Best Dressed East Bay Politicians
Mary Hayashi in Oct. 2011.

Mary Hayashi – No joke! Who, other than Hayashi, could have the balls to show up for her hearing for shoplifting from Neiman Marcus dressed to the nines while clutching a pricey Coach bag? Although, we noticed she was wearing some pantsuits more than once during the campaign season, Hayashi is still the model for style in the East Bay and could give her rival Ellen Corbett a few good pointers. You go, girl!

Scott Haggerty – We’ve mentioned Haggerty’s on-going taste for gray pinstriped double-breasted suits many times before. Add the white shock of a goatee and the look is a cross between Tammany Hall couture and a 1950s Las Vegas pit boss. In addition. when Haggerty gives a quick wink and a smile during Board of Supervisor meeting to the young fillies in the front row, the look is absolutely pimpin’!

Michael Gregory – The East Bay’s Mr. GQ, like former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown must have been a fashion model in his younger days. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if Gregory once posed in his skivvies, hatchet in hand, for an L.L. Bean catalog, circa 1995.

Mark Salinas – Like, Gregory, Salinas has a nice array of suits in his arsenal and rocks the newsboy woven cap nicely, although, the looks sometimes veers into looking like that rich tio who walks into abuelas house in a nice peacoat and leather gloves on Christmas Eve—acting the big shot—but never bothering to bring any presents for the ninos. What kind of shit is that?

Rebecca Kaplan – Although she sometimes strikes us as looking like the Oakland City Council’s in-chambers bartender—sort of like Isaac from “The Love Boat” (also an Oakland native)—you have got to hand it to the vest-wearing Kaplan, it’s a bold look and she owns it.

Worst Dressed East Bay Politicians

Chris Peeples – The long-time member of the AC Transit Board of Directors doesn’t give a fig what he wears and the fact he looks like a haggard Burl Ives. That, or Peeples is actually wearing the high fashion line, Derelicte, featured in the film, Zoolander.

Stephen Cassidy

Stephen Cassidy – Stylistically, there’s not much you can do with the rotund Cassidy other than dress him up in all-black. However, Johnny Cash was the originally “man in black” who stood for the poor, disenfranchised common man. Cassidy has none of those personal attributes, whatsoever.

Mike Katz – Cassidy’s cohort use to be a big man, but dropped loads of L.B.’s a few years ago. Katz, a member of the San Leandro school board, can’t win for losing. Now, he’s too busy doing surveillance on the San Leandro Police Department doing surveillance on him doing surveillance on them to buy pants that fit.

Michael Sweeney – When you’re a mayor that won 98 percent of the vote in 2010, you could really care less about how you look, right? The unshaven Sweeney is rarely seen in a suit, but seems to get the job done even without ever hearing his name and “GQ” uttered in the same sentence. We think he would wear baggy, zebra print, MC Hammer pants to meetings if he could get away with it.

Mark Green – What can you say about the baritone, now-former Union City mayor who always appeared like he had just entered City Hall chambers following a three-mile jog in his suit complete with New Balance running shoes? We’re going to miss Green.

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