I ran into Oakland Activist and Oakland Post photographer Gene Hazzard while with my colleague on Grand Avenue, and he was gracious enough to give me the opportunity to make the video above. Gene’s new Oakland Mayor Recall news is that, first, Hazzard has a letter from the City of Oakland’s City Clerk’s Office that effectively says Harland and the Sutton Law Firm can forget about the City reversing any past decision made on the recall petition, thus retaining Hazzard’s petition as active and valid, and that Harland and Sutton would have to pursue a lawsuit against Gene.
Even with that, Gene’s not going to stop his recall effort, and the new question is under what cause would Harland be able to successfully sue Hazzard?
On top of that, Gene dropped this news: that he thinks Greg Harland’s real reason for doing his own recall work is to have a list of signatures he can then contact and say “vote for me to replace current Mayor Jean Quan.” If so, and I’ve talked to other Oakland movers and shakers who also think this, Harland’s using a legal back door to basically become Mayor of Oakland.
But that act, once it gets out that Greg’s doing that, or has the look of doing it, could derail his own efforts. Of course, if true, Greg would just say “Well, they can vote for someone else.” Which is true.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll