Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said to an
audience earlier this month, “Don’t hate the player,
hate the game.”

ALCO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS | DISTRICT 4 |
With less than two weeks until Election Day, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley is pulling out all the stops in his suddenly competitive re-election campaign against Bryan Parker. Over the last week, Miley has received thousands of dollars in late contributions from real estate interests, along with a labor union hoping to thwart a non-union grocery store from setting up shop in Miley’s district. The emergence of an independent expenditure committee supporting Miley is also creating buzz about its possible role so late in the campaign.

Last week, Miley received $11,500 from various landlords groups, some of which typically voice strong anti-renter sentiment in numerous East Bay cities. The California Apartment Association, a statewide special interest group, for instance, contributed $4,000 to Miley’s campaign last Thursday. The same organization gave Miley $8,500 earlier this year and is a strong opponent of rent control measures this fall in Alameda and Richmond.

Meanwhile, Miley also received another $10,000 on Thursday from the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW). Half came from the UFCW Western States Council Independent Expenditure PAC and the other half from UFCW Local 5. The latter also contributed $2,500 to Miley’s campaign earlier this year.

The contributions are notable because earlier this month Miley expressed support for a plan to bring Sprouts, a non-union grocery store, to Castro Valley, while a member of UFCW Local 5 filed an appeal to halt the proposal using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

During a meeting of the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Committee on May 9, a highly energized crowd voiced support for the grocery store, along with strong anti-labor sentiment. Miley told the group he support Sprouts.

“I’m not going to disparage organized labor. I think they play a vital role in our society,” said Miley. “It is my role and my job to represent everybody, whether they’re from corporate America, whether they’re from the grassroots community, or whatever ethnicity or gender they are, or wherever they live.”

Shortly after, Miley urged the crowd not to blame the UFCW member who filed the CEQA appeal—her home address was distributed in a flier that night. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” Miley said of CEQA. [READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT OAKLAND MAGAZINE]

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