FIFTY+ONE blog
Jan. 24,2012 | Does Assembly candidate Joel Young need anger management? His latest alleged brush with violence was reported Tuesday by the Oakland Tribune.

In the article, Young threatened an aide for Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan at a bar Jan. 14 in Oakland’s Uptown district. Young later allegedly spat in the aide’s eye before leaving.

The paper says a discussion between Jason Overman, Kaplan’s communication director, and Young’s girlfriend about the assembly candidate’s previous domestic violence allegations last March was the impetus for the argument.

I wrote the definitive article in the East Bay Express on the allegations made against Young by a former girlfriend and I’ve had numerous conversations with both.

Here’s what I think will happen next:

  • His candidacy, despite another highly distasteful public relations disaster, will continue.
  • Like with his domestic violence accuser, he will retaliate against Overman’s filing of a temporary restraining order with his own.
  • Young will tell his legion of Oakland supporters the allegations are politically motivated and point to the fact Overman waited one week to file the police report.

But give Young this: he has gumption. Last year, with the existence of a photograph detailing the swollen right eye of his former girlfriend alleged to have been caused by Young, the 34-year-old bachelor offered me a picture showing a scratch on his torso purportedly caused by the woman. Nevermind that an emergency room doctor initially believed the woman had suffered a broken orbital bone stemming from the blow.

In a tight four-person race for the Oakland assembly seat, Young’s opponents have not capitalized on Young’s mounting problems. To supporters, he is Teflon, but watch for tiny cracks in his support to show. How many times can he use the same excuses before people sense the Young is the boy crying wolf?

I will say this, Joel Young could land a haymaker on Mother Theresa and his supporters, typically black women of a certain age who think he’s the most charming thing since Billy Dee Williams, will not waver in their support for him.

(This article is featured in today’s Fifty+One blog.)
______________

Supplement stories in the EastBayCitizen by reading my new heavily updated blog “Fifty+One” (fiftyplusone.tumblr.com) covering the East Bay political scene featuring behind-the-scenes observations and pertinent rants and ravings. “Fifty plus one,” by the way is the winning electoral equation for all politicians.

Advertisement