shockingly disloyal act on several levels, and follows South Bay Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low also befitting from a fundraiser from the same group last month.

Invitation for the Alex Lee fundraiser in Fremont and Romesh Japra.

—Lee’s assembly district and Wahab’s state senate district overlap. Both, of course, are Democrats, and share common causes. The pair campaigned today last fall. Lee and Wahab are both pro-renter and belong to the inaugural Renters’ Caucus.

—Lee was first elected to the assembly in 2020 by way of a quirk in the state’s top two primary system. Lee won the primary with a mere 15 percent of the vote in a race that included seven Democrats bifurcating the vote in a deep blue district.

—Meanwhile, the primary included just one Republican candidate, which rocketed Brunton into a General Election he could never win based on the district’s sharp lean towards Democratic voters.

—The 2020 General Election matchup with Republican Bob Brunton yielded a blowout for Lee. The same scenario in the November 2022 rematch brought Lee a third term with a record devoid of much distinction.

—Lee’s long-shot strategy here by hobnobbing with Wahab’s recall leaders is a rumored desire for the 10th State Senate seat going back to last year.

—It’s a dubious strategy since the effort to recall Wahab is not likely to go anywhere and neither is Wahab, who has gained far more respect in just her first eight months from the likes of the state Senate’s leadership and Gov. Gavin Newsom than Lee ever has in three years.

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CITY NEWS

NEWARK

—LAZY BONES—Kudos to the folks at the East Bay Times. On Sunday, the much-maligned newspaper reported that then-Newark Councilmember and current Mayor Michael Hannon was featured not returning his shopping cart to its proper parking lot stall in a popular YouTube series named “Cart Narcs.”

—The video is glorious showing the guilty Hannon dropping an F-bomb on the host, who he also called a “litter bug,” before flinging magnets in the parking lot. Good stuff revealing the true self of one of Alameda County’s two Republican mayors.

—Except, the YouTube video is a year old. Nevertheless, it’s a classic, although not an instant classic.