The first time I voted in an Oakland election, I had to choose between two mayoral candidates who both loudly declared their vegetarianism as a way to attract voters (Jerry Brown and Wilson Riles, Jr).  Next year, I get to choose between a socialist and the father of a rapist for the city’s new mayor.

Last month, the ultra-liberal Ron Dellums announced that he intends to run for mayor in Oakland.  Dellums, readers will remember, was elected to Congress in 1970 on an anti-Vietnam War agenda.  When he arrived in DC, the former Berkeley City Council member set up a Vietnam War crimes exhibit outside his office which featured large posters of atrocities allegedly committed by American soldiers.  Later, although there were several Vietnam War hearings conducted in DC, Dellums held hearings that were criticized for only focusing on actions by American soldiers.

As a federal legislator, Dellums came up with the idea of creating a "World Peace Tax Fund," which would have permitted taxpayers "conscientiously opposed" to war to deposit their federal tax payments into a special fund to be used for "peace-related" activities.  I can hardly wait to see how he wants to spend Oakland’s tax money!

The other choice in the mayor’s race is City Council member Ignacio De La Fuente.  De La Fuente been impressing city residents by attending coffee klatches all around the city.  These neighborhood meetings are particularly startling to taxpaying residents in the Oakland Hills, residents who are normally ignored by city leaders unless their hand is out for a bigger tax check.

But De La Fuente has a major family [problem that could prevent his election to the mayor’s office.  Yesterday, De La Fuente’s 32-year-old son, Ignacio Rafael De La Fuente Jr., was charged with three felony rape charges.  De La Fuente Jr. had already pleaded not guilty to two felony rape charges.  This is not a 18-year-old being charged with raping his 16-year-old girlfriend.  This is a 30-year old man (at the time) who allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old girl and raped her–in a car co-owned with his father.  He is also being charged with the rape of a 21-year-old woman.

De La Fuente is the choice of Oakland‘s business community and has received the endorsement of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce’s PAC.  Dellums, on the other hand, is the choice of ultra-left activists who are still mourning his departure from Congress.  Dellums was recruited to run by a group of activists who gathered 8,000 signatures supporting his run for mayor.  As one supporter told the San Francisco Chronicle, "This city will finally get the progressive leadership it deserves."

I never thought I’d be sorry that Jerry Brown was termed out of a job.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.