EBC Year-In-Review, Apr-June: Dueling Negative Website; GOP Primary Surprises

Joe Tuman speaks to an audience at Laney College in Oakland.

>>>The first major gathering of Oakland’s quickly growing mayoral field meet at Temple Sinai to discuss one issue—likely the most vexing of the campaign—public safety.

>>>With two months until Election Day, Hayward’s three major mayoral candidates meet in a public forum for the first time and dance around the issue of city employee relations. No easy task since all three, as members of the City Council, voted to impose a wage cut in recent months. In the meantime, the trio is shut out by all local endorsing groups.

>>>In a surprise, the California Labor Federation chooses to endorse Ellen Corbett over the incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell in the June primary.

Rob Bonta not ordering Big Macs.

>>>Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Rep. Barbara Lee and other elected officials takeover a McDonald’s in downtown Oakland to highlight the plight of fast-food workers and wage theft.

>>>It’s hardly the most glowing endorsement of Hayward, but mayoral candidate Barbara Halliday reasons, at a candidate forum, the city will never be rich like Piedmont. Her opponents hit back at her lack of optimism.

>>>Swalwell, Corbett and the lone Republican in the CA15 race meet for the first time at a forum in Castro Valley. Not much happens, but Swalwell claims he has fought vigorously for privacy rights as a member of Congress, but his record says otherwise. However, the corporate media in the audience choose not to call him out on the lie.

>>>In a story which some in Oakland still believe another shoe will drop, news reports say undercover FBI agents who investigated Leland Yee in San Francisco, later visited Oakland Councilmembers Larry Reid and Lynette Gibson McElhaney.

>>>Fremont League of Women Voters forget to invite State Senate 10th District candidate Peter Kuo to its forum in late April. They profusely apologize, but the oversight doesn’t hamper the Republican’s surprising result in June.

Members of Fremont’s Sikh community await entrance to a highly-anticipated forum in CA17.

>>>Rep. Mike Honda and Ro Khanna faceoff for the first time at a jam-packed forum in Fremont. The encounter is virtually a stalemate other than the Republican Joel VanLandingham landing the occasion anti-establishment zinger against each Democrat.

>>>Public safety is the cornerstone of yet another Oakland mayoral forum, this one at Laney College. The event moderated by Oakland attorney John Burris is destined to be the most entertaining, thoughtful and memorable of any race in the entire East Bay this election cycle.

>>>San Leandro’s first term Mayor Stephen Cassidy surprisingly announces he will not seek re-election in the fall citing the realities of juggling work with his mayoral duties.

>>>An Alameda County candidate for auditor-controller is accused of using a fraudulent address in San Leandro and charged with six counts of voter fraud. She still garners a quarter of the vote in June and pleads to lesser charges in November.

>>>Does Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski have a sex tape floating around the capitol? Who knows? Maybe not even Wieckowski? Nevertheless, at a few endorsement interviews for the State Senate 10th District, Wieckowski asks if they know about his sexcapade.

With garbage as a backdrop, Rebecca Kaplan announces her run for Oakland mayor.

>>>Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan officially enters the race for mayor and quickly shoots to the top of the already large pack of candidates.

>>>Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid hints he may soon be retiring. After nearly two decades on the City Council, Reid even goes as far as name-drop his daughter as a possible replacement. By the end of the year, Reid’s health is noticeably improved and most expect him to stay on through his current term ending in 2016.

>>>Barbara Halliday becomes the next mayor of Hayward. Councilmember Marvin Peixoto wins re-election and Sara Lamnin finally wins a seat on the City Council. The results, however, leaves Mark Salinas out in the cold as both an unsuccessful mayoral candidate and former councilman. He plots a return to power in 2016.

>>>The corporate media hounds Oakland Mayor Jean Quan after a video shows her talking on her smartphone while driving. Later, when Quan’s car is rear-ended, the frenzy continues with early reports insinuating she was again talking/texting while driving. It appears she was not.

>>>Rep. Mike Honda says there will be only one debate between the incumbent and Ro Khanna in the fall and he lives up to the pledge with a televised debate in October.

>>>The knives are already out for Rebecca Kaplan after a report details allegations she paid some current campaign staffers with fundraising from a previous committee set up for an Oakland transportation measure.