The ongoing divide between old school Alameda County Dems and the young upstarts
The curl is gone; Oakland revisits license plate readers, solving violent crimes
ELECTION 2022
Days until Election Day: 57.
ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMOCRATS
—PARTY FOUL—Robin Torello wanted a few minutes for each of the chairpersons for the Oakland, Ohlone Area, and Dublin United Democratic Campaigns to address Alameda Count Democratic Central Committee members last week. But some committee members responded negatively as the meeting’s regularly scheduled time was winding down.
—With her voice steadily rising, Torello said, “May I point out that one of the most important things of this body is to elect people.”
—“Why are you yelling,” a central committee shot back. “Because I want to be heard,” Torrello responded.
—The brief exchange highlights the push-pull that has existed over the past few years between veteran central committee members focused on fundraising and winning elections, and younger members energized by curing social ills.
—Last week, a group of central committee members highlighted the differing views for the Alameda County Democratic Party when they attempted to pass a resolution that would have publicly-admonished the organizers of Oakland Pride.
—The issue stems from the organizer allowing a candidate for the Fremont school board that has made a number of inflammatory comments about LGBTQ members and transgender people to participating at the recent Oakland Pride event.
—Some central committee members, in particular those hailing from the LGBTQ community, said they were torn. Central Committee member Sean Dugar said it sets a troubling precedent for the central committee to tell a non-profit group like Oakland Pride, with no connection to the local party, how they should run their own event.
—Other committee members voiced similar issues with the proposed resolution despite a number of South County-based members urging for the local party to do more. The resolution was ultimately downgraded to a letter to be sent by the party’s chair.
The candidate at the center of the proposed resolution is Fremont school board candidate Jennifer Kavouniaris, a first-time candidate challenging incumbent Fremont School Boardmember Dianne Jones. I’ll have more on the rise of Kavouniaris in the Fremont school board race, her comments, and the fears many opponents in the area are voicing.
OAKLAND MAYOR
—The collective wheels of the entire Oakland mayoral races feels like its gone off the rails. The inability of the Big 3 candidates—Sheng Thao, Loren Taylor, and Treva Reid—to differentiate themselves fell prey last week to the race’s sideshows. This is not a good sign for any of the top-tier candidates. Neither is it good for the residents of Oakland.
—Instead of talking about how the next mayor will solve violent crime and alleviate seemingly chronic homelessness, the big focus was on a bottom-tier candidate’s unseemly email to Alameda County Democratic Party officials. Mayoral candidate Peter Liu’s anti-Semitic screed was reprehensible. But Liu has provided shocking comments in all the other unfunded campaigns he’s waged over the past decade, from bids for governor to congress, and several mayoral runs.
—His aim is always to shock either through inflammatory comments or humor. For example, Liu’s statement to me following a call by the Alameda County Democratic Party to apologize for his comments was (no joke here) “Kiss Ma Butt Bitches.”
—Predicting Liu’s electoral performance this fall is quite easy. He will garner around one percent of the vote. It begs the question why, Thao’s campaign jumped at the chance last week to issue a lengthy video statement to call on Liu to drop out of the race.
—The address did feel very mayoral. It was a good look until Thao linked Liu with Seneca Scott, another mayoral candidate in the race. Scott has been a thorn in Thao’s side for the past month by incessantly attacking her positions. Scott, though, projects as a candidate whose ceiling is probably no more than five percent of the vote this November. Why bother?
—But Thao’s campaign has been obsessed with Scott to the point where conspiracy theories have begun rising to the top. One is that Scott is working with other mayoral campaigns. But Oakland’s use of the ranked-choice voting system is designed to theoretically encourage this type of teamwork.
—Time is running out before vote-by-mail ballot arrive next month and none of the Big 3 and the plus-one Ignacio De La Fuente have broken free from the pack. What is likely to occur is the campaign for the next mayor of Oakland is going to come down big money spent by labor unions for Thao and various independent expenditure committees backing her opponents.
SAN LEANDRO MAYOR
—CURL IS GONE—The B.B. King classic blues song, “The Thrill is Gone,” was originally penned as the “Curl is Gone.” It’s a fact not known by many because I just made it up. What is true, however, is that San Leandro mayoral candidate Bryan Azevedo has apparently retired the strange lone curl dangling dangerously over his forehead. The odd hairstyle had been compared to Superman and professional wrestler Scott Hall, better known as Razor Ramon.
—Azevedo told a political insider that he drew luck from the curl, which started appearing earlier this year. Incidentally, the hit Frank Sinatra tune, “Luck Be A Lady Tonight,” was originally penned as “Luck Be A Curlicue For This Election.” The lyric was changed because, you know, it had too many syllables and it made no sense.
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—FORK IN THE ROAD—The Oakland Privacy Commission, the vanguard for keeping tabs on the slow creep of surveillance in the East Bay, is recommending the Oakland City Council discontinue use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs). The item is featured in Tuesday’s Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee meeting.
—For the past year, the Oakland Police Department has asked for the use of ALPRs to continue, but the Oakland Privacy Commission has been troubled by OPDs inability to provide data on the efficacy of the camera’s success in preventing and solving crime. Two competing resolutions comes before the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. Either move forward with ALPRs or discontinue their use.
—SOLVING CRIMES—Oakland’s clearance rate for solving violent crimes is poor. One of the reasons cited is its decrepit records management system. For example, OPD relies on spreadsheets to track homicides and shooting metrics, according to a staff report. The recordkeeping system is apparently in the process of a serious upgrade.
—Meanwhile, improving the rate of solving violent crimes has been a talking point for Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor’s mayoral campaign. Alas, the issue comes to the Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, which Taylor is a member. Taylor has proposed greater accountability for increasing clearance rates of violent crimes through publicly accessible dashboard of statistics.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
—CENTRAL PERK—The Alameda County Democratic Central Committee received a total of $7,000 in contributions over the weekend to go with $3,000 on Friday. Why is the central committee’s increased fundraising effort important? It’s another way for Alameda County Democratic Party-endorsed candidates to receive financial support. On that note, the local party’s big endorsement meeting is this Saturday, Sept. 17.
—SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY—There had been some grumblings that South Bay Democrats and labor could have done more to help progressives in the June primary. Over the weekend, the South Bay South Bay Labor Council spent $2,691 on a field and phone campaign, along with a slate walk card for progressive 10th State Senate District candidate Aisha Wahab, according to a finance report filed on Sunday.
—MONEYBALL—It was a slow weekend on the fundraising front. Perhaps everyone was watching Week 1 of the NFL season? Below is Form 497 contributions ($1,000 or more) filed Friday afternoon through Monday morning. *-local city campaign contribution limit.
COUNTY
ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY
—Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West PAC, $5,000; Asian Pacific Caucus of the Democratic Party Alameda County, $2,000.
ALAMEDA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS-DIST. 3
—Lena Tam (Alameda County Board of Supervisors-Dist. 3), Rental Housing Association of Southern Alameda County PAC, $4,000; ENGEO Incorporated of San Ramon, $1,000; Sue Chan for Ohlone Board Trustee, $500; Herbert Chiu of Foster City, $500.
ALAMEDA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
—Pamela Price (Alameda County District Attorney), Yiling Peng of Castro Valley, $1,000.
EDEN HEALTH DISTRICT
—Ed Hernandez (Eden Health District-Ward ), EID Bash of Danville, $1,000.
CITY
ALAMEDA
—A Better Alameda, Supporting Spencer, Opposing Ashcraft For Mayor Supporting Daysog & Beusterien, Opposing Oddie For City Council (Alameda Mayor/City Council), Gretchen Mackler-Lipow of Alameda, $1,000.
—Jim Oddie (Alameda City Council), Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 District 20 PAC, $2,000.
LIVERMORE
—John Marchand (Livermore Mayor), Brian Powell of Livermore, $1,000.
PLEASANTON
—Committee for PUSD Students (Pleasanton USD facilities bond-Measure I), Mark Sweeney of Pleasanton, $1,000.
STATE LEGISLATURE
10TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
—Lily Mei (10th State Senate District), Republic Services c/o LE03-Awin Management Inc. $2,000; Lei Liu of Fremont, $1,000.
18TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
—Mia Bonta (18th Assembly District), Harbor Distributing, LLC, $1,500.
DATEBOOK
ALAMEDA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
—DAs IN TRI-VALLEY—Alameda County District Attorney candidates will square off at a virtual forum hosted by the Tri-Valley Democratic Club on Monday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m. More information HERE.
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL
—FORUM—Candidates for two at-large seats on the Alameda City Council meet at a virtual forum hosted by the League of Women Voter of Alameda on Monday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m. Register for the Zoom meeting HERE.
OAKLAND
—OAKMAYOR FORUM—Jewish Community Oakland Mayoral Forum, hosted by Temple Sinai, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 6 p.m. Click HERE for more information.