Don Perata

Poll shows Quan Leads in 94611

A robo-poll conducted by a San Francisco startup aimed at showing off its new Internet phone system has revealed an interesting picture of Oakland’s mayoral race.

A Still from "DREAM A Better Oakland"

While Don Perata leads in most zip codes, Jean Quan’s 94611 base picks her over the competition by a couple of percentage points. Also, the robo-poll called 30,000 likely voters across Oakland, and received 1,435 responses. The machine got the highest number of responses (223) in 94611.

In other campaign news, what do you think of Quan’s new campaign video? This is what the communications director for the Perata campaign had to say: “You would have expected that, given her previous advice on seat-belt safety, she would have insisted the young gentlemen in the back of her car wear their seat-belts. It’s not the first time Jean Quan has been exposed for, “do as I say, not what I do”. Demanding that public employees make pension contributions, for example…“

What Montclarions Said To Perata

When Don Perata held a community meeting at Montclair Presbyterian Church on Monday, we wondered what issues our neighbors would raise to this mayoral candidate.  Bar none, the biggest concerns revolved around the effectiveness of City Hall.

One Montclarion observed that the city government seemed bloated and employeers weren’t doing their jobs.  Another neighbor pointed to ethical, legal and honesty problems from the highest level down.  Yet another chimed in about the problems that were revealed by the city auditor, and the need to provide her with more funding.

There’s plenty of skepticism about mayors lately, at least from the people who turned out this Monday evening.  One neighbor declared, “the last two mayors wanted to do parts of the job.  We’ve all suffered from that!”

After getting thanked by an attendee for running, Perata replied that “most people think I’m crazy.”  He expects to adhere to the strong mayor form of government, making department heads more accountable and then backing them.  Crime, jobs and solvency are on the top of his priorities list.  “I’m not afraid of tough decisions,” he explained.

The mayoral role is imbued with our hopes and dreams (!) about Oakland.  The role is unbelievably challenging, and it makes me wonder what makes candidates Don Perata, Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan truly tick.  We’ll take a couple bleacher seats and watch them visiting the neighborhoods during the months ahead.

Montclair Farmers Market and Mayoral Politics

This morning, various political causes were in full view at the Montclair Farmers Market.  It was the first time we saw a public display declaring “Jean Quan for Oakland Mayor 2010” on the street.  There was a volunteer at the adjacent table, and the all-important cinnamon loaves were luring us nearby.

Both Jean Quan and Don Perata have declared their mayoral candidacies online and you can keep up virtually for now.  They each have base camps:

  • Candidate Perata’s website is called “Believe in Oakland, Perata For Mayor 2010.”   Perata has posted his appearances, including the Laurel on February 27th.  The site also has a donations section, of course.  Over on Facebook you may join his group, which has 512 members, or friend him along with 254 others.
  • Candidate Quan’s website has been live for a while, and serves as a fund-raising channel.  You may also fan her through Facebook, which she seems to use actively – by posting appearances, messages, images and more.  Oh, and there are 254 fans as of this minute too.

We wonder how these online efforts will influence voters during 2010, who knows?  As the real campaigns get underway later this year, however, we suspect there will be evidence of live humans ready for their meet ‘n greets.