Voter Guide from DrakeTalkOakland

Your Oakland Ballot

Trigger Warning: Please vote No and No on both recalls. Elections will come soon enough. Scroll way down for more info on them-turns out coal money is also behind both.

Presidential Ticket:

Don't vote 3rd party unless that candidate has shown in office that they can withstand all the crap thrown at them and still hold onto their principles. (Compromise is ok, in fact, necessary.)

Harris/Walz-not only has the most to offer you and your family, their acknowledgement of climate change has the most to offer the planet even if it seems too little and too late. At least they recognize the crisis and are prepared to attack it.

There is little point in talking about the current Republican Party and its embrace of the almost biblically disastrous Project 2025.

As Hamilton Knowland writes in his substack, “Accept that all we will get from the next election is someone who can be made to do the right thing under pressure, rather than someone committed to doing the wrong thing no matter what.” You can apply that to the issues most important to you.

There are many of us excited by the idea of the first woman, the first woman of color, and the first to claim Oakland, being elected as our president. I like that Walz guy too-good choice.

US Senate- Adam Schiff, not my original choice but beats any Republican by a long mile.

Congress-Lateefah Simon- replacing Barbara Lee will be tough but as Barbara has faith in her, I also pledge my trust although I personally do not know her. You got big shoes to fill, lady!

State Senate District 7-No Endorsement:

Jesse Arreguin of Berkeley has almost all the money and endorsements but I am leery of his politics-of-convenience and very nervous about all the payback he will be required to offer his big money donors.

Jovanka Beckles is the symbolic progressive choice but I have consistently found her lacking in knowledge of important state level issues as well as the desire to learn about them. She may yet get my vote but I'm not thrilled about my choices.

Assembly District 18- incumbent Mia Bonta.

Assembly District 14-Margot Smith is an older Berkeley resident who follows the issues closely. She has consistently criticized the incumbent Buffy Wicks for not promoting truly affordable housing.

For her part Wicks has become so self-assured and self-centered that she is near impossible to contact and unresponsive to her constituents. Smith has little chance of winning but deserves consideration.

EastEast Bay Regional Parks

Casey Farmer has been active in our community, working on important measures, helping local elected get good programs up and running. She is the only Oaklander running for the parks which is the largest city in the district.

As a mom she's acutely aware of the needs of families using our wonderful East Bay parks. She will be a good steward of this valuable resource.

EBMUD Directors- two longtime directors are retiring. Here is who to replace them with:

Ward 5-Jim Oddie- I have known Jim for years. He's honest, reliable and smart. He was the 18th AD district representative for Rob Bonta and an Alameda Council member. He will be responsive and transparent about our water needs. This ward extends through West Oakland and parts of Fruitvale.

Ward 6-Valerie Lewis- She comes with good recommendations including retiring board member Bill Patterson. I have not met her but the other candidate does not seem very serious. So I suggest you vote for Ms Lewis.

Dana Lang Transportation Specialist

Bart District 7

Dana Lang- I thought I had shared my endorsement of Dana but a reader reminded me it wasn't included [without a local voter guide, I more easily miss some and I, along with many others, never received one.] Dana as the reader reminded me, “Lang has a tremendous background with transit--she knows how to solve problems and where to find the funding without taking it from taxpayers.” As her opponent while he might make a good candidate in the future, doesn't yet have a ‘track record at Bart” so true. Thanks for noting what I missed, readers!

EBMUD District

Alameda County Supervisor District 5:

City Council President-Nikki Fortunsto Bas. Nikki has mastered dealing with very large, very complicated budgets, sucessfully designing bond measures that will build affordable housing in addition to measures to increase business taxes on corporations while lowering them on small local businesses.

Nikki has fought for tenant rights, against sex trafficking and its impacts on struggling neighborhoods, for a living wage and a multifaceted approach to public safety. She sees well trained law enforcement with violence reduction and mental health workers as an approach which can curb community violence. During the Pandemic, she authored the strongest eviction protection ordinance in the county.

Her opponent, John Bauters, is a councilmember in the smallest city in the county. Their budget is so miniscule that they have never had to learn how to put bond proposals forward. At the same time as many workers in Emeryville make minimum wage, Bauters unsuccessfully tried to get the city's minimum wage law lowered

Bauters himself is benefitting from donations from corporate landlords, cryptocurrency funded billionaires and PG&E. He has also been promoted by the sheriffs union as the county seeks to establish oversight of their work. The county has faced numerous multimillion dollar lawsuits over deaths in their jails under sheriffs' control.

Nikki Fortunato Bas is the clear choice for this large, mostly urban district to deliver the resources the county receives from the state to the families of our district in the most efficient way.

City of Oakland Races

City Attorney-Ryan Richardson is the only choice. Brenda Harbin-Forte is running a grudge match after Mayor Thao had to remove her from the Police Commission where she had overstayed her appointment period, bullied other Commissioners, locked out the public and delayed the search for a new police chief in hopes of embarrassing the mayor to bring back a chief who had thumbed his nose at the federal judge in charge of oversight of the department.

Ryan Richardson is a young assistant city attorney who is dedicated to public service. He will bring more transparency and citizen engagement to the office. In addition he would like to see the Neighborhood Law Corps expanded which offers direct services to community members.

CityCity Council District Races

Before I describe my choices, let me state clearly two of my top, though not my only, priorities.

There are many ways that local government has the ability to control our lives. Two of them are 1) regulating housing costs and 2) regulating law enforcement. Having been a tenant as an adult and parent for many years, memories of the threats of eviction and rent increases still terrorize my dreams.

Keeping a decent roof over the heads of your children is a very basic responsibility that can be threatened by unregulated landlords who can raise the rent or evict at will. This is no longer the case in most cities except for the ones Prop 33 seeks to fix.

Law enforcement that is not regulated and closely observed can take your life and that of a loved one with minimal explanation. In Oakland that was the case for years.

City Council District 1

Zac Unger, a longtime Oakland firefighter and union leader has the endorsements of virtually every local community, business or union leader in the city. He knows the bureaucracy, the budget and the public safety needs of our Town inside and out. I look forward to watching him grow in this office and I believe he'll be very responsive to constituents.

City Council District 3

Carroll Fife- no other council member draws as much fire as this energetic woman does. She's a fighter who has dedicated herself to protecting the most underserved in our community.

And, I know no other CM who does as much community outreach as she does-she holds regular townhalls, Facebook live discussions, caravans with constituents to places that need attention and writes long, sometimes overly long, newsletters on topics of interest to her constituents.

She champions tenants' rights, affordable housing projects, youth programs and generally whatever your neighborhood asks of her. She's a gem.

City Council District 5

Erin Armstrong-no she's not that Armstrong. She's a young woman who has worked on East Oakland issues for Supervisor Nate Miley and has the interest and energy to dig into the problems of the Fruitvale and surrounding areas.

Noel Gallo has served in local government for decades and cares deeply for his community but he has slowed down and no longer pays much attention to the intracies of governing, unprepared at meetings, he lapses into discussions of what the city was like in his youth, lamenting the changes. It would be honorable of him to pass the torch this time around.

City Council District 7

Ok so I had enthusiastically supported Tonya Love for this position but a combination of confusing and arcane city rules threw her candidacy away.

1. Merika Goolsby works for the Community Land Trust and is active in ACCE and Communities for a Better Environment. She understands the housing crisis and is beholden to none of the traditional power brokers in the city.

2. Iris Merriouns- Iris is a longtime aide to council members in East Oakland and more recently the Laurel district.

She has been a leader in community groups and her union. She is well liked but her politics are less well understood because she has consistently worked for the most reactionary and conservative council members. There is also concern specifically about her support for landlords. She has the best chance of winning but I would still rank her second.

At Large Council Member

Another interesting race full of newcomers to politics if not city government.

1. Rowena Brown-Rowena has worked for the city and been the chief of staff to our 18th AD Assembly member Mia Bonta these last few years. It means she has experience with a variety of policy issues that affect our city while being responsive to constituent concerns. She will be a pragmatic progressive.

2. Charlene Wang is a newcomer to local politics. She has an impressive resume as an environmental justice employee in the EPA and with the federal Department of Transportation.

   It is not clear how she would handle the constituent demands or where her policy positions fall, therefore, she is my second choice for this position.

Whatever ever you do, don't vote for the former police chief. During his stint as chief, he helped disband the Ceasefire program and violent crime soared. He excused officer misdeeds, including sweeping under the rug a homicide investigator who bribed witnesses to get false convictions which has come to light more recently. He then attacked federal oversight and the federal court which guaranteed he had to go. He is the last person who should rep a city like Oakland.

OUSD Board of Directors

All of the candidates listed here were vetted by the Wellstone Education Committee, of which I'm a junior member.

• District 1 Rachel Latta-fully prepared to step into this role, as a parent, community organizer with Equity Allies, and a nurse.

• District 3 VanCedric Williams- the incumbent has proven himself aware and engaged with the issues, especially as a teacher himself who regularly visits the schools in his district.

• 5 Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez- Executive Director of Somos Familiawhich works with with Latina students experiencing exclusion due to gender identities, Sasha is also endorsed by the teachers’ union.

• District 7 Domonic Ware- Dominic is an active parent who wants to help engage parents in East Oakland with their schools.

Local Oakland Measures

Yes-Measure MM-the return of the fire prevention district- parcel tax only in the fire zone to assist with fire prevention strategies and helps create safe spaces around homes and evacuation routes in the district. $99 per house $65 per condo

Measure NN

Yes and Yes. This measure is integral to Oakland's multipronged public safety efforts. Besides funding the Department of Violence Prevention, including Ceasefire, it pays for an average of 60 officers who otherwise wouldn't be hired. It is pricey, upping the tax from $99 to $199 but still has the exemption allowance for low income homeowners. It is necessary to maintain the current level of public safety staffing.

Measure OO

Yes-The Public Ethics Commission investigates complaints against elected officials. The recent investigation of former mayor, Libby Schaaf resulted in high fines which we can hope will discourage others from bending campaign finance rules.

They need more staff to deal with all the complaints. This increase in the power and usefulness of the commission requires a charter amendment, including tougher lobbying rules.

State Propositions

Proposition 2- Yes- bonds to rebuild and repair school facilities. If you don't think this is necessary, just try visiting your local public school or even the playground. Remember the need for air purifiers or the issue of lead in children's drenking water, etc.

Proposition 3-Yes-Replaces Prop 8 with a measure protecting marriage equality. We have to pass this in case our Supreme Court decides to undo the protections the previous court had provided.

Proposition 4-Yes-from the voter guide-AUTHORIZES BONDS FOR SAFE DRINKING WATER, WILDFIRE PREVENTION, AND PROTECTING COMMUNITIES AND NATURAL LANDS FROM CLIMATE RISKS. Happening already, we must adapt more quickly.

Proposition 5-Yes-from the voter guide-ALLOWS LOCAL BONDS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE WITH 55% VOTER APPROVAL. So it reduces passage from a super majority of 67% to 55%, still beyond a majority, for firehouses, housing, etc.

Proposition 6-Yes-Eliminates Constitutional Provision Allowing Involuntary Servitude for Incarcerated Persons. There was a time when if you called 1-800-Flowers to have flowers delivered somewhere, the person answering the phone was in prison. At one time Alameda County had signs made by prison labor. They made a pittance an hour.

In more recent history, prisoners have been coerced into providing low cost labor. This charter change will end that practice-ending for once and all any form of slavery in our state.

Proposition 32-Yes-It simply raises the state's minimum wage by a couple bucks, phasing it in depending on the size of the business. It does not affect cities that may already have a higher minimum.

Proposition 33-Yes, Yes, Yes- This is another opportunity to repeal the Costa-Hawkins law that prevents municipalities from using rent control on buildings that have gone up since 1995, also on single family homes and preventing landlords from jacking up the rents after an eviction.

According to reports only 1/4 of Californians have these protections. Hence the cry all around, the rent is too high!

Proposition 34-No-It is one of those deceptive and cynical measures purporting to be about drug costs but is actually about preventing one non- profit, one, from funding rent control measures. This is written and paid for by the California Apartment Owners Association. It has nothing to do with patients.

Proposition 35-Yes-Provides permanent funding for MediCal by continuing a tax on managed care plans.

Proposition 36-No and No-it seeks to “remedy” Prop 47 by raising felony charges again on many minor infractions, particularly drug charges and along with the recent passage of tougher laws agsinst retail theft, puts us back on the road to a new drug war and more expenses for prisons.

Recalls

Two of our officials elected less than 2 years ago are back on the ballot to be considered for removal from office. Both of these recalls were first proposed shortly after these officials were elected.

Now, let's be clear these individuals are very different and perform very different duties.

However, the way they have been targeted is remarkably similar. Hedge fund managers and cryptocurrency tech bros with apparently hundreds of thousands of dollars to blow have funded these recall campaigns with the assistance of corporate landlords.

For the most part there has been little outcry by local citizens to throw these folks out of office. In fact given how early these recalls were initiated, how could thete be?

I will point out that one candidate who lost the close mayoral race has been instrumental in raising the funds from extremely rich techies-Loren Taylor.

When Loren was on the Council (elected under Ranked Choice Voting) he was a mild mannered vaguely conservative rep. He did not initiate legislation but did oppose, not strongly, mind you, but opposed any expansion of renter protections, looked for loopholes to police accountability and worked closely with Libby to keep her reductions to programs like Head Start quiet. He is not a leader but he is a technocrat.

I would never have guessed though that he would align himself with the likes of Seneca Scott who is an outspoken misogynist and homophobe, who uses slurs and sexual insults and threats to get attention while fomenting violence.

Taylor also enlisted the tech super rich to push an agenda against all that Oakland has stood for—a strong union town where Black and Brown people could celebrate their cultures and social justice movements germinated. These tech libertarians and their corporate landlords are determined to reverse any gains that have been made.

In short Sheng Thao has worked hard to bring our small businesses back from the pandemic, improve our 911 capacity, expand proven violence reduction strategies and promote the building of affordable housing.

If Mayor Thao is recalled, there could be months of chaos until another expensive special election is called and that person's term would last less than 2 years.

Here is a description from a city employee of some of the possible downsides of a recall at this time based on the timing and crrtification of a special election (costing $ millions.) Then the new mayor would likely not be sworn in before May 1st; and before that a series of Councilmembers would serve as interim mayors. No one knows whether the city administrator would stay.

“And this is alarming because of the budget timeline. The city budget (with an expected $120 million deficit) needs to be balanced by the end of June). The Mayor's budget, according to the Consolidated Fiscal Policy is supposed to be submitted by May 1.’

This could be devaststing! Plesse recall that the city was deep in debt after the Pandemic but received $181 million to plug it from the Feds. Libby used all of it plus our reserves to get through and now the mayor and Council are working on restructuring. That work must continue before next year's budget must be filed.

DA

Pamela Price has worked hard to increase services to victims, expose police wrongdoing-witness bribing and wrongful convictions-along with a jury tampering scheme that selected out Jews and Blacks.

If DA Price is recalled, the Board of Supervisors gets to choose a new DA until they are ready to run the next special election.

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Thank you and good luck to us all!