Waiting on Barbara
BLee is poised to enter the Oakland special mayoral election, Lee makes final remark in the House. Who paid for Lee's digital billboard? Loren Taylor calls council's budget cuts unacceptable
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND SPECIAL ELECTION
—EVERY NEW BEGINNING…—Barbara Lee’s days as a U.S. congressmember are nearing an end. But, her days as a candidate in Oakland’s special mayoral elections appear just around the corner.
—In a public letter released on Thursday, a lengthy list of Oakland leaders and local unions urged Lee to enter the race to replace recalled Mayor Sheng Thao.
—As if Lee needed to be cajoled into running for the open seat. It’s a standard political gimmick to frame a potential candidacy as being fueled by the community, not by her own aspirations.
—Nevertheless, the stunt was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle and amplified. “‘Unite us’: Top Oakland leaders urge Barbara Lee to run for mayor in new letter,” was their headline on Thursday morning.
—“We need someone who can bring the new ideas, policies, resources and opportunities that the people of Oakland deserve,” the letter reads. “That person is Barbara Lee.”
—Notably, a vast majority of the letter’s signers opposed the Thao recall, which would put them out of step with 60 percent of the voting public in Oakland who supported removing the mayor from office last month.
—They include Keith Brown of the Alameda Labor Council, Acting Oakland Mayor Nikki Fortunato Bas, Civil rights attorney Walter Riley (also opposed the Pamela Price recall), in addition to a few names that may have tangental connections to the FBI public corruption investigation.
—Lee, herself, opposed the Thao recall.
—The clear outlier on the list is Carl Chan, the “mayor of Chinatown” and co-leader of the successful recall of DA Price last month.
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—…COMES FROM OTHER BEGINNING’S END—Rep. Barbara Lee delivered her final remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon.
—“I want to thank my constituents, who I consider the most enlightened and most diverse and most progressive, yes, congressional district, for giving me the faith and trust to fight alongside you for a better tomorrow,” Lee said, “It has been the privilege of my lifetime to serve.”
—To mark her last moments in Congress, Lee wore the same garment on Tuesday that she wore on her first day back on April 21, 1998.
—Next month, Lateefah Simon will be sworn in as the 12th congressional district’s next representative.
—BARBARA’S BILLBOARD—A digital billboard paying tribute to Rep. Barbara Lee began popping up over the past few weeks.
—The origin of the billboard is not clear. The website cited is “sponsored” by the East Oakland Youth Development Center.
—As of Thursday, there is not yet a paper trail for who paid for the billboard, which was likely expensive.
—By comparison, a similar digital billboard used by a candidate in the 14th Congressional District March Primary cost $83,000.
—Although the time and duration of the billboard may be different, the Lee billboard likely costs around $50,000.
—One possibility is the billboard is an in-kind donation, perhaps from Becker Boards, the company that owns the billboard shown above.
—TAYLOR’S TIME—Until Barbara Lee joins the Oakland special mayoral election, the biggest name in the still-forming field of candidates is Loren Taylor.
—Lee’s moves over the past few days triggered a response from Taylor on Thursday.
—Following the Oakland City Council’s vote to cut its budget by $129 million, including major cuts to public safety, Taylor called the move “unacceptable” in a fundraising email.
—“Our city’s budget deficit is dire, but if I’m elected mayor, public safety funding will always remain top priority,” he said, vowing to redirect low-priority unrestricted funds to increase funding for public safety.
—“We will never get Oakland out of this crisis unless our leaders actually pursue structural change to our city budget and revenue streams, and I’m ready to lead the effort to dig us out of this hole.”
—OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE—Mindy Pechenuk, the Oakland special mayoral election’s unabashed supporter of President-elect Donald Trump also weighed in on the Oakland City Council’s budget moves.
—“This City Council has demonstrated they do not care about the people of Oakland,” Pechenuk said.
—“Instead of cutting the debt out of the budget, as well as the insane spending on various NGOs and other such projects, they cut the life lines of the city, including the Police and Fire department, and they want to raise your tTaxes.”
2025 CANDIDATE LIST
OAKLAND MAYORAL SPECIAL ELECTION
Ignacio De La Fuente, former Oakland councilmember
Barbara Lee, congressmember
Peter Liu (filed intent Dec. 9)
Mindy Pechenuk, educator/researcher (filed intent Dec. 2)
Fabian Robinson pastor (filed intent Dec. 4)
Derrick Soo (filed intent Dec. 9)
Elizabeth Swaney, Olympian (filed intent Nov. 18)
Loren Taylor, former Oakland councilmember (filed intent Nov. 8)
Renia Webb, former chief of staff (filed intent Nov. 18)
Larry Lionel Young, Jr. (filed intent Dec. 5)
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2 SPECIAL ELECTION
Kara Murray Badal🆕 (filed intent Dec. 19)
Kanitha Matoury, small business owner
Paula Nelson🆕 (filed intent Dec. 18)
Charlene Wang🆕, civil rights advisor (filed intent Dec. 18)
ALAMEDA COUNTY DA APPOINTMENT
Ursula Jones Dickson, Alameda County Superior Court judge
Annie Esposito, fmr Alameda County prosecutor
Butch Ford, fmr Alameda County prosecutor
Venus Johnson, Calif. Chief Deputy AG
L.D. Louis, Alameda County deputy county counsel
Yibin Shen, Alameda City Attorney
Eric Swalwell, congressmember
Scott Tsui, Santa Clara County prosecutor
Jimmie Wilson, Alameda County prosecutor
—PROGRAM NOTE—With the holiday season upon us, here’s the publishing schedule for the rest of the year:
—The East Bay Insiders Newsletter will go dark on Dec. 25, and Jan. 1-3. In the meantime, look out for the 2024 Rewind beginning next week.