This is Oakland Focus' early endorsement for the Oakland Mayors' Race and the California Government Assembly contest.
Ron Dellums is not only an Oakland legend, but the person least warped by Oakland's internal politics. Thus, he can't be influnced by greedy developers who say they can build a structure without public subsidy just to get city approval, then come back and say "We need public money" after they've gotten the contractual "go-ahead" they begged for.
So when you hear some Oaklander say that with Dellums "Everyone's hand will be out asking for something" just say "Well, doesn't Ignacio De La Fuente have his hand out to get donations from developers? Didn't De La Fuente try to use city money to purchase the 'black church vote?' And if so, is that action just a reminder of how some of his supporters may see Oakland's African American community? As just having it's hand out?" Don't stand for that anti-intellectual garbage.
Oh, then ask that person what they have to gain from a Dellums Adminstration -- if they answer "nothing" that's the point; they can't buy Ron.
Vote for Dellums.
Similarly, Oakland City Attorney John Russo's become the City's first elected lawyer not by making promises and looking for developer contributions -- Ok, he gets some -- but by making independent stands far more often than anyone else in Oakland politics. Look Russo's my friend, so I know him very well.
I'm more than comfortable backing him because I know he will represent the community without being "trapped" by Sacramento relationships. Indeed, he has done this in Oakland's City Hall, and always manages to stay above the fray and out of the muck of two-faced relationships that has come to define the work and political environment there.
If he can make it in Oakland, he can excel in Sacramento.
Vote for Russo and Dellums.
Ron Dellums is not only an Oakland legend, but the person least warped by Oakland's internal politics. Thus, he can't be influnced by greedy developers who say they can build a structure without public subsidy just to get city approval, then come back and say "We need public money" after they've gotten the contractual "go-ahead" they begged for.
So when you hear some Oaklander say that with Dellums "Everyone's hand will be out asking for something" just say "Well, doesn't Ignacio De La Fuente have his hand out to get donations from developers? Didn't De La Fuente try to use city money to purchase the 'black church vote?' And if so, is that action just a reminder of how some of his supporters may see Oakland's African American community? As just having it's hand out?" Don't stand for that anti-intellectual garbage.
Oh, then ask that person what they have to gain from a Dellums Adminstration -- if they answer "nothing" that's the point; they can't buy Ron.
Vote for Dellums.
Similarly, Oakland City Attorney John Russo's become the City's first elected lawyer not by making promises and looking for developer contributions -- Ok, he gets some -- but by making independent stands far more often than anyone else in Oakland politics. Look Russo's my friend, so I know him very well.
I'm more than comfortable backing him because I know he will represent the community without being "trapped" by Sacramento relationships. Indeed, he has done this in Oakland's City Hall, and always manages to stay above the fray and out of the muck of two-faced relationships that has come to define the work and political environment there.
If he can make it in Oakland, he can excel in Sacramento.
Vote for Russo and Dellums.
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