Oakland Mayor's Race: Marcy Hodge Interview

Peralta Community College District Board Member Marcy Hodge has labored as one of the lesser known candidates, who's activity in the Oakland Mayor's Race was punctuated by having her sister Nicole Hodge file a defamation lawsuit against The East Bay Express. In the video interview, Hodge talks about why she decided to run for Mayor and her approach.

Hodge says she decided to run for mayor because she didn't think any of the candidates were talking about the issues Oaklanders were dealing with. "I didn't really feel really excited about the candidates."

She's ran a campaign that features billboards and lawn signs all over Oakland.  What's interesting is as this day approached, more and more "Marcie Hodge" lawn signs have appeared around Oakland.  A signal that some Oaklanders had not decided on a candidate and were swayed toward Hodge.

The East Bay Express and Hodge

Robert Gammon has, for some reason, consistently and dangerously attacked Hodge for running for Mayor of Oakland. Gammon has written that, for all practical purposes, Hodge is a "tool" of Oakland Mayor's Race competitor Don Perata, and asserted that overall her campaign is "illegal." What's interesting is that Gammon didn't make a matrix of what the other Oakland Mayor's Race candidates have done in filling reports, he just focused on Marcie.

While the charge was not supported by any Oakland legal official, just Gammon, and he caused the lawsuit with a series of sloppy blog posts, to his credit, Gammon came back with a very good and through follow-up last week.

The video was created before Gammon's latest work. In that one, Robert's done his homework and raises a good point Marcie should address. Marcie told this blogger she was going to file her financial reports last week. But with that, it doesn't explain why Gammon focused on Hodge in the way he did.

Improving Oakland

Hodge says the best way to reduce the Oakland budget deficit is to attract more businesses to Oakland and grow the tax base; she does not favor bankruptcy as an option. "We have to find creative ways of reducing the deficit...We need to look the way China does it (budgets). They plan (the budget) for 100 years."

On Oakland Sports

Hodge, like many of the candidates, does not favor using "public money" to retain the Oakland A's.  While she wants to retain them, she does not offer an alternative solution but wants to see "creative ways" to keep them.  Hodge doesn't favor suing the Oakland A's or the City of San Jose, favoring the approach of fostering a "cordial relationship" with both parties.

City And Mayor's Office Under Hodge

On the subject of City of Oakland morale, Hodge says that when there's no vision from the city's elected officials, there's no reason for workers to get behind the city and that impacts morale.  She's not willing to point at Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums by name, but does so by comments in our conversation.

On the matter of the Oakland Police, Hodge doesn't favor reducing police salaries and feels that they "take a beating" in the public eye.

The Hodge Candidacy

Marcie Hodge is a good person who's campaign, while marked by a single-person media attack, has been largely successful.  Why?  She's visible and attractive, which may be the reason she's getting attention from undecided Oaklanders.  Will all of that be enough to gain a substantial number of votes is the question of the day.