Oakland Mayor's Race: Perata Out Of League of Women Voters Forum

An update to an earlier post. Former State Senator Don Perata's Campaign Representative Rhys Williams confirms that the mayoral candidate will not attend the September 23rd League of Women Voters Forum.

The forum, that the Oakland Chamber of Commerce and other business groups approached the League Of Women Voters to do, has what can be described as a bizantine set of criteria designed to exclude certain candidates.

Don Perata will not attend LWV Forum 

It's a format the Oakland League of Women Voters did not want to do, but for some reason elected to go ahead with, even though the "League" warned the business group representatives that it would be perceived negatively.

Don Perata has rightly taken the position that he would not attend any forum that excludes mayoral candidates.

There's another forum planned for the same evening that is open to all candidates. The League should jettison it's plans for a September 23rd Forum.

Stay tuned.

Mayor Daley Will Not Run: Chicago Without Daley? Unthinkable

Mayor Daley 

Wow. Mayor Richard J. Daley Jr., is done? Chicago without Daley is unthinkable. For 35 of my 48 years on Earth, Chicago has been ran by a Daley. After Richard M. Daley steps down, no longer.

When this blogger was born on August 4th 1962, Chicago's Mayor was Richard J. Daley. He had already served as Mayor since 1955. In Mayor Daley Senior's Chicago, the subway expansion effectively connected the Northside and the Southside, a new McCormick Place Convention Center rose to replace the one that burned down, and a city that once called itself The Second City, slowly started to think of itself as first.

When Daley Sr. passed of a heart attack in 1974, it seemed as if Chicago itself stopped working. There was the disaster that was Janye Byrne's time as Mayor. And before that, there was Michael Bilandic, who's inability to deal with a massive snow storm cost him the 1978 election.

The one bright spot between the Daleys, Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago's first black Mayor, passed of a heart attack in 1987. Then Daley Jr. ran for election in 1989, and served for 20 years.

Over that span of time, Mayor Daley oversaw the transformation of my hometown from a manufacturing city to a service city, with the North Loop developed into a major site of small boutique firms and hip restaurants.

Chicago completed its long standing, ambitious plan to redevelop the lakefront. And Chicago became a city to be in, rather than a city to pass through.

Yes, it has it's crime problems. But overall, the Chicago of today is better than the Chicago of 20 years ago. Much of that credit has to go to "Richy Jr."

ESPN's Adam Schefter Says Tom Brady Contract Rumor Is Wrong

Adam Schefter

ESPN's Adam Schefter, who correctly tweeted that ESPN's Tim Cowlishaw was wrong about the timing of the signing of Darelle Rivas, scores again today.

On Twitter, Schefter reported that The Boston Herald's claim that Tom Brady was very close to signing to a three-year contract extension with the New England Patriots reportedly for $58 million, was wrong.

Adam Schefter tweeted:

Aware of Brady-contract talk. But two knowledgeable people say reports of deal being in place are "inaccurate" and "wrong". We'll see.    about 7 hours ago via web     Retweeted by 30 people

In an update at SBNation.com, Adam was reported to have said that a Tom Brady contract would be done in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S for T-Mobile An iPhone Killer

This blogger was eligible for a T-Mobile upgrade and purchased the new Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S. Now, as a former iPhone owner, the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S looks and feels so much like an iPhone, there's no longer a desire to have one.

I really hate AT&T for how they unethically handled my billing situation when I had an iPhone (charging a constant monthly rate of $1,033.36, admitting it was wrong, then trying to reverse the admission). So, owning the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S and blogging happily about it and T-Mobile is sweet revenge.

What I like about the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S that I didn't like about my iPhone at the time was how the iPhone would accidentally come on with just the right brush of the front cover. Not so the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S.

I also like its super-bright display and video. I'm having issues uploading large files to YouTube, but that will be resolved soon.

I highly recommend the Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S.

Oakland Mayor's Race: League of Women Voters Unethical Forum

The latest news in the Oakland Mayor's Race has the Oakland League of Women Voters still sticking to it's decision to exclude Oakland Mayoral Candidates from its September 23rd forum and for a booya-boogie list of reasons explained before in this space. This, after the Sierra Club opened its previously restricted forum to all candidates.

The lack of Oakland League of Women Voters cooperation to open its September 23rd Forum leads this blogger to ask if the LVW is being paid off by certain elements of the Oakland Business Community, specifically, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, not to have an open forum?

Given my conversations with a number of people, payoff can come in different forms, like forum sponsorship.

Since I was told that the League Of Women Voters was approached by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce to have a restrictive forum, it's fair to assert that for all practical purposes a payoff was in play. Otherwise, the LVW would have said "no" to the Oakland Chamber's desires, and had an open forum. The Oakland LWV knows the risks at hand in having a closed, or "fixed" forum, yet they're going to do it anyway!

Fixed? Yes. Anytime you have a set of rules designed to exclude candidates, that's the same as "fixing" the forum. I said the "grassroots" effort to get more donations wasn't going to work, and here's my proof in this email from Oakland Mayor's Race candidate Don Macleay:

The LOWV should open their event to all candidates

Dear League of Women Voters, Oakland Branch,

I am writing with concern about the event you have planned for Sept 23rd.
My concern is about the “viability” standards I have received as a requirement to participate as a candidate in this event.

It is my firmly held belief that all ballot qualified candidates should be allowed to participate.

If you do not believe that so many people should be on the ballot, then just say so and advocate a change in the city charter.

We did not respond to your “qualification test” because we do not feel that there should be any other criteria than that of the City of Oakland.

It was my understanding that the Oakland branch of the League of Women Voters had the missions of INCLUDING and INFORMING the public away from our money dominated, media advertizing politics. The “viability” standards seem to be based only on media, money, and existing political connections. Do you now want to make sure that some people get exposure and others do not? It does not really matter what your intention is, that will be the effect. Now one place where all candidates were to be given a chance to make their case in front of the public and see their message distributed by the broadcast media has become one more place where the citizen candidate has been excluded.

The current press coverage is already strongly biased towards a pay-to-play model of politics which creates a self fulfilling prophecy of who is viable. The public is poorly served by the press which has done nothing to inform the public of their choices in this election. Why has the Oakland branch of the League of Women Voters become part of that process that does not fully inform the public?

Other events have taken place and other people have found ways to deal with the large number of candidates. In our modern media age, I think you could find a way to deal with this as others have.

What in effect will happen is that you will end up holding an event that tells the public:
There are people you are allowed to vote for and all the others are not viable.

Is that really the mission the League of Women Voters has now?

So I ask you to reconsider.

Don Macleay

Green Party Candidate for Mayor of Oakland, 2010
510 866-7488
candidate@macleay4oakland.org

P.S. We have received “consolation prize” invitations to at least one other Oakland branch of the League of Women Voters sponsored events.
This does not address the issue I raise here and I wonder who is served by these second string events.

Former State Senator Don Perata has said he would not attend a forum that excludes the other candidates. Thus, he should not attend the Oakland League Of Women Voters Forum.

Reggie Bush Scandal Poll - What's Tony Bruno's Take At Comcast Sports?

The Reggie Bush Scandal Poll is up and active. Right now, most voters, not a lot but the numbers are climbing, think former USC and now New Orleans Saints Running Back Reggie Bush should give back The Heisman Trophy.

This blogger think he should give it back and then sue USC. Another person thinks he should sell it on eBay!)

But what does Tony Bruno, seen here at the Playboy Mansion, think?

Tony Bruno's bringing his famous hard-edged, buzz-saw take to Comcast Sports Bay Area starting September 12th on The Sunday Night Rap with Gary Radnich, billed as "the most popular and most recognized sports television and radio personality in Northern California." (Oh, oh. Someone call Jerry Rice about that one!)

Tony Bruno has been jousting with Gary Radnich since 1995. Now, this Sunday, they're going to be on The Sunday Night Rap talking about The Reggie Bush Scandal and these poll results.

What say you about the Reggie Bush Scandal?

Take my poll:

create a free poll on pollsb.com

Reggie Bush Scandal Poll - What Should Bush Do?

As predicted in this space what's called The Reggie Bush Scandal is now number one on Google Trends (boy, this blogger's good).

If you're not familiar with what went down (a little term to annoy PB), briefly, Reggie Bush was accused of taking gifts and receiving benefits in conjunction with his role as a running back at USC. He won The Heisman Trophy in 2005.

Now, after its own investigation, separate from the NCAA look, The Heisman Trust has, for the first time in history, asked for its trophy to be returned.

Now, everyone from The LA Times micro-blog on Bush (just to be in on Google Trends, nothing more) to Babble's Famecrawler has something to say about this.

Everyone except you, that is.

If you were Reggie Bush, what would you do in response to the news that The Heisman Trust had asked for your hard-earned Heisman Trophy back? Consider, the Heisman's own investigation said Bush received gifts and benefits. But none of them impacted his on-the-field performance that won him the 2005 Heisman.

This blogger says Bush should appeal the decision. Too many college football players are used for revenue-generation, then forgotten. Bush should take a stand. But that's me.

What say you?

Heres' the poll:

create a free poll on pollsb.com