City Government
Oakland Native Kamala Harris Gets Groundswell of Support in Bid for U.S. President
In a one-two punch kicked off by President Joe Biden’s announcement last weekend that he would not seek a second term, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris made history again when Biden designated her to replace him on the ticket this fall. The Oakland native, Howard University graduate, and AKA soror who became the first Black female elected to the office of California attorney general and then U.S. senator became the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history when she was elected four years ago.
By Post Staff
In a one-two punch kicked off by President Joe Biden’s announcement last weekend that he would not seek a second term, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris made history again when Biden designated her to replace him on the ticket this fall.
The Oakland native, Howard University graduate, and AKA soror who became the first Black female elected to the office of California attorney general and then U.S. senator became the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history when she was elected four years ago.
By Monday night, she had secured the support of nearly 2,000 Democratic delegates, meeting the minimum to clinch the nomination for the highest office in the land the DNC convention next month.
She is the first Black woman and first Asian to be on the road to the White House.
On Sunday, a pre-scheduled Zoom call with ‘Win With Black Women,’ a group of activists and influencers, drew an audience of 44,000 that raised $1.5 million for Harris’ campaign, setting a fund-raising record, which was nearly matched the next day when 53,000 joined a Win With Black Men virtual event and raised $1.3 million.
Latinas, Asian and white women were also holding virtual events to back Harris this week, while GOP leaders have had to chastise their cohorts about making racist, sexist and misogynistic statements about her.
Her candidacy brought a resurgence of enthusiasm in the presidential race as poll after poll showed that Biden had an uphill road to victory against Republican nominee, former President Donald J. Trump.
Besides the necessity to continue galvanize support by touting the victories of hers and Biden’s Administration, Harris has to find a running mate that can seal the deal in November.
According to CBS News, multiple sources say “that the list of candidates includes several governors: Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Tim Walz of Minnesota, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Biden Cabinet members Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are also being considered, along with among others.
Many California office Democrats swiftly supported Harris as well. Among them were Sen. Alex Padilla; Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee; and mayors Karen Bass and London Breed, of Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively.
Lee, who supported Harris four years ago when Harris was running for president herself, said “Vice President Harris is the best person to communicate the Biden-Harris administration’s wins of the last four years, unite the party, and remind people what is at stake with a Donald Trump presidency. I was an early supporter of Vice President Harris when she ran for Senate in 2016 and for the presidency in 2020. President Biden knew she would be equipped to be a great president, that’s why he chose her to run alongside him.”
On Sunday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed called on city leaders to unify around Harris, saying civil rights for LGBTQ people, women and people of color are in peril if Democrats lose the White House.
“We cannot mess around with this opportunity; there is so much at stake,” she said. “I wish I could travel to battleground states and just go across the country and help elect Kamala Harris and whoever the vice presidential nominee will be so that we can continue to move our country, and especially our city here locally, in the right direction.”
Wikipedia, Politico, CBS News, KQED, The American Presidency Project, YouTube and X were sources for this report.
@PaulCobbOakland @PostNewsGroup @POTUS @VP @HowardU @realDonaldTrump @JoshShapiroPA @NC_Govenor
Bay Area
Advocates Hold Rally to “Issue a Citation” to City to Stop Homeless Encampment Sweeps
Advocates in San Francisco held a rally Thursday afternoon in front of City Hall to issue a symbolic citation to Mayor London Breed, urging an immediate end to the sweeps of homeless encampments in the city. “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!,” the group chanted. The group of allies and advocates originally intended to start their rally off on Jessie Street, where a sweep of an encampment was going to take place around noon. But, the group had to change their plans because the city allegedly heard about the rally and chose to sweep the area earlier in the day.
By Magaly Muñoz
Advocates in San Francisco held a rally Thursday afternoon in front of City Hall to issue a symbolic citation to Mayor London Breed, urging an immediate end to the sweeps of homeless encampments in the city.
“What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now!,” the group chanted.
The group of allies and advocates originally intended to start their rally off on Jessie Street, where a sweep of an encampment was going to take place around noon. But, the group had to change their plans because the city allegedly heard about the rally and chose to sweep the area earlier in the day.
The streets adjacent to Jessie St., such as Mission and Market St, are lined with multiple encampments and unhoused individuals. Many stand in groups or walk along the streets by themselves.
One member of the group, Leah, said she lived in District 6 and what politicians claim is an “open drug market” area. She criticized the extra funding that has gone to the San Francisco Police Department to “solve homelessness” but no positive results have been shown.
“If giving the police more money actually solved the housing crisis, the homelessness crisis…then it would’ve gotten better, but it has actually just been getting worse and worse as more services for poor people have been cut,” Leah said.
Other speakers said the problem with sweeping and citing people for living on the streets is that the homeless problem is being exacerbated, and it’s ultimately not helping those who are struggling.
In order to help alleviate the problem, advocates have called for expansions to permanent supportive housing, resources and services, housing vouchers, and rent relief for struggling residents.
According to the 2024 Point in Time Count, 8,323 people were experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. A seven percent increase since 2022 where there were 7,754 sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals.
In her mission to get people off the streets, Mayor Breed has directed city crews to clear encampments more frequently than before. This decision comes after the landmark case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, was overturned by the U.S Supreme Court and cities were given the authority to ban people from camping or sleeping on the streets.
The mayor also instructed city workers to offer transportation tickets to people before offering shelter with the intent that those who are not originally from San Francisco can return to family or friends elsewhere and services can then be used for long-time residents.
A former homeless resident, Yolanda, in attendance at the rally said it was difficult to get off of living on the streets because of the barriers to housing and services.
Yolanda told the Post that she had grown up in the city with her family, but once her father passed away, there was no one to maintain the bills so they had to relocate to Oakland for a few years. She said her family stayed there for a few years before returning to San Francisco.
As she got older, she found herself living on the streets or in temporary shelter. But these shelters would only allow people to stay for a few months at a time and were very restrictive in what people could do, such as leave when they wanted or have guests with them.
After some time, Yolanda and her boyfriend were selected for housing through a housing allocation program, where she still currently lives now. She said they were one of the lucky ones, but others do not get to experience this same fortune.
She shared that at one point in her journey to find a housing placement, there was a 2,000 person waitlist, making it nearly impossible and disheartening for those looking for a roof to put over their heads.
Yolanda said it was unfair to criminalize people for not being able to afford housing, considering the extremely high costs of living in the area.
Bay Area
Libby Schaaf, Associates Stiff Penalties for ‘Serious’ Campaign Violations in 2018, 2020 City Elections
According to the proposed settlement agreements, which are on the agenda for the Monday, Sept. 16 Public Ethics Commission (PEC), Schaaf and many of those with whom she was working, have cooperated with the investigation and have accepted the commission’s findings and penalties. “Respondents knowingly and voluntarily waive all procedural rights under the Oakland City Charter, Oakland Municipal Code, the Public Ethics Commission Complaint Procedures, and all other sources of (applicable) procedural rights,” the settlement agreement said.
Ex-Mayor, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Are Not Disputing Findings of Violations
By Ken Epstein
Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, currently a candidate for state treasurer, faces thousands of dollars in penalties from the City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission for a “pattern” of serious campaign violations in 2018 and 2020 city elections
According to the proposed settlement agreements, which are on the agenda for the Monday, Sept. 16 Public Ethics Commission (PEC), Schaaf and many of those with whom she was working, have cooperated with the investigation and have accepted the commission’s findings and penalties.
“Respondents knowingly and voluntarily waive all procedural rights under the Oakland City Charter, Oakland Municipal Code, the Public Ethics Commission Complaint Procedures, and all other sources of (applicable) procedural rights,” the settlement agreement said.
“If respondents fail to comply with the terms of this stipulation, then the commission may reopen this matter and prosecute respondents to the full extent permitted by law,” according to the agreement.
Schaff and co-respondents were involved in three related cases investigated by the PEC:
In the first case, Schaaf in 2018, without publicly revealing her involvement as required by law, working with the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and others, created, lead, and raised funds for a campaign committee called “Oaklanders for Responsible Leadership, Opposing Desley Brooks for Oakland City Council.”
The “respondents,” who were responsible for the violations in this case were: the campaign committee called Oaklanders for Responsible Leadership; Mayor Schaaf; the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce; OAKPAC; which is the chamber’s political action committee; Barbara Leslie and Robert Zachary Wasserman, both leaders of the Oakland chamber; and Doug Linney, a campaign consultant who was brought on by Schaaf to organize and lead the campaign to defeat Desley Brooks in her 2018 campaign for reelection.
Linney reported in his interview with the PEC that Schaaf had approached him and said, “Let’s do an Independent Expenditure (IE) campaign against Desley and let me see if I can get some other folks involved to make it happen.”
Linney developed a plan, which hired staff to organize field canvassing and phone banking. He said Schaaf told him the budget should be more than $200,000 because “I think raising $200K shouldn’t be hard and could shoot for more.”
None of the original group, which met weekly, included anyone who lived in District 6, the section of the city that Brooks represented. They waited to start the committee until they could find a District 6 resident willing to be the face of their campaign.
During her tenure, Brooks was instrumental in establishing the city’s Department of Race and Equity.
Among the violations reported by the PEC:
- Respondents reported contributions as being received from the chamber’s political action committee, OAKPAC, “rather than the true source of the contributions,” in order to hide the identities of contributors.
- Failure to disclose “controlling candidate,” Libby Schaaf, on a mass mailer.
- Failing to disclose the controlling candidate, Libby Schaaf, on official campaign filings.
- Receiving contributions in amounts over the legal limit. For example, the State Building and Construction Trade Council of California PAC donated $10,000, which is $8,400 over the limit; and Libby Schaaf donated $999, which is $199 over the limit.
Total contributions were $108,435, of which $82,035 was over the limit.
“In this case, Mayor Schaaf and her associates’ action were negligent. All of them were fully aware that Mayor Schaaf and significant participation in the IE campaign against Brooks, including its creation, strategy, and budgeting decisions, and selection of personnel.”
Further, the PEC said, “The respondents’ violations in this case are serious. The strict rules applying to candidate-controlled committees go directly to the very purpose of campaign finance law.”
In her interview with the PEC, Schaaf, who is an attorney, had received incorrect legal advice from Linney, her campaign consultant, that her activities were legally permissible, because she was not the “final decision-maker.”
Total recommended penalties for all those involved in this case were $148,523.
The PEC also found violations and is recommending penalties in two other cases.
The second case involves the Oakland Fund for Measure AA in 2018, which established a parcel tax to fund early childhood initiatives in Oakland. Looking into this case, PEC investigators found that Schaaf used her position as mayor to benefit the campaign, though without revealing her involvement.
A contractor who made a large contribution was Julian Orton of Orton Development, which was in negotiations with the city to redevelop the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. Orton donated $100,000
Schaaf, for failing to disclose that the campaign committee was “candidate controlled,” may face a $4,500 penalty. For violating the rule against contractor contributions, the campaign committee and Schaaf face a possible $5,000 penalty.
Orton has agreed to pay a $5,000 penalty.
The third case involved a campaign in 2020, the Committee for an Affordable East Bay, which raised thousands of dollars to support Derrick Johnson’s campaign for Councilmember-at-Large position and to attack the incumbent, Councilmember-at-Large Rebecca Kaplan.
Investigators found that Schaaf was extensively and secretly involved in the work of this committee.
She received a $100,000 donation from Lyft, which had a contract with the city at the time and was therefore legally prohibited. Lyft recently agreed to pay a $50,000 fine.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of September 11 -17, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 11 – 17, 2024
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