February 2014 – San Leandro Talk

Leland Yee: Meet Derek Cressman. He’s Running Against You

Leland Yee: Meet Derek Cressman. He’s Running Against You People, Politics No Responses »

Feb 272014

Sen. Leland Yee

I got a call from State Senator Leland Yee’s campaign. He’s running for Secretary of State and seeking the Democratic endorsement along with Senator Alex Padilla and Derek Cressman.

Yee’s campaign told me that Speaker John Perez* had asked Democrats to not endorse on that race, so as to not create unnecessary divisions within the party. You’d think that if Perez didn’t want divisions he’d withdraw from the race for Controller against the better qualified Betty Yee. Anyway, Yee wants me to vote “no endorsement”. I bet he does – he’s probably afraid the endorsement will go to Padilla.

Derek Cressman

I told the person who called me that I was planning to vote for Cressman. “Who,?” she asked. Apparently they had no idea than someone other than Padilla was running for the endorsement. Strange, as Yee actually spoke at the Alameda County Democratic Party Unity Dinner alongside Padilla and Cressman (watch the video).

I’m sorry, but if someone who is running for Secretary of State cannot keep track of the candidates in his own race, I can’t imagine he’ll be able to keep track of all the state candidates and all state measures. Yee may be a nice guy, but he needs to bring more feng shui to his life.

Sen Alex Padilla

Padilla, of course, had a lobbyst illegally throw him a fundraiser and has refused to return the ill-gotten contributions. He has and was recently endorsed by the United Farm Workers. The latter might not sound like a bad thing, until you realize that the UFW also endorsed Mary Hayashi, she of the sticky fingers and lust for leather leggings. Padilla’s biggest claim to fame, however, is that he wants to pass a law allowing for the warrantless use of drones by law enforcement.

So Derek Cressman it is. The guy actually cares about transparency and accountability in government. Imagine that.

Apparently I misunderstood the campaign helper who called me. It wasn’t Speaker John Perez, but Party Chairman John Burton who asked candidates for statewide office to not seek the party’s endorsement. Leland Yee must be confident that he won’t get it, so he’s heeding the request. Padilla continues to ask for it. I’m still voting for Cressman.

First They Stole, Now They Lie: Why Neither Mary Hayashi nor Stewart Chen Should be in Office

First They Stole, Now They Lie: Why Neither Mary Hayashi nor Stewart Chen Should be in Office People, Politics No Responses »

Feb 142014

liar-big I am a liberal, of the bleeding heart variety. I think if you’ve committed a crime – a real one, with an actual victim – and you’ve done your time, the slate should be wiped clean. You should be able to vote, take the Bar, get a job. But I also think that if you want to regain the public trust, you need to take responsibility for your actions. If you don’t, then you have no business running for public office.

Take disgraced Assemblywoman and State Senate candidate Mary Hayashi. During her last term in the Assembly, Hayashi went to Neiman Marcus carrying an empty NM shopping bag and proceeded to fill it with expensive clothing, she then walked out of the store without paying for the items. Store employees were on the lookout for her, as she was suspected of having done the same thing a week before. While Hayashi plead guilty (or no contest, which has the same effect), she never took responsibility for her actions. Instead, she made excuse for her behavior (“I was distracted“, “I had a brain tumor“) and even now, won’t admit to what she did.

Mary Hayashi – mugshot

I would have been totally prepared to sympathize with Mary Hayashi if had she admitted she had a shoplifting problem. Shoplifting is often the result of a psychological disorder and can become one of the hardest addictions to kick. It’s a common affliction, however. About 9% of Americans shoplift, and the vast majority of them don’t do it for gain. Before getting into politics, Mary Hayashi was a tireless advocate for mental health and, in the Assembly, made it her priority to “break the culture of silence” about these issues. Yet, when she had the opportunity to speak out about her own struggles and thus help others, she instead retreated into lying. That’s disappointing, but it also shows that she is not at a place where she can take responsibility for her actions and be truthful and therefore, she is not trustworthy. The public saw through her when she ran for County Supervisor in 2012, and will see through her again as she runs for State Senate.

Alameda Council member Stewart Chen seems to suffer from the same affliction: an unwillingness to own up to his crimes and learn from his mistakes. Back in the early 1990’s, Chen was caught in a massive auto insurance fraud scheme. An Asian gang was staging fake car accidents between insured individuals, the fake accident victims would go see Chen, a chiropractor, who would make false claims about their injuries so the individuals could file fraudulent claims with the insurance company and himself file for treatment the fake victims didn’t need or get. In all, the gang seems to have stolen about $1M from the insurance companies.

Alameda City Council member Stewart Chen

These fake accident victims told the grand jury that they would go to Chen’s office, sign in and then leave without receiving treatment. Other times, their signatures were faked. One victim received some treatment, but for pain unrelated to the stage accident.

Chen plead guilty to two misdemeanors, paid a large fine, completed probation, and in due time his record was expunged. He thought nobody would ever find out about his crime and kept it quiet.

Earlier this week, when Chen’s criminal background came to light, he had two choices. He could have admitted what he did, show remorse and speak about the lesson he learned. I would have been sympathetic. Chen, like me, grew up in a corrupt society under a brutal dictatorship. Ethical and moral lines are often blurred in those environments. Of course, Chen was 30 years old and had lived in America for over a decade when he was indicted, but sometimes it takes something dramatic to make you realize your own moral flaws.

Unfortunately, it would seem that being convicted of fraud did not have that effect on Chen. Instead of showing remorse for his actions, Chen hast taken Hayashi’s approach and claims he wasn’t really guilty. “The fact is that I unknowingly treated patients who were part of an auto insurance fraud scheme run by a local attorney. I had no idea what they were doing and was not part of their scheme. I assumed the patients were legitimately injured.” Which, of course, does not address the fact that he falsified medical records and charged for treatment he did not provide. Like with Hayashi, you have to wonder if he actually thinks that people will believe on his innocence despite the evidence against him and the guilty plea.

Having a criminal past should does not and need not preclude anyone from seeking public office. But the least we should demand of candidates to public office who have been convicted of crimes involving dishonesty is that they show they’ve learned the error of their ways. If they continue to be dishonest about the very crimes they were convicted of committing, nothing will stop them from stealing and lying to the public whenever it suits their needs.

Commonwealth Club Fetes Brian Copeland in Lily White Lafayette

Commonwealth Club Fetes Brian Copeland in Lily White Lafayette Short Notes 2 Responses »

Feb 112014

copeland The Commonwealth Club is feting the 10th anniversary of Brian Copeland’s celebrated one-man show Not a Genuine Black Man with a special program at the Lafayette Library. It’ll take place on February 26th from 6:30 to 7:30pm. Tickets are $12/$22 for members/nonmembers, but SLT readers can get $5 off the nonmember price by using the code: specialcopeland. Get tickets here.

I, personally, find it deliciously ironic that Brian will be celebrated for his book and one man show about growing up black in lily white San Leandro, in what is probably currently the whitest city in the Bay Area. Just 166 out of Lafayette’s almost 23,893 residents are African American, or about 0.7%.

Alameda Democrats Endorse Barbara Lee and Mike Honda, but not Eric Swalwell

Alameda Democrats Endorse Barbara Lee and Mike Honda, but not Eric Swalwell ACDCC, Politics No Responses »

Feb 072014

Battle for AD 15 and CD 15 Democratic endorsement moves to the State Convention

Feb 8 Update

Congress: In CD 13, Barbara Leee was recommended for endorsement, with 100% of the vote. I was wrong about CD 15, and Eric Swalwell got the majority of the vote, though not enough to get a recommendation. The fight for the endorsement goes up to the Convention, where it will probably come to the floor, giving Ellen Corbett an advantage. Stay tuned. As predicted, in CD 17 Mike Honda easily got the endorsement. Indeed, Ro Khanna did not even bother to show up to the meeting, probably thinking that his time was better spent campaigning.

Senate: Mary Hayashi did show up and made some vague accusations against Bob Wieckowski, but couldn’t get even one vote. Wieckowski easily got the recommendation for the endorsement for SD 10, with a handful of votes going to Roman Reed.

Assembly: I was surprised to see that a clear majority of the votes in AD 15 went to Elizabeth Echols, though not enough to break the 70% and give her the recommendation. The endorsement thus goes to the Convention. As predicted, Andy Katz got a few votes, but none went to either Sam Kang nor Pamela Price-Crawley. Both civil rights lawyers were pretty impressive, however, and I’m interested in hearing more from both of them. Tony Thurmond‘s vote count may not have impressed, but he’s a dynamic and inspiring speaker and made an impression even with my very politically jaded 12-year-old. While Echols is likely to win at the endorsement caucus at the convention, if Thurmond can pull her name out of consent – which he may very well be able to – and send this to the floor of the convention, he has a very good chance of winning. Echols may be solid, but she’s not an exciting candidate.

Also as predicted, Rob Bonta and Bill Quirk easily got the endorsements for AD 18 and AD 20 respectively. No endorsement recommendation was made for AD 25, and nobody got enough votes for this to go up to the convention. Craig Steckler got the most votes, but Kansen Chu wasn’t far behind, with Teresa Cox trailing both. Armando Gomez didn’t get any votes. While Steckler called himself a progressive Democrat, almost all his campaign loot comes from police chiefs and law enforcement, which suggests he isn’t going to Sacramento to fight for civil liberties and against the prison-industrial complex. Mik

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The California Democratic Party will be conducting pre-endorsement conferences throughout the state this weekend. Members of the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) and other eligible Democrats will meet to listen to the different candidates that are competing for the Party’s endorsement in their respective districts and will vote on whom should get it. In races where a Democrat is endorsed by the party, other Democrats are encouraged to drop out.

Most of Alameda County, including San Leandro, falls within the Party’s region 5, and the caucus for our region will take place on Saturday, Feb. 8, starting at 2 PM at the Laborers Local 34 hall, located at 29475 Mission Blvd in Hayward. Any Democrat is welcome to attend.

While the vote count happens after the candidates have an opportunity to speak, in reality most candidates have been going around picking up vote-by-mail ballots from their supporters. Candidates who get 70% of the vote at the pre-endorsement conference are placed in the consent calendar for Party’s endorsement at the State Party Convention which will take place in early March – though their endorsement can be challenged with signatures of either 20% of DSCC members in their district or statewide. If no candidate gets 70% of the vote, but at least one gets 50%, there will be an endorsement caucus at the Convention, where they will need to garner 50% or 60% of the vote (depending on incumbency status), to get on consent. The same will happen if an endorsement is challenged.

In order to qualify for the Democratic endorsement, a candidate must be a registered Democrat and pay a fee ranging from $250 to $500.

Here are the candidates who are vying for the Democratic endorsement in Region 5

Congressional District 13

The only candidate running for the endorsement is incumbent Barbara Lee, who will easily get it.

Congressional District 15

Incumbent congressman Eric Swalwell battles State Senator Ellen Corbett for the endorsement. My bet is that if any candidate gets the endorsement tomorrow, it’ll be Corbett. I also bet that if one of them gets it, the other will have the endorsement challenged and it will go the Convention.

Congressional District 17

Here, congressman Mike Honda holds a significant advantage over challenger Ro Khanna. Khanna ran a successful slate at last year’s delegate elections and he may have a few other votes, but they will likely not be enough to prevent Honda from getting the endorsement. They may be enough for a challenge, but Honda is sure to get the endorsement at the Convention. Linguist Philip Bralich is also running for the endorsement, but I don’t believe he’ll get even one vote.

Assembly District 15

There are no incumbents in this race, but there are five candidate vying for the endorsement. Preliminary endorsements suggest that the two actual contenders are Alameda County Democratic Central Committee member Elizabeth Echols and former Richmond City Councilmember Tony Thurmond. EBMUD Director Andy Katz may get a few votes, but it seems unlikely that either civil rights attorneys Sam Kang or Pamela Price-Crawley will get any. The latter doesn’t even have a campaign website. My guess is that at least one of the candidates will get 50% of the vote, and the endorsement for this race will go to the Convention.

Assembly Districts 18 and 20

The only candidate running for AD 18 is incumbent Rob Bonta and for AD 20 is incumbent Bill Quirk, so both have it in the bag.

Assembly District 25

Four Democrats are vying for the open seat being left by Bob Wieckowski. San Jose Councilmember Kansen Chu battles Ohlone Community College Board Trustee Teresa Cox, Milpitas Councilmember Armando Gomez and former Fremont Police Chief Craig Steckler. I know nothing about the voters in that race, but given the crowded field it seems unlikely that anyone will get the endorsement tomorrow or even send this to the Convention.

Senate District 10

This is the race that actually makes me want to go to the conference (I already sent out my ballot). Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski is running against former Assemblymember and convicted thief Mary Hayashi. Also in the race is stem-cell-research-activist Roman Reed. Hayashi hasn’t even bothered to set up a campaign site, and she hasn’t done any fundraising lately (though she does have a lot of money from previous races she can use), but she did apply for the Democratic endorsement, so she’s presumably running. It’s unlikely she’ll get any endorsements votes, however. Reed may get a few, but Wieckowski should easily get the endorsement and keep it on consent.

I’ll post results tomorrow.

In Oakland and San Leandro City Staff Lie and Councilmembers Look the Other Way

In Oakland and San Leandro City Staff Lie and Councilmembers Look the Other Way City Hall 1 Response »

Feb 062014

Emergency Services Director Renee Domingo speaking to the City Council

City employees in Oakland and San Leandro appear to live and work by the motto “it’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” While most city councils rubber stamp whatever proposals city staff puts before them – an easier task than actually reading and analyzing long and boring reports -, some proposals are so clearly contrary to the public benefit that they are not politically tenable for council members to knowingly pass. In those situations, staff – most assuredly with the blessing of the City Manager/Administrator – may give the Council an “edited” version of the facts behind it. Whether the purpose is to deceive council members or provide them with plausible deniability can be discerned by how the member react once the true facts are uncovered.

Oakland city staff’s quest to build the Domain Awareness Center (DAC), a facility that would centralize the feeds from hundreds of cameras and license plate readers throughout the City, is a perfect example of how this works. Internal e-mails obtained through the California Public Records Act make it clear that the actual purpose of the DAC is to track and subvert the activities of political protesters and labor activists in the city and port of Oakland. However, in public meetings, both staff and Councilmembers have only referred to the alleged crime-fighting uses of the DAC. Finally, at the last meeting of the Council’s Public Safety Committee, Emergency Services Director Renee Domingo, who has spearheaded Oakland’s DAC project, was forced to admit that there is no data showing that existing DACs in other cities have helped to either reduce or solve crimes.

While there might be some room for argument about whether misleading the Council as to the purpose for the DAC is actually “lying”, it is absolutely clear that Ms Domingo deceived the Council about Science Applications International (SAIC), the company that was hired to build the DAC. SAIC is a large military contractor which, among other things, works in the development, building and deployment of nuclear weapons. Under Oakland’s 1988 anti-nuclear ordinance, the City cannot award contracts to any company that is involved with nuclear weapons. Internal e-mails show that Domingo was aware that this was a problem in February 2013, but she didn’t mention anything about it to the City Council and the Council indeed went on and hired SAIC to build the first phrase of the project. According to Domingo, she first heard about SAIC’s non-compliance in August,when activists brought it up – but that’s contradicted by the e-mails alluded to above.

Domingo is now proposing that the Council contract with called Schneider Electric to build phase II of the DAC. A simple google search of “Schneider Electric” and “nuclear weapons” leads to marketing materials from the company where it describes one of its main applications a being “nuclear weapons handling systems.” It’s still unknown whether Domingo failed to do her due diligence or just hoped that activists wouldn’t find out.

No member of the Oakland City Council has held staff accountable for deceiving them and for having the City knowingly enter into a contract that violated the City’s own laws. Councilmember Dan Kalb campaigned on “restoring trust in City Hall“, and yet he has meekly accepted staff’s unethical behavior seemingly without a second thought. While Kalb is not for re-election, his colleague Libby Schaaf, who has also failed to question staff over their duplicity, is running for Mayor of Oakland. Her “no need for accountability” attitude is echoed by incumbent Mayor Jean Quan.

Things are no better in San Leandro. Chief of Police Sandra Spagnoli routinely gives the City Council information that she knows to be false. She has lied about things as easy to verify as the number of license plate scanners the Department has and the effects of realignment in the City. But she also gave the Council false information about marijuana, the number of complaints they get about chickens and the dangers of overpollination. A few months ago, the City had to settle a lawsuit brought by men after the Chief issued a press release falsely accusing them of attempting to engage in public homosexual sex.

Not only does the Chief routinely lie to the City Council, but she has also broken the law. In 2012, the Chief was caught using Police Department staff and resources to get citizens to lobby the City Council against a proposed marijuana dispensary. That violates both the San Leandro Municipal Code and the California Government Code. Though City Council members are well aware of the Chief’s unlawful attempt to manipulate the democratic process, they have not called her on it. This year, both Mayor Stephen Cassidy and Councilmember Pauline Cutter are running for re-election.

The Chief is not the only “truth impaired” member of staff in San Leandro. When City staff decided to change the Zoning Code as a tactic in a pending lawsuit, city they explained the change as being a “routine update of the code” and only acknowledged the actual motive behind it after citizens like me brought it up repeatedly at public meetings. After the acknowledgement, Mayor Stephen Cassidy made some noise about being more open with the community in the future, but did not take staff to task for their repeated attempts at deception.

It’s difficult to know what we can do to restore ethics and accountability in City Hall – both in San Leandro and in Oakland. Electing the right people has to be part of the solution, but candidates with integrity are few and far between. My strategy – exposing bad behavior at City Hall -, has seldom been an impetus for change. Is local democracy just broken and, if so, can it be fixed?