That punk Jay, who runs Alliance Metals, came to City Council with a bunch of homeless addicts that he bribed with fast food to support him. Nadel voted for what Alliance wanted even though it was bad for the neighborhood. Who’s toxic?

Thank you for questions.
I think your first one was about why we were not victorious when I ran for Council last year. My analysis is twofold: beating an incumbent is very difficult and we started too late. I think the latter made the first point more prevalent. While I always had interest in public service, I had no plan to run at all even a year out. Though Ralph and others like to chide me about this story it’s true. I had not considered throwing my hat into the ring for the 2008 election until asked by a neighbor who happened to be a longstanding friend whom I met through the loss of her son. Following her suggestion, I thought about it for a few weeks, and one morning in October 2007 turned to my boyfriend and said “I think I should run for Oakland City Council” The rest, including his incredible devotion, door walking and campaign coordination, is history. I immediately began doing what I do best. I raised money and raised over $62,000. We came out of nowhere and came within 137 votes of forcing a runoff. I am proud of what we did and what we were able to accomplish. A whole new generation is involved and taking action.

The very next day after the election Equality California offered me a job as the Director of Development. Since then, I have been crisscrossing the state. First for raising money against Prop 8 and we raised $14 million towards No on 8. Since Prop 8′s passing, I have been crisscrossing the state working to build infrastructure for the future. Saturday I was in Palm Springs, in an hour its off to Sacramento. It’s been demanding and led some to wonder if I am still involved in daily life in Oakland.

The election really inspired me to deepen that involvement and so to that end, I was elected with an ethnically and culturally diverse slate of twenty-forty-somethings, homeowners & renters alike to District 3′s CDBG board. That body elected me to serve on the Oakland Community Action Partnership-you know the agency with all the billboards up about foreclosure prevention and free tax help. (I Think Billboards are very effective medium for getting the word out, in case you haven’t guessed.) I serve on the board of the Khadafy Foundation, am helping the Attitudunal Healing Connection with planning for their annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration, am helping fulfill a campaign promise to bring a dog park to the edge of Lake Merritt and expect to advise the organizations that our CDBG committee recommended for funding once that commences on July 1st. Additionally, I am in the 2nd year of my presidency of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter. When that ends in January I expect to be even more involved and present in our great city. Until then, I like many others keep abreast of everything in Oakland through this site. Your continued support is still needed and appreciated. Give today.