Here is the most thorough reporting I've seen on the Assembly District 15 race. It's a Must Read.

A Billionaire-Backed Democrat Is Facing Off Against a Democratic Socialist in Berkeley. And It’s Getting Rough. by Lee Fang and Leighton Akio Woodhouse -more-

Crowd at Bernie Sanders/Barbara Lee event chants JO-VAN-KA!

Today Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed Jovanka Beckles for Assembly District 15 following a weekend rally in Berkeley.

“While in Berkeley, I had the chance to meet with Jovanka Beckles, and I was impressed by her commitment to progressive values. In the State Assembly, she will fight for Medicare for all, a living wage for all California workers, environmental justice and criminal justice reform. I’m proud to support Jovanka Beckles in the 15th Assembly district."

Sanders met with Beckles following an auditorium-packing rally with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) and a stem-winding campaign-style speech excoriating President Trump. Berkeley was the final stop on his dynamic, nine-state Get Out The Vote (GOTV) tour. -more-

The Berkeley community will gather this evening in a unified and healing response to the hateful and tragic shooting today at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Everyone is welcome. -more-

Armed with an assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding six others. The Anti-Defamation League said the attack was among the deadliest against the Jewish community in the United States.

Today Richmond City Council member and AD 15 candidate Jovanka Beckles released a statement on the news of the shooting.

"I extend my deep condolences to the families, friends and relations of the victims of the hate killings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh today. My heart is so heavy, almost beyond bearing," Beckles said, speaking in Berkeley. -more-

h Dear Mayor Arreguín and city council members,

If we’re serious about reversing the loss of diversity in Berkeley due to gentrification and new housing only for those above median income, the city needs to act decisively. That’s why the majority of us rejected the real estate man for mayor in 2016, and elected Kate Harrison instead of Ben Gould for district 4. However, some council members and city staff continue to support the interests of developers over the concerns of Berkeley residents. Instead of continuing to approve market-rate projects, you need to demand projects that include low-income and family units and apply this demand to all those market-rate projects now in the pipeline. If those projects are granted use permits without having to include low-income units, the current housing crisis will be greatly exacerbated. The inadequate current in-lieu fee does not begin to solve the problem. If you’re serious about this crisis, raise the required low-income units to 50% and the in-lieu fee to $100,000 per unit. This would address the problem. We do not need more housing for the well-off in Berkeley. The developers of such housing and their investors need our locations. -more-

When I view the ad with a picture of a homeless encampment in an unknown location associated with Kate Harrison, I was stunned. This ad attacks not only a sitting office holder by implying she is responsible for the homeless epidemic in Berkeley; it also demonizes the poor. The Police Association has come out full bore against Kate Harrison because she is a leader in examining racial inequities in policing and a transparent Police Review Commission. -more-

Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that the East Bay Express endorsed “anybody but Kate Harrison” for the Berkeley City Council District 4 seat. The ostensible rationale was that her two opponents were stronger advocates for tenants, the homeless, and affordable housing. This is simply not true. -more-

Tony Thurmond, who is running for California Superintendant of Schools, is an advocate of public education who opposes the Republican movement to privatize elementary and secondary education. -more-

Have you heard about Lori Droste getting caught violating Berkeley campaign finance laws?

https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/10/26/campaign-notebook-finance-violations-youth-voting-and-bernie-sanders-is-coming-to-town

https://www.berkeleyside.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Two-Reports-for-10-18-18-1.pdf

The staff report says:

"However, based on the facts above, there does appear to be sufficient evidence for a reasonable basis on which to believe that a violation of BERA Sections 2.12.500.A.7 and 2.12.440 occurred for the use of the retail space"

BERA Section 2.12.440 is not related to public financing. It is part of the law that has been there since at least 1991: -more-

We, the undersigned leaders and candidates for public office representing Berkeley, call on you to curtail the power of the City Manager’s Office, the Department of Zoning, and City Planning to take over the property of long-term low-income homeowners over zoning issues. While we are sure that these actions are intended to expand the availability of housing to more people, we question how forcing out some of our most vulnerable long-term residents, many of them African Americans living in South and West Berkeley, will in any way benefit the city’s stated goal of maintaining diversity and affordability in housing. -more-

Last week I got an email from a friend in Contra Costa County who doesn’t usually read the Daily Planet:

“We've been getting negative ads about Beckles in the mail. I don't know if you've gotten them but they are playing with racism (implying that Beckles is crazy and badly behaved, etc). The tactic only serves to make mainstream democrats look bad (would Obama approve of them?), and could alienate progressives still further. Does Wicks approve of these mailers? I find it all very disturbing...”

My somewhat snarky response: You should read the Berkeley Daily Planet.

But really, I also find it very disturbing. In last week’s editorial, I reprinted Wicks’ email address from her website, prompting reader Chris Adams to send her this sarcastic letter with a copy to us:

Dear Buffy Wicks,

Congratulations on a terrific mailer.

First of all, congratulations on keeping your finger prints completely off of it. I am sure no one connects you to the East Bay Health…Affordable Housing, etc.PAC.

Second, the artwork is great, just enough shading on the dark pages that recipients will know Jovanka is Black.

And all the great hit facts that are here to read, way too late to give Jovanka time for rebuttal. I live in Berkeley and I know our leaders would NEVER allow a meeting to “stretch past midnight.” Really bad!

I hope you don’t mind if I send this in to the Lee Atwater Foundation for its annual Willie Horton Award for best campaign ad.

The piece my friend received was attributed to "Coalition for East Bay Health Care Access, Affordable Housing and Quality Public Schools, supporting Buffy Wicks for Assembly 2018," , an Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee whose management has been traced to a conservative Republican lawyer in Sacramento. That might have given Buffy plausible deniability, but so far she hasn’t renounced their support.

But the glossy item that came in my mail today was even more …well…depressing.

This one was clearly paid for by “Buffy Wicks for Assembly”. Banner headline: “Buffy Wicks for Assembly is endorsed by the East Bay Express...”

Now, that’s just a lie. A plain, flat lie.

Here’s what the East Bay Express’s website now says, one more time:


“15th Assembly District: No Endorsement

This was also a tough choice for us. We co-endorsed Buffy Wicks, a former Obama White House aide, in the June primary with Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb. But we've been greatly disappointed in several of her policy stances since then, particularly her decision to oppose Proposition 10, which would allow cities like Berkeley and Oakland to enact tougher rent control laws in order to reduce displacement of longtime residents who can't afford to live here. We view Prop. 10 as one of the most important issues on the ballot. We're also disappointed in her decision to accept independent expenditure help from billionaire, charter-school backers.

Lying has become the fashion in Washington, where Wicks has spent a lot of her time, but it’s still somewhat frowned on in the East Bay.

The piece also devotes a full 8x11 color page (one of four) to an equally dishonest misstatement of Jovanka Beckles’ positions, the same easily rebuttable fake facts, accompanied by authentic appearing fake footnotes to partisan op-eds on obscure web sites, one of which is the Richmond Standard, the FauxNewsSource PR mouthpiece for Chevron.

Yes, it’s disturbing all right.

I fear that Wicks will be elected to represent wealthy developers instead of East Bay citizens in the California Assembly, given the vast sums being spent by them on her behalf.

I’m going to leave last week’s editorial online below, since sadly nothing much has changed. Read it and curse if you want to.
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