Councilman Bauters' Corporate Campaign Donors Enjoy Beloved Status

 

Tough New Tobacco Regulation Belies Emeryville's Lax Marijuana Regs

Bauters Donor Ohana Cannabis Enjoys Lofted Status

News Analysis

Buoyed by data from the American Cancer Society and a push by Council member John Bauters at the March 19th City Council meeting, the City of Emeryville moved to toughen up its anti-tobacco policies with the introduction of a new ordinance making it a crime to sell tobacco products within 1000 feet of any park, playground or ‘youth oriented facility’ including schools.  Marijuana retailers however, face much less restriction in Emeryville, even though its connection to lung disease including cancer, like tobacco, is undisputed.  A major seller of cannabis in the City, Ohana Cannabis, enjoys a central location on Peladeau Street, directly on one park and less than 1000 feet from at least two other parks, a playground and a school.  Ohana is also a major contributor to Mr Bauters’ election campaigns. 

Large Billboard for Ohana on Powell Street
Legal and perfectly fine for children.

Ohana is a large corporate cannabis retailer with several locations throughout California and has been a major contributor to Mr Bauters’ election campaigns including his current campaign to become an Alameda County Supervisor.  California election campaign law forbids any special treatment towards corporate donors by elected officials of course, but it is noteworthy that Ohana has received very favorable treatment from John Bauters and the City of Emeryville.  

Emeryville has determined that marijuana sales are not appropriate near youth oriented facilities including schools or parks and the municipal code forbids any dispensary to be located within 250 feet.  In 2020 however, Ohana, moving to their current location at 5770 Peladeau Street, requested and received a waiver from Emeryville’s prohibition against dispensaries located near parks.  The City considers the Emeryville Greenway to be a park and Ohana is located directly on the Greenway, specifically the ‘Peladeau Park’ section.  Getting around the 250 foot law and approving the deal, the City Council found, “The Greenway, by its design, is not meant to serve all age groups” and therefore it is unlikely to have children present, according to the October 22nd staff report.  And with that finding the Council approved Ohana for that site. 

Billboards for Tobacco: Illegal
Dangerous for children.

 

The Peladeau Park section of the Greenway, completed in 2018, was built as a “gathering/picnic area with a plaza, pathways, synthetic lawn and play area” according to the City’s website. The City constructed the park with $800,000 in California State Parks and Recreation funds as well as funds from Emeryville's Park and Transportation Impact fees. Nothing was made so as to preclude children from using the park because to do so, Emeryville would run afoul of the law that requires public parks to be made for all people.  

And thus, the power of the business lobby is revealed.

Ohana is using its resources to help it conduct business like many other businesses do.  The law in Emeryville reflects the lobbying efforts of favored businesses and so whereas shops selling tobacco will not be allowed to be within 1000 feet of places where children congregate, marijuana sellers must have a 250 foot buffer and Ohana with its political campaign donations, specifically, no buffer at all.  The children don't have a lobby.  

By law, the money given to Council member Bauters over the years can have no relationship to any favorable treatment of Ohana Cannabis, as everyone knows. 

Council member Bauters did not return calls for this story.

City Hall to Shut Down Public Phone-in Comments in Reaction to Nazis

 At City Hall, It's Nazis, 1, the Council, 0

Opinion

Emeryville City Manager
Paul Buddenhagen
Democracy must suffer in order to
go after Nazis or men with cameras.

The Nazis are back!  The same group of five Florida based residents are once again phoning in their special brand of hate to our Council Chambers.  Tuesday night, hoping to make a bigger impact, they kept rotating between themselves, using different names and trying to disguise their voices so they could turn the five of them into 15 commenters.  Mayor Courtney Welch kept playing 'wack-a-mole', cutting their mics at the first whiff of disruptive hate speech but a new one would simply take his place albeit with a new improvised voice pattern.  This childishness flummoxed the Mayor who kept allowing the “new” ones to speak, even though it was obvious it was the same five, taking turns over and over. 

After the theatrics finally died down, the City Manager Paul Buddenhagen made a hair-on-fire announcement: all citizen phone-in comments are to be curtailed at council, planning commission and committee meetings “for the foreseeable future” he said.  Take that, Nazis!

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way.  The popular phone-in option at City meetings started in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic and was continued on afterward, constituting what came to be known as “hybrid” meetings, meaning in-person comments and phone-in comments are both available to the public.   After City Hall noted a substantial uptick in citizen participation, the hybrid meeting format became settled and permanent Emeryville policy by Council fiat.  The idea was that a much greater number of people would attend meetings if they were made more convenient.  And it worked. 

But then the Nazis came to town.

The Emeryville City Council is right to disallow disruptive hate speech and they should cut the mic of anyone doing it.  Racist hate or any speech targeting people for who they are is not public meeting free speech but profanity IS Constitutionally guaranteed free speech.  But City Hall is now taking that out too.  Perhaps seeing the Nazi ‘crisis’ as an opportunity, the delicate Emeryville City government is now also stoping the use of profanity for citizens, so perturbed they are over these four letter word using Nazis.  This is another panic driven over-reaction and we will challenge this.

To react like the City Council is doing is to put the Nazis in the driver’s seat.  With the harsh anti-democratic prohibitions in place, it can fairly be said these Nazis are now driving public policy in Emeryville.  This kind of over the top reactionary response from City Hall is just what the haters want.  The Council needs to calm the fuck down.  The use of profanity is a Constitutional right.  Racists and fascists are everywhere in America now.  We’re not going to let Nazis destroy our city and we’re not going to let the City Council destroy our city (in order to save it).  We’re going to continue on with democratic governance here, just as we always have.  

So City Council, reel in your City Manager and let the Nazis phone-in and speak.  And let the democracy loving people phone-in and speak and let them all use Constitutionally supported free speech.  When the Trump crowd spews their meeting disrupting hate filled venom, cut their mics.  Don’t make Emeryville residents suffer a major loss of access in order to try to strike a blow against Nazis. Nazism should not be on par with our Emeryville government.  We’re supposed to be better than them.    

Emery Sued For School Campus Rapist

 Emery School District Sued For Negligence in Campus Rape Case

A San Jose based law firm announced yesterday they are representing a 16 year old Emery High School girl who alleges she was forcibly raped on campus by a school district employee last November.  The complaint for childhood sexual damages, filed with the Superior Court of California at Alameda County today, seeks damages for sexual assault of a minor, negligent hiring by District employees and negligent supervision by the District.  The perpetrator, Daniel Parham, a 2020 graduate of Emery High School who took employment at the school as a security guard, was arrested and charged with statutory rape according to a press release issued by the law firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. He posted bail and currently awaits trial.  

Lax Security at Emery School Campus
This unattended self closing gate was left propped
open Tuesday, something that happens "all the time"
according to a City employee.

The complaint alleges Emery employees breached their duty to protect the safety of the students in their care by “permitting the plaintiff to be isolated [with the perpetrator] in the senior center and/or the science room and/or the gym office behind closed/locked doors and/or failing to detect and deter such isolation.”   Also alleged, Mr Parham “groomed” the girl, discussing intimate topics with her over one-on-one electronic communications. After gaining the Plaintiff’s trust, he went on to sexually assault her (including intercourse) on school grounds on at least three different occasions from late October 2023 through early November 2023.

The security guard had been frequently groping other students and allegedly further sexually assaulted at least one other minor female on “multiple” occasions on campus. 

Emery has been negligent when students have been sexually assaulted on campus before.   In 2017, a previous Superintendent failed to report to the police an incident as is required by California law.

A spokesperson for Emery’s Superintendent, Quiauna Scott, told the Tattler the District would issue a statement “next week”.  

City Manager Will Not Re-Start Regularly Scheduled Meetings With Citizens

Formerly Popular 'Coffee With the City Manger' Program Cancelled Indefinitely

Emeryville’s City Manager, Paul Buddenhagen, has decided to not re-start the popular ‘Coffee With the City Manager’ public events conducted once a month at City Hall before the pandemic, at least for the time being.  The one hour, open-to-the-public sessions were conducted monthly in the City Manager’s office until 2020, allowing citizens to freely interact with and ask questions at the seat of government power in Emeryville.   The program was started in 2014 and continued on for about six years, initiated by then City Manager Sabrina Landreth in response to a Tattler challenge.  Mr Buddenhagen has refused to say if he will bring the program back someday.

Emeryville City Manager Paul Buddenhagen
Democracy can be messy and uncomfortable.
He has not said if he will ever re-start the 
once popular coffee events.

Before Ms Landreth, Emeryville’s City Manager John Flores, for years, regularly scheduled meetings with Emeryville private citizen, the power broker and Chamber of Commerce Board member, John Gooding every Monday morning at 9:00 for one hour to discuss anything on Mr Gooding’s mind.  The content of those years of meetings were off record and kept strictly private.  Uncomfortable with the lack of transparency of that, the Tattler suggested that perhaps regular people, ALL people should also have a time to interface one-on-one with their government.  The secretive Mr Flores was not fond of that idea and he refused it but the democratically inclined Sabrina Landreth agreed and she began the program that ultimately became very popular with Emeryville citizens.  

Every City Manager from Sabrina Landreth up until the pandemic either liked the idea of the Coffee With the City Manager or they felt it would be too costly politically to stop the popular program.  The pandemic appears to have provided the perfect, if quiet reset to secrecy at City Hall for Mr Buddenhagen.   

Mr Buddenhagen has shown himself to be prone to secrecy in his job.  He closed off most of City Hall to the people following a moral panic because of a man with a camera in 2023.  He has refused to say if the people's hall will ever be open to the people again.

The Police Department re-started their ‘Coffee With a Cop’ program after also ending it during the pandemic.  The police coffee program was also started up in 2014, inspired by the ‘Coffee With the City Manager’. 

Ms Landreth, arguably the most progressive City Manager in Emeryville history, famously exalted “A transparent government is an accountable government” as she welcomed people into her office at the opening of her first meeting with the citizens.   

Hate Speech at Emeryville City Council Meeting

Neo-Nazi Hate Fest in Emeryville Council Chambers

It was bound to happen here eventually.  Trump’s America came bursting into the Emeryville City Council chambers in a co-ordinated attack Tuesday, out-of-town neo-Nazis phoning in racist public comments; calling out Jewish, gay, transgender, and Black people.  The group responsible, the ‘Goyim Defense League’ is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a Florida based hate group.  All manner of hateful epithets including the ’N word’ were used by the speakers in our Council Chambers.

Five people identified themselves with fake names and four were shut down by Mayor Courtney Welch for violating Emeryville’s prohibition for public commenters using “threatening, profane or abusive language which disrupts the orderly conduct of meetings”. 

Mug shot of former Petaluma resident
neo-Nazi leader Jon Minadeo.
Mayor Welch cut his mic.

 

The same five people (sometimes using different names), have been calling in for public comment at city council meetings in Blue States across America including but not limited to San Francisco, Petaluma, Sonoma, Sacramento, El Cerrito, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Laguna Beach, Monterey, Saratoga, Walla Walla WA, Snoqualmie WA, Framingham MA and Norwalk CT.  At the January 24th council meeting in Walla Walla, one of the speakers identifying himself as ‘Andy Zemite’ but in Emeryville went by ‘Rex Yuden’, yelled “Heil Hitler” just before his mic was cut.  That speaker may have been the group’s leader, former Petaluma resident Jon Minadeo. 

Goyim Defense League (GDL) is a small network of virulently antisemitic provocateurs led by Minadeo  who moved from Petaluma to Florida in December 2022. GDL is a parody of the anti-hate Anti-Defamation League’s name by replacing “Anti-Defamation” with “Goyim Defense” -- “Goyim” being a disparaging Yiddish and Hebrew word for non-Jews.

Minadeo was arrested in 2023 and jailed 30 days for illegally distributing racist literature in Florida.

Former Emeryville resident Marc Albert reports on the group disrupting the Petaluma council meeting:  https://krcb.org/2023110793047/news-feed/petaluma-to-weigh-resuming-public-comment-following-racist-disruptions

The Walnut Creek attack can be seen here: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/neo-nazi-walnut-creek-city-council-white-supremacist-antisemitic/

Watch at your own risk.  Contains extreme hate speech.  City Council Meeting March 5th, 2024  Hate speech starts 1:25:10 and extends to 1:34:50:

Bauters Comes in 2nd, Will Face Nikki Fortunado Bas in November

 Breaking News

Bauters to Face Run Off Election in November

Tonight, with 74 of 74 precincts reporting, Emeryville City Council member John Bauters will be heading to a November run off in his Alameda County Board of Supervisor’s race, having failed to secure enough votes to win the election outright.  Mr Bauters needed to win more than 50% of the vote in northern Alameda County to become the next District 5 Supervisor but he only was able to garner about 20% according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office.  Oakland City Council member Nikki Fortunato Bas will also be in the run off election with Mr Bauters, having secured approximately 27% of the vote today.

The November run off election will now become a do or die for Mr Bauters’ political career as a loss today to secure a greater than 50% victory means he will not be allowed to run for re-election to the Emeryville City Council in November , a race he had announced he planned on making back before Keith Carson, the current District 5 Supervisor suddenly announced last December he would retire upon completion of his current term in November 2024.

The failure to win tonight highlights a real gamble Mr Bauters took when he threw his hat into the ring last December.   If he loses in November, he loses everything and he will go back to just being citizen John Bauters, stripped of all his official political power.  At least until the next election.

Councilman Priforce Attempts Rent Control Debate at Council, Bauters Disallows It

 Rent Control Fight in Council Chambers

Priforce Says New Ideas Should Be Looked At For Emeryville

Bauters Says NO

Citing constituent concerns about the lack of tenants' rights against rapacious landlords in Emeryville, Council member Kalimah Priforce Tuesday night attempted but failed to get his colleagues on the Council to agree to a future discussion about what the Councilman says are new laws some cities are bringing forward to help their citizens with rent stabilization.  Ultimately, the Council majority let the issue of rent control/stabilization die for lack of a second Tuesday but they did vote to drive it over to a future Budget and Governance Committee meeting (4-1, Bauters dissenting).  Historically, the Budget and Governance Committee has been a place the Council puts things they don’t want to deal with but nonetheless, Council member John Bauters told the Council rent control is not in the scope of the Committee and he said he preferred to let the whole rent control/stabilization topic just die.

Council Member John Bauters
He says NO, the Council will not even discuss
rent control or rent stabilization.  It was
looked into in 2017 and he won't hear
any more about it.

Over the last decade plus, Emeryville has been transformed from a city of owners into a city of renters, regardless that the City’s own General Plan says that is not permissible.  Compounding the normal civic dysfunction deriving from landlords with too much power, is a new wrinkle in the landlord/tenant equation; namely, the large number of corporate Real Estate Investment Trusts that have become the new landlords in Emeryville.  In the past, landlords in Emeryville were commonly somebody living nearby, many on property.  Thus the established arguments in favor of home ownership as presented by the General Plan are further bolstered by the injection of nameless/faceless corporations, now with undue control over our communities.

Council member Bauters was adamant Tuesday night that nothing can be done to protect Emeryville renters, citing the 1995 California Costa-Hawkins Housing Act which is meant to place limits on municipal rent control ordinances.  But Mr Priforce was equally conclusive that he was aware of and ready to report to the Council how some [California] cities have been establishing new and effective rent stabilization laws of late, despite Costa-Hawkins.   

Council member Bauters’s election campaign recently received $5000 from the California YIMBY Victory Fund, a developer sponsored lobbying entity based in Sacramento, it should be noted.  YIMBY works to overthrow municipalities autonomous planning departments in favor of a one-size-fits-all, laissez-faire, pro-developer polity.  Some cities could be chastised for not building enough market rate housing but Emeryville is not one.  Our city has built market rate apartments at a prodigious rate, shattering the numbers recommended by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), a regional planning agency and local government service provider that works to deliver a region wide housing jobs balance.  Emeryville builds more market rate housing than any Bay Area city and does not need to add more, ABAG has shown.  At this point, the increasing housing density in Emeryville is causing more problems than it is solving according to ABAG.

The Emeryville City Council in Their Element
Kalimah Priforce asked, "What can we do to help keep
renters in their homes?"
(Priforce is standing on left, reciting the
Pledge of Allegiance, Bauters, next to him,
his hand moving to his head) 

Mr Bauters bristled at the idea that the City Council would discuss ways to help Emeryville renters stay in their homes, swatting down Mr Priforce’s ‘new laws’ presentation, “I’m not aware of what the new laws are” he said, adding, “In 2017 we did an exhaustive study about this.  You’ve just asked for a bunch of things we’ve already done”.  Council member Priforce offered a retort, “2017?  A lot has happened since then.”  

The video may be viewed by clicking the link below.  The action begins at 38:26 and extends to 44:28:

https://emeryville.granicus.com/player/clip/2443

Alameda County Supe Candidate John Bauters Presents a 'Tough on Crime' Platform

"Appropriate Punishments" Are Needed to Discourage Criminals Says Bauters

Bauters Broadens His Base in Supervisor Race

By Appealing to the Right Wing 

Flush with cash from corporate donors to his election campaign, candidate for Alameda County Supervisor district 5 and Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters says he wants to increase penalties for criminals as part of his plan to reduce crime in the county.  Mr Bauters said crime is up in general but an area of particular concern for him is the so called 'smash and grab' crime and getting tough on crime is part of his solution, he recently told the League of Woman Voters.

The corporate sector likes the kind of politics that generates tough-on-crime public policy so much they have given generously to Mr Bauters' campaign (a future Tattler story will reveal who is giving how much).  The resulting mutual benefit, rich donors giving to politicians who get them elected to deliver policy the donors want, is revealed by the expensive and now ubiquitous Bauters campaign ads on the internet, especially on YouTube.  People with local IP addresses need only to start watching a YouTube video and there will be a short wait to see a diaphanous and schmaltzy Bauters pop up video.  Stay online longer and it becomes an assault.  Low on content while proliferating in mawkish election campaign clichés, these Bauters video ads join with the mailers everyone's been getting to help spread the message that Mr Bauters wants us to understand: he doesn't like crime. 

But his performance at the League of Woman Voters election forum on February 8th proved more revealing than what can be had on YouTube.  There, Mr Bauters' let slip an informative nugget perhaps meant to be buried from progressives amongst all the progressive verbiage.  Careful listeners however, will note the newsworthy point within a long winded monologue.  Mr Bauters told the viewers at the forum, "We need to assure the legal system has appropriate punishments in place to discourage people from engaging in future criminal behavior."  The set up is that he says there is too much crime in Alameda County and then he gives us the solution: appropriate punishment, more commonly referred to as more jail time for criminals.  This is quite unusual politics for a self described progressive candidate in Alameda County it should be noted. 

The more jail time argument would generally not be a winning argument to make to voters and usually only abashedly Republican candidates present that as a solution to crime.  Knowing that and because the Tattler is not interested in 'gottcha' journalism, we thought perhaps Mr Bauters might have misspoken so we gave him a chance to correct himself but he has waived off all our attempts to correct the record.   So all voters have to go on with this subject are the words from candidate Bauters himself.

It's hard to imagine candidate Bauters wants to run on a 'tough on crime, build more jails' platform but here we are.  We will assume he has made some kind of political calculation that he thinks will work to get him elected.  

The election is on March 5th and out of the nine candidates for district 5 County Supervisor, Mr Bauters pits himself against two other candidates who have also presented tough on crime campaigns - Chris Moore from Piedmont and Trump supporter Gerald Pechenuk.

Below is the entire candidate forum hosted by the League of Woman Voters for the Alameda County Board of Supervisor district 5 race.  Mr Bauters' section on crime is found between 22:30 - 24:04.

Undemocratically Minded School Board Member Seeks Position in Local Democratic Party

Emery School Board Member Chagolla Running For Delegate to Democratic Party Committee

Accountability and Transparency Should be First & Foremost

Chagolla Doesn't Deliver on Either

Opinion

By March 5th, Democratic Party members in Emeryville, Oakland and Alameda have a chance to weigh in on Emeryville resident / Emery School Board member Regina Chagolla's bid to be an assembly district 18 voting member of the local Democratic party known as the Democratic Central Committee.   One of a slate of eight candidates for the Central Committee, Ms Chagolla has been endorsed by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta and Emeryville Mayor Courtney Welch.  

But despite the high level endorsements, believers in good government would be wise to not vote for Ms Chagolla. 

Emery School Board member Regina Chagolla
Anti-Democratic
Not accountable to parents with
children enrolled at Emery, she has
a patrician's view of democracy.

The Democratic Central Committee delegates represent their specific district serving the people and their State Assembly member.  As such, the Central Committee (DCC) delegates help promote the Democratic Party agenda, endorse candidates for statewide, legislative and congressional office, and vote to endorse resolutions and ballot measures among other things.  The last election in 2023, saw Council member Kalimah Priforce elected to the District 18 DCC delegation over objections from Assemblywoman Bonta who had selected a slate of candidates that included Ms Welch.  

Ms Bonta, recognized by many East Bay progressives as a 'corporate Democrat' owing to her campaign donor list of gazillionaires and mega-corporations, had the misfortune of having her entire slate, save one, defeated by the voters last time.  Now Ms Chagolla has joined a new slate of DCC Bonta candidates for another bite at the apple.  

Looking at Regina Chagolla’s impressive resume, one might be tempted to vote for her, regardless of her being part of the corporatist United Voices For Democracy slate as they call themselves.  Besides sitting on the Emery School Board, Ms Chagolla has been a 3rd grade teacher at Berkeley Unified School District for the last six years and she’s lived in Emeryville for 10 years.  But Democratic voters should be advised, Ms Chagolla’s tenure on the Emery School Board has been marked by a wholesale failure to govern from even the most basic of democratic norms.

Ms Chagolla is not available to the public.  Following in the footsteps of Council member John Bauters, School Board member Chagolla has adopted a hyper-partisan philosophy on governing to such an extent, certain members of the Emeryville public, the press and even parents with children enrolled at Emery, are not afforded the courtesy of having a single question answered.  Ms Chagolla will not entertain constituent’s questions at School Board meetings nor will she set up times for answering questions off campus, not in person, via email, text or not via the phone.  This is an extremely undemocratic vision of governance from a public servant who calls herself a Democrat.  

While running for re-election to the Emery School Board in 2022, Board member Chagolla joined with her two colleagues also seeking re-election, telling voters about what a great job they had done for the children at Emery.  "Keep Emery on track” is what they said, presumably because they were doing such a fantastic job.  What Ms Chagolla and her slate mates didn’t tell voters is that, academically, Emery slid to last place among all school districts in Alameda County on her watch.  This kind of incompetence and lack of transparency should not be rewarded with a Democrat’s vote.

You know a politician is pulling a scam when they transform themselves from lovers of democracy and accountability before they’re elected into haters as soon as they are elected.  Such is the case with Regina Chagolla.  Before she was elected to the Emery School Board, she told the community she loved the Emeryville Tattler.  In 2015, then an Emery teacher, she even wrote a letter to the editor praising how informative and democratic the Tattler is.  In her letter, Ms Chagolla thanked the Tattler, “for informing the public about the big discussions that are being made in this small city” and for informing her specifically as a teacher about what is going on at the school district.  She said the Tattler inspired her enough to start her attending School Board meetings. 

Assemblywoman Mia Bonta's Delegate Slate
The 'United Voices for Democracy' Slate
The corporate business community and their
sycophants wants you to vote for these people.

That was then.  Now as an elected official in power and under the critical eye of the Emeryville Tattler, now Board member Chagolla wants nothing to do whatsoever with the Tattler, the same news site that inspired her as a mere teacher.  Now the disdain for accountability from Board member Chagolla is so pervasive, she steadfastly refuses to answer our questions and she even joined with her Board colleagues running for re-election to freeze out the the public from accountability by refusing the Tattler’s election questionnaire (given to all Emeryville candidates for public office).  As elected officials in Emeryville, Ms Chagolla and her Board colleagues boycotted public accountability for the first time in the Tattler’s 14 year history.  Her reason?  She does not believe the public has a right to know about her governing philosophy.  She still wants their votes however.  

For these reasons, Democrats, even the corporate ones, should not use their votes to reward a person who cavalierly subverts the Party’s values with such aplomb.  We don’t know what kinds of political calculations Assembly member Mia Bonta has made endorsing Regina Chagolla as delegate for the Democratic Central Committee but we don’t think it’s in the interest of the people of the 18th District.

Bauters' Gaffe Means No Endorsement From Alameda County Dems

John Bauters' Gaffe Causes Loss of Critical Alameda County Democratic Party Endorsement

Seeking Alameda County Supervisor Position, 

He Now Waffles on Gaza Issue

After a very public gaffe about the war in Gaza, Emeryville City Council member John Bauters and his surging campaign for Alameda County Board of Supervisors failed to secure a critical endorsement from the Alameda County Democratic Party, a major misfire on his path to secure what he has characterized as the next big step in his political ascendancy.  

John Bauters
Not a fan of a
ceasefire in Gaza and
snubbed by the Alameda 
County Democratic
Party endorsement committee.

Hemmed into a corner by a question at the Alameda County Democratic Party endorsement committee meeting this month, Mr Bauters said, if elected, he would not consider voting for any resolution or proclamation calling for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.  All the other candidates, save one, answered in the affirmative.  

Mr Bauters’ answer seemed to surprise the other candidates, one of whom, wishing anonymity, later told the Tattler, “I think that cost him [Bauters] the endorsement”.   Perhaps not as surprising was Mr Bauters later change of mind about this issue at a Democratic endorsement meeting hosted by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club where he attempted to put the genie back in the bottle.

After the surprising answer from Mr Bauters, “[…calling for a ceasefire in Gaza] is too divisive”, the County Dems threw their support to Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortuado Bas in a 22-11 vote.  However, the Alameda County Democratic Party requires a 60% vote to affirm an endorsement of any candidate and the smattering of votes for other candidates, diluting the majority, meant they would have to defer any endorsement for the Supervisor race this election, a rarity for the Dems.

Americans, by large majorities, are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza, with some polls showing 66% support nation-wide.  Among California Democrats, the number surpasses 80%.  Among Alameda County Democrats, in what’s been called the bluest county in the bluest state in the nation, the support for a Gaza ceasefire is considerably larger than 80%.  These kinds of numbers suggest Mr Bauters might have a problem with one or more anti-Palestinian donors.  For his part, Councilman Bauters has not responded to any questions about this issue. 

Bauters has garnered more than $100,000 for the race so far, considerably more than anyone else seeking the Supervisor seat.  

The Alameda County Democratic Party announced its official support for a ceasefire in Gaza on October 10th.  Many so called ‘corporate Democrats’ have resisted discussing the growing ceasefire movement.  A connection between corporate Democrats and donors who don’t like the idea of a ceasefire has been shown by many politicos.  

Nikki Fortunado Bas
Running for County Supervisor
and supportive of a ceasefire in Gaza,
she beat John Bauters 22-11 in the
Alameda County Democratic Party
endorsement count. 

An endorsement from the Alameda County Democratic Party has proved to be the magic elixir for those seeking political office in the county over the years.   The majority of candidates with the coveted nod from the County Dems ultimately wins the election, a testament to the power of that party. Indeed, any candidate on track to obtain an endorsement from the County Dems that loses it over a gaffe, is seen by election watchers as having committed a major blunder. 
 

After the rebuke from the County Dems, Mr Bauters tried to regroup and put the issue to rest at Friday’s endorsement meeting of the progressive Paul Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.  The same question about supporting a ceasefire in Gaza was asked of the candidates and this time, Mr Bauters changed his answer about a Gaza ceasefire to "YES, with the appropriate language".  This answer was in direct contradiction to his admission at the earlier county party meeting and at a City Council meeting in December where he refused to even allow discussion of the issue.  At the City Council meeting, Bauters’ colleague Council member Kalimah Priforce attempted to introduce the Gaza issue using the same “appropriate language” qualifier as Mr Bauters is now using.  

The Wellstone Club has not yet announced its endorsement.*

With a large campaign war chest, Mr Bauters is being cast as the frontrunner in the race to replace longtime progressive County Supervisor Keith Carson.  As such, the failure of Mr Bauters to unequivocally tell the Democratic Party his position on a proposed ceasefire in Gaza, an issue very much in Democrats' minds, is causing doubts among some in the party about his inevitability as the new County Supervisor.  The endorsement of the Alameda County Democratic Party was arguably Bauters' to loose.  But as the candidate (wishing anonymity) at the county endorsement meeting told the Tattler after hearing Bauters’ gaffe, “I don’t see how they can endorse him after that”. 

*Update to story 2/1/24:  The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club has since endorsed Nikki Fortunado Bas for the District 5 Alameda County Supervisor seat.