On the campaign trail

Crime is the No. 1 topic at several local candidate forums; CA12 candidate says Barbara Lee ignored his business; GOP supe candidate says Brits assassinated Lincoln; Price/Thao recalls update

ELECTION 2024

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - DISTRICT 5

—ALCO D5 FORUM—A week ago, an Alameda County District 5 supervisorial endorsement meeting quickly morphed into a woke-a-thon.

—In one instance, Emeryville Councilmember John Bauters, who is white, appeared to suggest his “white privilege” disqualified him from winning the seat. Berkeley Councilmember Ben Bartlett, who is black, responded with a sly grin.

—The candidates hoping to replace long-time Supervisor Keith Carson reassembled in Albany on Tuesday night at a candidate forum that highlighted their stances on rising crime, the embattled county registrar, and the incorporated areas of Alameda County.

CRIME

—Typically, crime is the top issue at any of these forums, and the discussion last night was no different.

—Of the eight candidates on the Zoom call, only Oakland Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas made no reference to crime.

—No surprise there since Oakland has become the epicenter of crime concerns in that city and the entire county. Bas, instead, focused on what she calls the “Three H’s”—housing, homelessness, and health care.

—Others stuck to rising crime.

—“In 37 years of living between Oakland and Berkeley things have never quite felt this way,” said Ken Berrick, a candidate for District 5 and an Alameda County Board of Education trustee. “Crime is making so many people uneasy that people that I know, that I love, that have lived here all their lives are talking about leaving the Bay Area. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard it.”

—“It’s all I hear about all the time,” Bartlett said about crime.

—One of Bauters’ top issues is to “address the growing public safety issues that Alameda County has, and to ensure public safety personnel receive the support they need to provide for our common safety.”

—Chris Moore, who is registered as No Party Preference, downplayed the long list of endorsements his Democratic opponent reeled off at the start of the forum.

—“Those same politicians are the ones that are responsible for what we’re living in today.” Moore said of blight, crime, and homelessness.

MORE INSIDE: Subscribe today to receive all the East Bay political news in your inbox every weekday morning at 6 a.m.