Why I support Roy Nakadegawa

Before I voted for Roy Nakadegawa via absentee ballot today, one of the most important things I did, as any voter should, is to compare him to his challengers.

Bob Franklin presents himself as the fresh-blood liberal candidate for the BART District 3 seat. Indeed, the Alameda County Green County's dually-endorsed both Franklin and incumbent Roy Nakadegawa. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates endorsed Franklin. Franklin also touts his membership in the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, and the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition (neither of which endorses candidates).

But as I discovered last week, Franklin's money comes from the very organized labor that's been a major thorn in BART's side, by grabbing too much of a shrinking pie at a time when all who ride and support BART have been asked to sacrifice.

But my dissatisfaction with Franklin's campaign goes deeper. Franklin's been a part of a number of direct mailings originating from southern California. "Early Voter Guide" and "Parents Ballot Guide" are some typical names for these direct mail pieces. Read the fine print and you discover that each candidate listed has paid for the opportunity to be listed in these guides.

But then there's the case of the COPS Voter Guide. COPS, short for the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, is a 28-year-old advocacy organization with a 909 area code, which places it in southern California. The fine print on the COPS Voter Guide reveals that candidates pay for their placement in the guide. So what does it mean, then, that the listings are presented as "OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENTS"? Are the COPS for sale? I don't trust a candidate who participates in such a deceptive political campaign. (It's also interesting, and a little curious, that the COPS Web site and the COPS Voter Guide do not provide Web links to each other.)

Even if all those hijinks were necessary to get a good candidate elected, Franklin is not that candidate. I had an exchange with Franklin over on the Berkeley BEST mailing list last week about about BART parking charges. Franklin said: "BART has been unable to charge for parking, except for reserve parking and 25 cents at the Lake Merritt station, for 32 years." By stating this, Franklin shows his ignorance, willful or not, of the successful daily BART parking charges at Colma and Daly City, now in place for more than a year, and yet parking lots there continue to fill up.

Franklin's command of the facts is as inadequate as is his willingness to carry out the wishes of the Berkeley City Council, which made it clear in June that it wanted parking charges for all spaces at the BART Ashby and North Berkeley stations.

The other candidate for this seat, Kathy Neal, sullied her reputation by making false accusations against Nakadegawa in her campaign literature. Her alignment with lots of developer dollars doesn't help either, and the only money she received from Berkeley was from her ex-husband and Oakland politico Elihu Harris.

Nakadegawa hasn't run a perfect campaign. He received the Sierra Club's endorsement, but this didn't make it into all his campaign statements. But his expertise and sterling reputation are such that the Oakland Tribune endorsed him this morning. His low-cost campaign also put him beyond the taint of money from developers and unions alike. Couple all that with his support of paid daily parking charges at BART, and he's still what Berkeley needs in a BART District 3 director.

Let's hope the blizzard of Franklin/Neal endorsements from outside of Berkeley, and the avalanche of direct mail pieces and signs from Franklin, and to some extent Neal, don't turn a good man out of office.

BART District 3 race: Whose money?

This morning, let's look at whose money is fueling challengers Robert Franklin and Kathy Neal in the race to oust incumbent Roy Nakadegawa from the BART District 3 race. Nakadegawa, 81, says this is his last run for this office, and he's subsisting on previously-raised campaign funds, which certainly puts him beyond the possibly corrupting influence of an influx of new campaign dollars.

I gathered the following financial information yesterday morning at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, where it is kept on file for public viewing. In the interest of brevity, I've omitted the donor's occuption or city of residents unless it was of particular interest.

Robert Franklin: $25,139 reported raised so far - none of it originating from a Berkeley address

Contributions of $1,000 and over:

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790 has been Franklin's main financial engine, contributing $10,000 on October 21, 2004, as well as $5,000 earlier in the year. One of the main criticisms of BART management has been the lavish pay and benefits packages granted to SEIU to conclude a lengthy strike just prior to 9/11.
The BART Supervisory & Professional Union contributed $5,000 to Franklin.
Laura Kastanis, philanthropist, also donated $5,000. A Google search found no information about Kastanis.
Two apparent family members were donors: Sheldon Franklin ($5,000) and Elsie Franklin ($1,000).
Jeffrey Plaskett gave $2,004. No Google hits.

Contributions below $1,000:

Hyan Joe Shin, $500
Charles Plummer (Alameda County Sheriff), $250
Martin Walsh, $300
Mary Walsh, $250; both Walshes give a Hillsborough, CA address
David Barnett, $250
Ronald Overstreet, CEO of Open Horizons, $250
Harbhajan Agroia, BART engineer, $100
Daniel Bain, landlord, $100
Diane Leon, $100

Loans:

Franklin loaned his campaign $50,000 of his own money

As of Sept. 30, Franklin had $39,000 in cash in his campaign fund, and $54,000 in debts.


Kathy Neal: $17,168 reported raised so far - none of it from Berkeley with the exception of Elihu Harris, former mayor of Oakland, who gives a Berkeley address

Contributions of $1,000 and over:

Alan Dones, developer, $2,000
Mark Lindquist, developer, $1,000
Ron Cowan, real estate developer, $1,000
Frank Tucker, $1,000. CEO of Tucker Technology, Inc., an Oakland telecommunications firm

Contributions below $1,000:

Elihu Harris, chancellor, Peralta Community College District, $500
Gboyega Aladegbami, Akeo Consulting, $500
Franklin Arthur, real estate broker, $500
Sally Landis, $500
Patrick Maloney, $500
Katrina Powell, $500
Friends of Bill Riley, $500
Michael Baines, real estate developer, Baines & Robertson, Inc., $500
Alan Dones, developer/contractor, $500
National Women's Caucus PAC, $500
Thuy Thi Nguyen, attorney, Peralta C.C. Dist., $300
Anthony Batarse, president, Lloyd A. Wise, $250
Alton Jelks, administrator, Peralta C.C. Dist., $250
Rev. Harold Mayberry, $250
Collin Mbanugo, $250
Gwen Moore, executive, Gem Communications, $250
Samuel Wallace, consultant, Wallace-Williams, $250
Jack Wasserman, lawyer, Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP, $250
Paul Cobb, journalist, $250
Committee to Elect Johan Klehs, $250; Klehs is running for the 18th Assembly District seat, which stretches from San Leandro to Dublin
Ron Lumpkin, $250
Rich Sherratt, $250
Lonnie Dillard, $200
David Kramer, official, SEIU, $200
Sonja Willims, sales director, Time Warner, $200
Alona Clifton for Trustee-Area 7, $150; Clifton won a Peralta C.C. trustee seat in 2002
Becky Taylor, $150
Christian Dandrade, executive, CBX Technologies, $150
Karen Friedman, attorney, $150
Levine Fricke, $125
Richard Winnie, attorney, County of Alameda, $125
Tom Guarino, government relations manager, PG&E, $125
Cheryl Perry League, EEO officer, Port of Oakland, $125
Henry Mozell, $100
Richard Norris, lawyer, Archer Norris, $100
John Protopappas, Madison Park Financial Corp., $100
Carole Tolbert, consultant, Tolbert & Associates, $100
Connie Augustine, $100
Dennis Chaconas, $100; former superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District
Iona Gordon, $100
Mark Greenside, teacher, Peralta College, $100
Linda Handy, $100
Robert Harris, attorney, PG&E, $100
Brenda Hudson, $100
Paula Mitchell, $100
Anthony Pegram, BART engineer, $100

Loans:

California Waste, San Jose, $5,000
Kathy Neal, $2,702 + $500 + $676 + $676 (total=$4,554)
Ronald Lumpkin, Oakland, $10,000

As of Sept. 30, Neal had $21,000 in cash in her campaign fund, and $18,000 in debts.

I haven't done all the addition, so I don't know if these figures add up appropriately to match the totals reported.

BART District 3 race: Follow the money

This morning I visited the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, to get a peek at who's contributing campaign funds to Robert Franklin and Kathy Neal, who are challenging incumbent Roy Nakadegawa for the board of directors' seat in BART District 3.

Franklin is clearly organized labor's candidate. He's received $20,000 from unions. Details to follow in a subsequent post.

Neal received hefty contributions from developers, consultants, and attorneys.

Nakadegawa has received no contributions. In a private email to me yesterday, he said his entire campaign is financed with what's left in his campaign chest from previous campaigns.

What's most interesting to me is that only $500 of the $42,000 contributed to Franklin and Neal's campaign so far comes from within Berkeley, and that's from Elihu Harris, who's more often associated with Oakland.

Full disclosure: I've just endorsed Nakadegawa in this race. I'll explain why in a future post.