Monday, June 07, 2010

Oakland Mayor's Race - candidates forum Thursday May 10th

The Oakland Mayor's Race finally has its first official candidates forum. This Thursday, May 10th, 100 Black Men of The Bay Area will host the "Oakland Mayoral Candidates Forum" at the First Unitarian Church at 685 14th Street in Oakland from 6 PM to 9 PM. Yes, all of the candidates will be there as of this writing.

If Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who has not made an official statement on his future in or out of Oakland, does not show up, don't take it as a sign he's not going to run. It's June and we've got a lot of time before November. We also have a lot of candidates: ten. So many that my sources tell me 100 Black Men almost made a mistake in not inviting all of them.

At first, 100 Black Men extended invitations to three Oakland Mayor's Race participants: Don Perata and Oakland Councilmembers Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan. But the other candidates got wind of the event and literally raised hell, threatening to crash the party and present their displeasure at being excluded. 100 Black Men sent an new emailed invite, giving the candidates one day to respond. Each did.

As reported here before, The full list of Oakland Mayor's Race candidates consists of incumbent Ron Dellums, Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Maya Dillard Smith, Terrance Candell, and an tenth person who's still not ready for prime time, but will be. Eight of the ten will be at the 100 Black Men event. But what's 100 Black Men?

100 Black Men of The Bay Area is a great organization that holds events and fundraisers that cause the Bay Area's black business and political officials to gather and help African American youth by providing scholarships and mentoring. 100 Black Men is a membership organization that's open to everyone who wants to help, regardless of color or sex.

See you on June 10th.

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