The June 3 Primary according to Edie Irons
Oakland and Alameda County, CA
June 3, 2008
I've been a friend and member of the League since 2004, and involved with Democratic politics in the East Bay since 2003. I've been the president of the East Bay Young Democrats, a board member of the local National Women's Political Caucus, and a delegate to the California Democratic Party. I'm also a candidate on the June 3, 2008 ballot for the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. I was for Edwards before I was for Obama, and I'm involved in Party politics to try and move the Democrats in a more progressive direction. These are my thoughts on the upcoming election.
Proposition 98
Endorsed Vote: No
This proposition would make rent control illegal. It's masquerading as eminent domain reform, but it is paid for by landlords to limit tenants' rights. It's opposed by the League of Women Voters of CA, the CA League of Conservation Voters, the CA Labor Federation, the CA Chamber of Commerce, the AARP, and a ton of other groups.
Proposition 99
Endorsed Vote: Yes
This one does what 98 pretends to do, without the hidden agenda, and at no cost to the state. It "bars the use of eminent domain to acquire an owner-occupied residence for conveyance to a private person or business entity."
Alameda County Supervisor, District 4
Nate Miley
Endorsed Vote: Yes
He's the incumbent, seems to be doing a good job. The other guy is MIA, not a serious candidate.
State Senate, District 9
Loni Hancock
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Loni has been THE statewide leader on public financing of elections, an issue near and dear to my heart. As the Assemblymember from the 14th District, she co-authored landmark bills to reduce emissions (AB32) and provide universal single-payer healthcare (SB840). She and her staff are accessible and easy to work with. As someone who's been very involved in local politics for the last 5 years, I feel like I know Loni and her staff really well (I have been in her district), and her opponent, Wilma Chan, hardly at all.
I was disappointed to see that Chan started her campaign by mailing a hit piece that lied about Loni's record. If you want more info on that, I'd be happy to send it to you. There have been other misleading attacks on her in this race. An independent group called something like "Educators for High Standards" sent out mailers saying Loni is "dumbing down our kids" and "lowering expectations." This group is actually funded completely by indian gaming interests who are retaliating for the time Loni kept them from putting a couple thousand slot machines into a big casino in San Pablo. Chan supported the same legislation it blasts Hancock for. And FYI, Hancock's public financing bill would provide resources for candidates to counter these kind of independent expenditures.
State Assembly, District 16
Sandre Swanson
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Sandre seems to have been an incredibly effective and prolific assemblymember in his first term. He's authored and passed bills supporting local control for Oakland schools, whistleblower protections for state and county employees, green jobs training programs, and against aerial pesticide spraying, and that's just this year. Plus, there's nobody running against him.
State Assembly, District 14
Oh man, this is a tough race. Three good candidates running. I'm gonna comment on each of them when I have a little more time.
Nancy Skinner
Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement
Tony Thurmond
Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement
Kriss Worthington
Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement
Dr. Phil Polakoff
Endorsed Vote: No
Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, 14th AD
The Central Committee is the Democratic Party in Alameda County. Elected and appointed members of the committee are responsible for endorsing local Democrats running for office (at the county, city, and special district levels), and registering and organizing Democratic voters throughout the county.
Most people have never heard of this office, probably because there hasn't been much competition, or a real race for it before. That has all changed this year. There are sixteen people running for six spots, including the slate I am on, Grassroots Progressives. Check us out at http://www.grassrootsprogressives.org. We are walking the walk as far as what the local Democratic Party should be doing - we're out talking to voters about this election every single day, letting them know what this office is, why it's important, and people are excited to support us. We all have the energy and commitment to help the local Democratic Party do more, so that Alameda County can bring home Democratic victories for the whole state.
Edie Irons
Endorsed Vote: Yes
That's me!
Karen Weinstein
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Andrea Laiacona Dooley
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Eleanor Moses
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Ceclia "Ces" Rosales
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Janet Flint
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, 16th AD
Same story here as in the 14th district. Sumi and Mark are on our Grassroots Progressives slate. Wayne is a friend, and will work for the same goals (he's running on a different slate though). Kathy Neal is running on that other slate, but she is a friend of mine, and has put in real effort to make the committee more active and effective. Vote just for these four.
Mark Briggs
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Sumi Paranjape
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Wayne Nishioka
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Kathy Neal
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Oakland City Council, At-Large
This is the city council seat that serves the whole city of Oakland. It's an open seat, currently held by Henry Chang. Time to get an effective progressive voice in there to help break the deadlock on the council and make good things happen for Oakland.
Rebecca Kaplan
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Rebecca is absolutely the choice for this race. She is solidly progressive, known for being able to navigate differences of opinions and broker compromises, and is hard-working and down-to-earth. Exactly what we need on the Oakland City Council, and well-suited to the At-Large seat.
Rebecca recently switched from being a Green to being a Democrat, which I think is great. I'm glad she received endorsements from Democratic clubs and the Alameda County Democratic Party, because it sends a message that progressives have a home in the Party. Rebecca, like so many folks with similar values this year, has been inspired to come back and help make the Party what it should be, and I think that bodes well for Democratic politics.
Now, identity politics are not usually my thing. But Rebecca would be the first out lesbian city councilmember in Oakland, which has more queer women per capita than most other places on the planet. She'd also be the youngest sitting councilmember. I support her anyway, but those things are important.
Oakland City Council, District 1
Jane Brunner
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Incumbent, seems to be pretty good. The competition is a single issue (law and order) candidate. I mean, we need law and order in Oakland, but we need other stuff too. Jane seems pretty much a shoe-in.
Oakland School Board, District 1
Jody London
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Jody is a parent, and is super involved in the Oakland public schools. She is smart, articulate, knows the district and the issues, and will work hard at this.
I'm no expert, but one of the issues before this school board seems to be the rapid creation of charter schools and small schools. There have been a ton of these schools popping up, at the expense of regular public schools, and they are all kind of experimenting with kids' education. Jody, I think, wants to slow this down and see what is working and not working before willy nilly creating new small schools that drain money from the regular publics. I think this is common sense. Her opponent, Brian Rogers, is a Republican and maxed out to Mitt Romney, and has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to charter schools and small schools.
Oakland City Council, District 3
Nancy Nadel
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Nancy has lived in this district for 27 years, and has been working tirelessly to make Oakland a better place to live for everyone. She is a progressive champion on the council who knows how to both stand up for what's right when it's unpopular, AND deliver resources for her district.
Public safety is her first priority (as it should be), and she has worked to secure more funding for police, provide alternatives for young people caught up in crime, and close down drug hot-spots and problem liquor stores in her district. She's helped implement a pilot program to decrease violence at Cole Middle School (I forget what it's called), and there have been ZERO fist-fights there this year. Suspensions are down 66%. She wants to bring that program to other schools.
Nancy helped get the new Whole Foods at 27th and Harrison, and a cooperative organic grocery store near the West Oakland BART station that is expected to open in the Fall. She's a local small business owner herself, and has been supportive of neighborhood-serving retail in the district.
Especially as the city prepares for tough economic times and a major budget deficit, we need an experienced, progressive councilmember who knows how to get things done.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge
It's tough to make a decision in races for judge, because in order to be good judges, the candidates can't take any political positions. So you have to get a sense of who they are and what they stand for some other way. Endorsements tend to be the main way for voters to figure this out, but this time we have a better measure.
Vicky Kolakowski
Endorsed Vote: Yes
Kolakowski is a transgendered woman, which I think says a lot about her values and where she comes from. She would be the only elected transgendered judge in the country if she wins this race. I think that's pretty awesome. Most of the establishment seems to be supporting Dennis Hayashi, who will likely win, but I know and support Vicky. She's got experience as a judge, she's down to earth, and she really really wants this. Let's do something historic!
