Politics

Former Council Member Uses “N” word; Cutter writes him off, Cox does not

Former Council Member Uses “N” word; Cutter writes him off, Cox does not Community, People, Politics No Responses »

Jan 052015

Update 2: Campaign finance reports show that Pauline Cutter returned Judge Landis’ contribution. Deborah Cox did not. Landis died in November 2015. Update: Deborah Cox has given in to public pressure, this afternoon she spoke with Brian Copeland and said she’d return the contribution. San Leandro has a long and tortuous history of racial segregation and discrimination. The city was almost exclusively white well into the 1990s and stories of police cars guarding the border with Oakland still linger in the memory of many African Americans. Writer and comedian Brian Copeland, who moved to San Leandro as a young child, [Continue Reading]

Election Predictions, How Did I Do?

Election Predictions, How Did I Do? ACDCC, Politics No Responses »

Dec 052014

At the annual Alameda County Democratic Central Committee (ACDCC) holiday party this week, a colleague asked me how accurate I was on my election predictions. This post is meant to answer his question. Truth is, I didn’t make many predictions. This year, I endorsed candidates throughout Alameda County. I thought some of them had a good chance of winning and I was less hopeful about others. Voters, however, like to go with likely winners so I wasn’t about to suggest that my endorsed candidates were going to lose. This is not to say that I avoided calling all races. In [Continue Reading]

Alameda County Heads Right: Liberal Candidates Lose Countywide

Alameda County Heads Right: Liberal Candidates Lose Countywide Politics No Responses »

Nov 132014

It’s time to face the facts. Alameda County has ceased to be a home for liberals. Perhaps we can trace this development to the replacement of the word “liberal” by the word “progressive,” perhaps to the broken promises of the Obama administration or even to 9/11. Or perhaps the yuppy generation grew old, more afraid, more conservative. In any case, policies throughout the county show that, by in large, liberal values have been abandoned. We now welcome mass surveillance, the loss of fourth amendment rights and the militarization of police, under the fear or excuse of crime, even as crime [Continue Reading]

Winners, Losers & Endorsements

Winners, Losers & Endorsements Politics No Responses »

Nov 132014

The following is a list of the candidates that won competitive races in Alameda County, where either I or the Democratic party made an endorsement. I tried to endorse the most liberal candidate, except in the case of agencies where I went for technical competence as well. Neither I nor the Democratic party endorsed in every race. As you can see, we have not fared very well. * I endorsed/recommended Δ Democratic Party endorsed [i] Incumbent ALAMEDA Mayor: * Trish Spencer (lost Δ Mary Gilmore [i]) City Council: Frank Matarrese & *Δ Jim Oddie (lost Δ Stewart Chen [i]) School [Continue Reading]

Vote to Retain All Judges

Vote to Retain All Judges Legal, Politics 2 Responses »

Nov 042014

A last minute reminder: please vote to retain all the appellate and Supreme Court judges. Some of them may be too liberal for you, some too conservative for me. But judicial independence requires that judges not be punished with removal just because they made rulings we disagree with – as long as those rulings are still legally legitimate. For example, there is a movement to remove the California Supreme Court justices who voted against allowing Prop 49 in the ballot. Prop 49 would have asked whether the US Congress should pass an amendment nullifying Citizens United, and the CA Legislature should ratify [Continue Reading]

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