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  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Last weekend's installment of "The Blog Report with Zennie62" features the 16th District Delegate Election that was held in Alameda in January. The show segment, which is shown here, covers the election process and why its important to the political future of the Democratic Party in the Bay Area. But the real stars of the show are Oakland's young political activists who are bringing a new energy to the scene here. East Bay Young Democrats President Frieda Edgette, union leader Dan Rush, and Peralta Community College Trustee Abel Guillen are just some of the faces interviewed in the second Episode of "The Blog Report." Personally, I think Frieda Edgette's the one to watch. The leader of the East Bay Young Dems and " MixitUp East Bay " has a unique combination of energy, intelligence, empathy and direction to rise to the level of congressional representative or senator, and I'm not...

No sooner after San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson wrote that California Senator Don Perata's running for Mayor of Oakland  , did the written attacks start and right on SF Gate's website.  Here's what's been written in the comment section of Carla Marinucci's column : georgedb 3/31/2009 7:37:49 AM Great. One more 'career' politician as mayor of Oakland. The residents should be just thrilled. Recommend:     ( 10 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] moto1 3/31/2009 8:15:11 AM Sweet! Another criminal in office. Recommend:     ( 5 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] moto1 3/31/2009 8:17:48 AM Isn't that the guy who's wheels were stolen after he stole them from taxpayers? Recommend:     ( 7 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] historybuff 3/31/2009 8:23:03 AM Don Perata has been investigated but never charged; a person is presumed innocent until found guilty by a jury. While not perfect, Perata is at least highly competent and would be a vast improvement over D...

I just spotted the " Don Perata For Mayor " Facebook Group, which as of this writing has just 23 members.  With time it may ramp-up, but just how much and how long is a gauge of Perata's popularity assuming of course the creator knows what he's doing in promoting the site. If another Facebook Group pops up with someone running for Mayor and it has more members, that's a reflection on what could happen should Perata run for Mayor of Oakland. Ok.  Who's in it?  A lot of folks I know.  Here's a sample... Russ Giuntini John Protopappas Robert Harmala Cynthia Lee Phillip Tagami Dan Rush Richard Tamor Now what's interesting is who's not on it.  I don't see John Russo or Aimee Aillson for example.  And the people listed already know each other.  OK, why am I not on it?  I'm not yet sold on Perata as Mayor of Oakland.  Love Don personally, but can he be the change agent Oakland needs?  I talked to one activi...

Don Perata shifted $1.5 million from PAC to his legal defense - Inside Bay Area : “By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Contributors to Don Perata's political action committee this year might have thought their money would bankroll the attempted recall of state Sen. Jeff Denham or opposition to a legislative redistricting reform measure. But a day after the Nov. 4 election, and with only a few weeks left as state Senate President Pro Tem, the Oakland Democrat moved $1.5 million from Leadership California into his own legal defense fund, formed to counter a years-long FBI corruption probe. This sum dwarfs the California Democratic Party's $450,000 contribution to Perata's legal fund over the past year, which had caused an outcry from some party activists. It also towers above the $555,000 Perata had moved from his Taxpayers for Perata committee — ostensibly created for a 2010 Board of Equalization run — into his legal defense fund in several chunks since 2005. The transferred amo...

My good friend Hala Hijazi  has a firm called " Professionals VIP  " which over the past five years has developed into a kind of meeting place for the Bay Area's movers and shakers and last night's event, held at the Neiman Marcus Rotunda and hosting Morisson and Forrester Partner and Obama For America Northern California Chair Attorney Tony West, was no exception with about 150 people in attendance. At the affair I had the pleasure of talking with both former Mayors of Oakland and San Francisco respectively Elihu Harris and Willie Brown about the chances of Don Perata winning the Oakland Mayor's Race and both gave answers at separate times but said the same thing: that Perata would win the Mayor's Race...if he's not indicted, first.   Sources including those reported earlier this year in the East Bay Express  , believe that the State Senator will be indicted on public corruption charges, but that was as far back as July; it's December and nothin...

In a kind of retrospective, Oakland Tribune reporter Josh Richman looks back on California Senator Don Perata's record and sorts them into the good and the bad.  He give Perata praise for standing up to Governior Schwartzenegger, and pans for Perata's way of handling campaign cash, but those aren't the only actions Richman points to.  You've got to read the rest here:   Click Trib  .  

On the heels of my blog post on why I think Don Perata would lose if he ran for Mayor of Oakland, I had a great conversation with friends who disagreed with me and believed that Perata would win.  I introduced my logic, which is just that because it's not tied to any personal feelings about Perata -- I like him and always have going back to 1993 -- but a pure, cold look at the Oakland electorate.   I wrote that a "dark horse" candidate may emerge to beat Perata, and we talked about that person: Robert Bobb.    If the former and now some say "De Facto" Oakland City Manager threw his hat into the ring to run for Mayor, he would clobber Perata, and that's even if Perata got the endorsement of California Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, and most of the other members of the Ron Dellums / Sandre Swanson / Barbara Lee endorsement machine.  Bobb could beat that machine.  Bet on it.   Why? Well, let's take a hard look at this.  California Senator Perat...

There's a lot of talk about the possibility of California State Senator Don Perata running for Mayor of Oakland.  I love Don.  Great person who's done a lot for California, the East Bay, and Oakland.  But I think Perata running for Mayor of Oakland would be a big mistake. I think he'd lose.   The seeds of my educated guess based on study were planted in the last election of two weeks ago when, Oaklanders voted for "change" candidates:  Barack Obama for President;  Rebecca Kaplan for At Large City Council; Dennis Hayashi for Alameda County Superior Court Judge.   The last person, public interest lawyer Dennis Hayashi, should be of note because he ran against San Leandro Prosecutor Phil Daly.  Daly was backed by Perata and a host of local judges -- and lost.   By contrast, Hayashi was supported by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, California Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, and a host of liberal elected officials.  (Liberalism's back, so I'm us...

In what has to be the greatest example of editorial contrast in mainstream media, we have the Oakland Tribune's loving praise for Senate Pro Tem Don Perata's political style during sessions on the California budget, and then East Bay Express reporting on his rumored investigation by the FBI. On that, Robert Gammon, who was with the Tribune until about six years ago, seems to have spent much of his adult life trying to get Perata for this of that. If not him, then it was the SF Bay Guardian for a time takikng wacks at him. It's like an old saw. It can only sell papers for so long. Now, the industry's in free fall. But I digress. You be the judge. Here's the Oakland Tribune : Perata takes "textured" approach to foes By Steven Harmon MediaNews Sacramento Bureau Article Last Updated: 07/14/2008 06:54:25 AM PDT SACRAMENTO — Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has what experts say is a textured approach to dealing with his Republican foes on the budget. Th...