OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney is proving to be a rising star. However, while her ability to bring together fractious groups to settle the clearing of the Oakland Army Base and her soaring oratory is unquestioned, her first year in office has sometimes been uneven.
Her comments Tuesday regarding a proposed ordinance to strengthen safety regulations for circus animals and spectators at Oakland venues, was one of those odd moments. In response to a push to ban the use of bullhooks on animals, McElhaney said it would be low-income residents who would suffer because of the dearth of family-friendly entertainment options in Oakland. There are indications the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus would pull out of Oakland, if a ban is enacted by the Oakland City Council.
[WATCH VIDEO OF HER COMMENTS BELOW.]
The brutal use of the bullhook by circus trainers on elephants can be easily accessed on the Web. Nevertheless, McElhaney lamented the trouble families encounter by traveling long distances for entertainment, such as rolling skating and Chuck E. Cheese’s. “It seems not to be a big deal for some of these families,” McElhaney said, apparently referring to more wealthy families, “but it’s an extreme burden.”
She added events like the circus bring “normalcy” to the lives of underprivileged children. “I know the circus may not be ideal entertainment for some people, but it is an option for some families,” she said, before conjuring the image of childhood wonderment at the circus, “I want you to look at the kid’s faces.”
ebcitizen.com 
By MW:
I like the comment by 9:11AM. In fact it doesn't just apply to the Oakland City Council but also to Bay area politics in general of the person who is the most extreme clown and/or the biggest crook usually being the one who is promoted to higher office.
For instance, the Bay area is the place that “knew” Jim Jones, and later of Jonestown infamy, was a wonderful and fantastic person.
The Bay area is the total insane asylum that had its chapter of the American Cancer Society give its Humanitarian of the Year award to Willie Brown, in other words the guy who over the last few decades has received far more money from the tobacco companies than any other politician in the entire country.
The Bay area is the total nuthouse that “knows” Dianne Feinstein is a “wonderful” and “intelligent” person and a person of “honesty” and “integrity,” and not a person good only for being the main joke in a comic strip, and even though Feinstein, and who is a fanatic for gun control and for disarming everybody else, carries a gun in her own purse.
The Bay area is the total insane asylum that “knew” Nadia “The World Class Mental Retard” Lockyer was the best qualified person to be on the Board of Supervisors, and the Bay area is the insane asylum that also elected Mary Hayashi to high public office, and rather than getting Hayashi a job as a clown with Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.
In fact regarding the threats by Ringling Brothers to not come to Oakland anymore, it would be silly for any of us to spend our hard earned money to buy tickets to a Ringling Brothers circus when the local politicians, and including Willie Brown, Nadia Lockyer, May Hayashi, and Jean Quan, etc, are drastically better clowns and much more entertaining clowns than anybody working for Ringling Brothers.
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She probably thinks the illegal sideshows should stay for teen/young people's entertainment
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“Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney is proving to be a rising star.”
The Oakland Council has “stars?” Oh you're probably right–they compete in being irrational. The winner runs for Mayor.
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Lynnette is a classist ho who doesn't give a shit about innocent animals.
She's single-termer at best.
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