When I was listening to the Forum with Michael Krasny show, I had a laugh when David Chai mentioned that KTVU would be better off asking the Mayor hard hitting questions rather than about “$40 worth of flowers”, and indeed, on some level I agree. (which was a bigger expenditure than $40)

Mr. Chai wanted KTVU to report on the money Dellums was getting on these trips. I would like to hear more about that as well.

But not so much about what Dellums has done for Development or OPD. Because I’m not buying that this is due to Dellums.

Bye-bye, baby.

I’m not going to waste my time responding to each specious and irrelevant assertion in your comment, but a few points of clarification. 1. The budget very clearly divides staff funded from the Mayor’s office into Mayor’s support staff and the Oaklanders Assistance Center. 2. You fail to note the distinction between Dr. Epstein’s pay scale and actual compensation, which is not, in fact, $104k per year, but more like $70k, since she is not scheduled full time. 3. I posted the information about the Mayor’s parcel tax request when it was actually requested, not when it was a rumor. The tax, if it passes, is expected to generate not $12 million per year, as you assert, but $15.8 million in the first year, $26.4 million in the second year, and $39.7 million in the third year. 4. I find it eminently reasonable to question KTVU’s numbers based on the information they themselves provide as evidence.

There’s a big difference between careful, nuanced reporting of local issues and sensationalism. Any dimwit can sit around and fill out public records requests until the cows come home, but I have better things to do with my time, and would rather spend my energy focusing on issues that matter. If the “mainstream media news” are such experts on the way the, as you put it, “big money,” is being spent, I can only cross my fingers and hope that they’ll decide to start covering that sometime soon.

Facts: √ It was more than 5 minutes long, not three. √ Nowhere does the story state or suggest Dellums is ruining the city. √ The $5,000 the port paid for the South Africa trip was left out because something had to be cut for time (five minutes is an eternity in the medium) and since 1. The South African government paid for most of that and 2. The port is not direct taxpayer money that goes to many city services, it was a lower priority. √ Your attention to the flowers is understandable, but some might suggest odd, since in your own arithmetic you came up with some $33k on hotels, yet you made no mention of this in your narrative. Does $8,500 for one stay at the Four Seasons seem normal to you? Especially since his own Georgetown house is a few miles away? Why would you leave all that out of your commentary? Did you total up the bills at the Hyatt? They are well over $7k for just one week. For the average Oakland family (medium income $66,000 a year, mean income $45k annually. Source: ABAG) that may have a different ring. √ Do you know if Dellums or Brown initiated the grants you are referring to? Do you know how much money Brown generated in his last year alone? Yet, you came to some conclusions. √ You state the story “lumped together” the Oakland Assistance Center but you don’t note that’s the way the office budget is written. And Brown’s almost half-size staff has the same positions, so in fact, one could argue the Dellums staff — such as the new $104k a year position to liaison with the meaningless school board, which was stripped of its powers because if ITS inability to manage money — is even bigger than it appears. √ Yes, Dellums calendar is a major issue for Oakland because his absence is an issue, including for council members, who routinely complain they can’t get an appointment with him and that no one knows where he is and consequently a great deal of important business is neglected. √ Yes, Dellums is asking for another $12 million tax hike, to hire more police. You figured it out at some point and posted your discovery on June 19 √ How do you know there wasn’t another $60 Jerry Brown expense beyond the PDF file? You just assumed again? √ Yes, you also failed to note the city’s official Administrative Instructions that restrict travel expenses to midrange hotels, coach travel and dinners under $30. √ One of your readers got it: Where is the city auditor? She refused to answer to the people who elected her and pay her salary.

Commentary: If one may now depart from pure facts and indulge in some blogging, here are some conclusions: Mr. Dellums appears to many to have little or no respect for working Oaklanders, despite his almost OCD rote requiring people to respect him. The expenses were shown to all manner of people — pro & con Dellums — and received a pretty much uniform response. The symbolism of his lavish expenses as mayor of Oakland — he is not after all, the mayor of Beverly Hills or Monte Carlo — his lack of accountability, his lack of presence, his imperial, sanctimonious pomposity puts him in the same ballpark as the people he scorns: Nixon, Bush, Cheney. And in the company of one he covets: Schwarzenegger. From a pure news standpoint, one must ask if people like you were this worked up regarding stories about the Pentagon spending tens of thousands of dollars on a coffee maker or toilet seat because it represents such a small amount of the DOD budget. The point for working families who pay for all this is 1. If their tax-paid money managers can’t get a handle on the simple stuff, what are they doing with the big money — which by the way, are issues mainstream media news have been covering for decades before you discovered agendas. One can only hope you next discover phones. After that one can discuss accuracy, multiple sourcing, verification and fairness.

It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll.

The staff report on the taser item is here (PDF!). They are not being paid for with grants. It’s all City money. The initial cost will be funded through a reduction in the OPD Worker’s Compensation fringe benefit. Continuing deployment costs will be paid for annually from a number of sources, including the General Fund.

The latest model tasers can even have cameras attached to them to ensure responsible use and collect evidence.