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Greg Hodge Fails to Qualify for Oakland Council Race

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday March 18, 2008

Posted Wed., March 19—One of the most highly anticipated Oakland election battles in years may have been knocked off the ballot when veteran District 3 Oakland School Board member Greg Hodge came up one signature short of qualifying to run in the June 3 race for the Oakland City Council.  

The West Oakland/Downtown District 3 seat is held by longtime council member Nancy Nadel, who is running for re-election. The boundaries for the school board and city council districts are identical.  

The determination that Hodge was one signature shy of the 50 needed to qualify for the ballot was made by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office and Assistant Oakland City Clerk Marjo Keller. 

Hodge has until Friday to challenge the ruling. 

If the ruling stands, it will leave Nadel's only challenger as political newcomer Sean Sullivan, development director of the Oakland branch of Covenant House. 

Neither Hodge nor Nadel was available for comment.  

Nadel has served on City Council since 1996. Hodge first won the District 3 School Board seat in 2000 in a runoff. Both initially filed to run for mayor of Oakland in 2006, but Hodge dropped out after Ron Dellums entered the race. Nadel stayed in the mayoral race, eventually coming in third to Dellums and second to Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente.