I broke this in April '19 before PEC investigated. Per PEC, Haydel "self-reported" violation after a news story revealed it. I'm the originator of either story, revelation or both. But what this doesn't say is Haydel's lawyer Wasserman was McElhaney's Defense Fund manager
After reviewing the facts, PEC actually voted to more than double the fine. Unclear if its because Haydel's lawyer was also McE's legal defense fund mgr. McElhaney voted yes to sell City's land to Lane to build Kaiser's new HQ [the deal later collapsed due to Covid].
I did the only reporting on this. For more than a year, I was the only reporter dedicated to covering City Hall, and this is the evidence of that. hyphenatedrepublic.com/2019/07/10/oak…
What's remarkable is how Wasserman continues not only to violate OCRA himself, but also sherpa developers thru the pitfalls of violating it w/out any sanction or even mention. The suit doesn't mention Wasserman's dual roles, which is a recurring theme with him and in plain sight.
I was actually at every City meeting on the Lane Partners deal, pleading as a resident for the City to follow OCRA and pause voting on this deal because of the violation. I was roundly ignored and even scoffed at.
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Carson arguing for his part, that the schedule is soon for his successor on the BOS to be a functional part of the process. "implore people to deeply consider that"
Carson said that the timing on moving on both recalls was "premature...I'm not too sure that after one year in office, an active campaign to remove people gave people the opportunity to focus on the job they were elected to do..."
Vote Update: Latter tranches of votes come in lower for Mayoral recall, but likely won't be enough. Latest batch itself 43% vs 57%. Total gap still large: on Friday was 63.8% vs 36.15%, now 61.59 vs 38.41. With 99K counted, this could be around half the votes with 70-80% turnout
Relative newcomer Rowena Brown pulled ahead of Leronne Armstrong in straight votes, way ahead in RCV. The trend of Brown getting a huge number of Wang's votes, despite Empower Oakland recommending an LA/Wang slate continues: she gets half Wang's votes, double Armstrong's share
Things are worse for Dreyfuss' bag man for the recall, Len Raphael, losing votes with each update. He was at 15.19% Friday in straight votes, now 14.92%. He actually benefits in RCV from getting a few hundred of Frank's votes, boosting his share to 16.78% Unger 83.2%
Sitting in on today's case conference where Chanin and Burris' report back to NSA will be heard. Chanin & Burris say current scandal, where Armstrong's IAD failed to hold a police officer who paid witnesses and perjured, shows the OPD should be put under more rigorous oversight.
*accountable...at today's meeting, Chanin, Burris and also the Oakland Police Commission Chair, Marsha Peterson. It will be interesting to see where she and OPC land on this, as she and others have seemed resistant to holding Armstrong accountable
I also see Mac Muir, CPRA Director. CPRA's independent investigation of IAD's faulty investigation is what led to all this...but its unclear that investigation is even available to plaintiff attorneys, Burris and Chanin, as they referred to DBG & Ali Winston's reporting instead.
At Life Enrichment, a crowd came out to show support for Carroll Fife who has been under attack by right wing groups aligned with recalls, led by Dominique Walker, "thank you for all that you do for us", listed Fife's accomplishments and help for community with homeless families.
Shereena Thomas recounting how Fife helped her through health problems and disability. "I don't know any other person who has been in the trenches...I don't know of any other Cm who has done for community as she has. The record speaks for itself and I have receipts"
"I grew up on 57th in Oakland, I've been homeless 5 times in my life...I was sleeping in my car [when covid came], I was working a temp job & I couldn't work remotely..." Fife helped pay for hotel, buy a car, & work w/Moms 4 Housing. Victim of PTSD, single mom whose son passed
🚨As I seem to be the only reporter interested in, and covering, the closure of this year's budget gap now that its confirmed the Coli sale won't cover FY 23-24s deficit, here's what the City Admin now suggests for closure, along with substantive changes from previous plan🧵
The CAO previously proposed 30 MM in cancelled carry forwards, transfers to other funds & etc to close about 20 MM of gap. That would have been 30 MM, but CAO left a 10 MM buffer contingency just in case. That left about 42 MM, which was meant to be covered by portion of Coli $$.
Now the City is absorbing back the contingency, making it an even 30 MM again. That leaves 30 MM to close; 19.3 MM of that will be resolved thru the following actions, including cancelling a new $9 MM OPD/OFD fleet, & 6MM use of library bond measure on library exp
I'll revise this: in their ignorance of the politics, OPC got Chief Mitchell and a staffer to acknowledge what Council never will:
Mitchell: "the police dept is slowly shrinking..."
OPD budget staffer: "cola increases in staffing, that makes up the difference [in increase]"
Mitchell returned to the subject and made it completely clear: "the cola increases built into the OPOA contract" increase the costs of the police, while the OPD is shrinking.
What OPC won't be able to cohere on here, Oakland's policing is currently untenable in its current conception. Every year budget is increasing due to guaranteed 3.5% cola increases the Council was badgered into passing by Schaaf and Armstrong. Meanwhile, academies underproducing