The Oakland Caucus By OBA – Oakland Candidates Forum Well-Attended

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This first-of-its kind event was held in Oakland on Thursday, May 24th, 2012 at 5:30 PM at the office of The Community Bank Of The Bay at 1750 Broadway. The Oakland Builder’s Alliance, headed by its new Executive Director Beverly Rivas, produced the unique gathering, where 26 candidates for seats on the Oakland City Council, the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, The Democratic Central Committee, Alameda County Superior Court, and California Assembly District 18, all came to talk to members of the OBA.

As the designated video-blogger, I made it my objective to get all of the attendees running for office on the video, and with a rule that they could present themselves for from (ideally 15 to 30 seconds), to the longer talks here in the video above and that threatened to make this video way too long.

I worked to get as many people as I could; I missed California Assembly District 18 Candidate Joel Young, because he left earlier than his competitors, but I did express to him that I wanted to interview him. I also missed one person running for the Superior Court Judge seat. But in total, I’m proud of the work I did here.

I also took time to note candidates I favored, but I did not give them special position here, or more time to talk; those who took more time did so of their own work, not mine. I was in the background waving my finger for them to wrap it up.

As to the candidates on the video, we have Melissa Rosengard for Sean Sullivan, who’s running for Oakland City Council District Three; Alameda Vice Mayor Rob Bonta, who’s going for the same California Assembly District 18 Seat that Peralta Community College Board Member Abel Guillen has his eye on. Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner’s working to be the next elected City Attorney, but is in a battle with the current incumbent Barbara Parker, who was represented by Alex Katz. Transportation Activist Rebecca Saltzman is running to be on the BART Board Of Directors. Long-time Oaklander Don Link is running for the District One Seat, as is my friend Oakland Green Party President Donald Macleay and another District One Activist Dan Kalb. Nate Miley, former Oakland Councilmember and current President Of The Alameda County Board Of Supervisors is running for reelection. Alex Miller Cole is the first-time candidate for Oakland’s District Three City Council Seat, as is Lynette McElhaney.

Oakland’s At-Large City Council Rep Rebecca Kaplan is running again and was represented by Jason Overman. Catherine Haley and Andrew Winer both seek the Alameda County Superior Court Judgeship. Meanwhile Jill Broadhurst, who ran for the Oakland City Council District Four Seat that Libby Schaaf holds today, is going for Democratic Central Committee, and with her friend and mine Frank Castro, forming a kind of Latino alliance. Nak Shah is running for U.S. Senate, as is Diane Stewart, and Colleen Fernald, who ran in 2006 as well.

Finally, Larry Lionel Young was in the house, but unlike the other candidates listed not one but three council districts he might represent by running: 1, 3, 5, or 7, as he said in the video. Seriously. In other words, Larry is surveying data and talking to friend before he determines where he’s going to run.

But I have to observe that all of this has been good for Larry’s real estate business, as it’s given him a level of name recognition he did not enjoy before he first ran for Mayor Of Oakland. Now, he’s out to pad his name-recognition ranking.

Stay tuned.

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