OAKLAND | MAYOR | When Gov. Jerry Brown served as mayor of Oakland, Councilmember Libby Schaaf was part of his staff. If the popular governor was going to weigh-in on this 15-candidate mayoral race this fall, it was likely going to be in Schaaf’s favor.
With some fanfare, and statewide attention lacking in this campaign, Brown announced his endorsement of Schaaf Monday afternoon at her campaign headquarters on Grand Avenue. The high-profile backing from Brown comes on the same day the registrar of voters is scheduled to begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots for the Nov. 4 election.
However, two polls last month showed Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan has the race’s front runner, Mayor Jean Quan and Schaaf both stood within striking distance. In recent weeks, both Quan and Schaaf have shown a renewed vigor at public appearances. Brown’s boost has the potential to tighten the race among the few top-tier candidates that also include Joe Tuman, Dan Siegel and Bryan Parker.
According to reports, Brown declined to recommend a second and third choice for the ranked-choice voting contest.
ebcitizen.com 
You're welcome 3:49PM, if I had been Neel Kashkari debating Jerry Brown, I would of make him looked like he had late stage dementia within two rounds of questioning. =)
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“Brown is an a…..”
“Candidate Peter Liu” never ceases to amaze me. If fell right off my chair and could hardly breathe for the laughing. Hysterical laughter doesn't hit me so often now that my teenage years are in the dim past.
Thank you Candidate Liu! Your punch line about Brown was the final blow for me. Actually I think I broke my chair.
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Jerry Brown just mettle in Oakland politics. He is a failure who gives drivers license to illegal aliens, taxpayer funded scholarships to them. In the effort to save a delta smelt fish, he drained reservoirs to the Pacific instead of channeling it to farmers. Now we have this entirely man-made water disaster. As former Oakland mayor, his 10K plan was a major fail as developers belly up and condos sat vacant for years in legal limbo. This guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and his policies are all failures. We have a good Bay Bridge that was replaced by an inferior one that overrun cost in the billions, leaks and have a $100M+ repair bill. All thanks to Brown. Now he will unconstitutionally infringe on gun rights and seize guns from lawful owners when “relative complains.” Brown did nothing for the crime rate in Oakland while he was mayor because he is incompetent. He may be popular to the uninformed, because liberal media is always on his side. But make no mistake, Brown is an asshole.
—Candidate Peter Liu
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By MW:
Concerning the fact that Jerry Brown endorsed Libby Schaaf, in other words one of the candidates running for Mayor of Oakland, hopefully that will make little or no difference to most voters, While I myself am not opposed to LS, however the main issue is that voters should make up their own minds, and without help from Jerry Brown.
However if I did live in Oakland and if it had been an absolute deadheat in my mind as to whether to vote for LS or Candidate B, the fact that LS ended up getting the endorsement of a clown like Jerry Brown would very likely be the tiebreaker that would cause me to vote for her opponent.
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Sez above “delivering discomfort to the powerful…”
So this column is making big Jer uncomfortable? It's making good ol' Lib who's been in city hall in Oaktown for a good decade all itchy and scratchy?
Somebody's gotta change their tune.
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“I can't think of much that matters less than one politician endorsing another.”
Well there is something. It's the constant bragging about “accomplishment” that pols like Schaaf and Quan do instead of listening to voters. “Accomplishment” by the way doesn't mean actually getting something done. It means voting for something or proposing something and, invariably, never paying attention to results.
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I can't think of much that matters less than one politician endorsing another.
The only people who do not realize this are politicians and political “insiders”. This endorsement won't matter much. They rarely do.
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I can't think of much that matters less than one politician endorsing another.
The only
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By MW:
As a followup to the comment of 5:30PM, Jerry Brown also endorsed Nadia “The Extreme Drug Addict and World Class Mental Retard” Lockyer when she ran for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. since Jerry Brown “knew” that Nadia was the “most able” and “best qualified” candidate.
In other words most of the time when Prominent Politician A endorses Prominent Politician B, we should not take the endorsement any more seriously than most of the other statements politicians make.
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As I recall Brown also endorsed Don Perata. I don't know what this says about Brown, Schaaf or Perata. Maybe it says absolutely nothing at all. It's apparently newsworthy, whatever that means aside from filling otherwise empty space.
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Thanks for at least mentioning a few of the nonestablishment candidates who are also running. Keep in mind that, of necessity, those who are not mentioned, cannot be “few top-tier.” You create that tier and then you expound upon it. Nice work.
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