The Wellstone Democratic Club is the latest focal point for the craziness that has become the 2014 Oakland Mayor’s Race. The organization, over 200-strong, is going to held its endorsement meeting to determine who to back to be the next political leader of Oakland.
Due to the actions of some Wellstone members like Community Activist Pamela Drake – a backer of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and a very vocal and involved club member – candidates Joe Tuman and Bryan Parker, two of the best known and well moneyed participants, were not invited to the meeting.Washington
Her claim was that Parker and Tuman were not progressive. Joe was so upset over that view, he used choice words to pepper his comments to me.
So Joe Tuman and Bryan Parker crashed the party – on my encouragement. I even tried to get Sam Washington and Micheal Johnson, who are running for Mayor and District Six City Council, respectively, to go. Johnson did. Washington was celebrating his 18th wedding anniversary.
It’s very wrong to exclude people who are running for the office. It’s galling. It’s even more so when you realize that Parker and Tuman provide a powerful challenge to Mayor Quan.
Fortunately, it was Pam Drake who paved the way for Parker and Tuman to speak when they arrived. That was a great thing to do rather than cause a sir by trying to kick them out.
Because Tuman and Parker arrived, there was no candidate who got the 55 percent majority of votes to land the endorsement – Quan and Oakland Councilmember Libby Schaaf got the most votes.
Stay tuned.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.