Earlier this month, Hayward Councilmember Elisa Marquez and Mark Salinas – two of three incumbents seeking re-election this November – flashed moments of anger and disdain toward their more progressive opponents when challenged about their respective records.
In one exchange, Marquez belittled her opponent’s portrayal of her record on the council as inattentive to the city’s needs. In another outburst, Salinas questioned the entire makeup of the progressive movement and lashed out at an unidentified member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, along with unrelated social media comments hostile to his candidacy.
Lacei Amodei and Elisha Crader, the progressive candidates in the race running as a slate, described the record of Marquez, Salinas, and the other incumbent, Councilmember Francisco Zermeno, as ineffective as the housing and homelessness crisis, fostered unaccountability of the local police department. The comments came during an endorsement meeting held by the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee on Sept. 12.
“We had to drag them to pass the most basic of tenant protections,” said Amodei, who has been a strong voice over the past two years advocating for affordable housing and more stringent protections for renters in Hayward. She also charged the council incumbents with approving “mega-mansions” for a parcel of land near Cal State East Bay. “They just got around to a Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance last year. Some councilmember have been on the council 12 years,” Amodei said, in reference to Zermeno, who was first election in 2008.
Later, when the council incumbents were again slammed, this time, about perceptions they dragged their feet on reforms to the police department amid several fatal shootings by officers in Hayward, Marquez said, “Just because we haven’t made an immediate response, doesn’t mean we’re not working on it.”
Exasperated by the attacks by Amodei and Crader, Marquez, with contempt, told them, “These attacks are not helpful.” Marquez added that she, along with Salinas and Zermeno, are more in tune with the community.
Salinas’ meltdown earlier this month was far more perplexing. He has served 8 of the past 10 years on the Hayward City Council. The missing two years occurring after he did not run for re-election and, instead, ran unsuccessfully for mayor. Salinas won back a seat on the council in 2016.
Although relatively calm for the most part of the endorsement meeting, Salinas reserved his entire brief closing statement to respond to abrasive comments made against him on a private live chat room made up of Democratic central committee members. It is unclear how Salinas had access to the live chat since he is not a member of the central committee.
Salinas was angered by one member who described him as a “nazi”, “macho,” and a “dick” in the chat. Salinas uttered each word to the dismay of some central committee members participating on the video conference.
He later questioned the integrity of the Alameda County Democratic Party for allowing such discourse before taking aim at progressives. “If this is what the new wave looks like,” Salinas said. “I think we can do better.” Once his allotted time had run out, Salinas expanded his rant to nasty discourse against him on social media. The meeting’s moderator then cut him off.
In recent months, as Amodei and Crader have ratcheted up their criticism of Marquez, Salinas, and Zermeno on social media and during council meetings. Each council incumbent has shown an inability to brush away the attacks and, instead, have lashed out. On several occasions, Salinas has directed council comments towards his opponents, Amodei and Crader, along with the housing advocacy group, the Hayward Collective, where each is a member.
The endorsement meeting’s final outcome, however, did not have a material affect on Marquez and Salinas. Marquez retained the endorsement she had conditionally received weeks earlier, and Salinas, despite his participation in the meeting, was never seriously considered for the endorsement. But, Zermeno, who refrained from participating in the political fistacuffs earlier this month, paid a price after his conditional endorsement was lost after a vote by the entire central committee.
The other endorsed Hayward City Council candidate is planning commissioner Angela Andrews. No endorsements were given for the two other open seats on the council this fall.
Who put the wolf in charge of the hen house. Are all Hayward leaders hispanic? Where is the balance of races. The DmV employees are all illegals, well not anymore,
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Marquez has always had a chip on her shoulder and has publicly displayed her lack of leadership, respect, and cattiness.
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Salinas has been full of shit since day 1. He hasn’t stood for a single thing.
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You sound like the idiot establishment cronies. Wahab has fought for transparency, tenant rights, and more. She is also very anti-communism.
The LatinX community, they have supported her as well.
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Wahab and the Communist Progressive Party of Hayward – VS The Latin X Community.
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Clax, do let us all know when your SA will set fire to the Hayward City Hall so your Brownshirts can seize power, lock up the leftists, Jews, Christians, LatinX, Muslims, LGBTQ, Lutherans,, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Christian Scientists, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, and Mennonites.
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One of the biggest issues in Hayward city hall is systemic corruption. I’m not sure how many, but a lot of Hayward council members have been caught or accused of the common corrupt democrat / leftist scheme of “false invoicing”. A former Hayward police chief was ousted because she was caught engaging in a false invoice scheme. That’s right; the former Hayward police chief was a criminal. Salinas was caught false invoicing the public school district for services he never performed, how he is not in jail is mystery. Zermeno has been implicated in false invoicing the public school district for 100’s of thousands of dollars. Marquez is a straight out manipulative liar. The way city council members work their false invoice scheme (common in leftist controlled areas of the USA) is they setup a side business and then bill the city (aka taxpayers) for services they never performed. Also it’s important to point out that no one votes in Hayward because everyone knows they are corrupt… the last election only 17% of registered voters voted in Hayward, hardly “We the People”.
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Sorry but everyone already sees Hayward that way.
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Mark Salinas standing up for himself after he has been treated in a suspicious and unprofessional way is not a “meltdown”. I don’t have all of the details of all of this but it sounds like his opponents should not be trusted. We should all consider supporting Mark Salinas sounds like he is willing to stand up for what he believes even under pressure. I’m going to contact his campaign.
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The progressive movement in Hayward will make our city look like the Tenderloin District in SF.
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Councilman Zermeño has achieved his seniority on the Council, both by time and his age. It is time for him to leave. Councilpersons Marquez and Salinas need to gracefully step aside and make room for the Democrats running against them. They need to leave. Now, calling them Macho Nazi Dicks is unfair to most of the accused. Elisa Marquez is not a dick or macho. She is merely the remaining pejorative,
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