I really couldn’t be more proud to live in Oakland than I am today.  Not only do I have to look forward to seeing Jerry Brown hands the reins of power over to Ron Dellums, but we get a hand-holding ceremony around Lake Merritt to celebrate the new mayor to boot!  The Chronicle’s Matier & Ross write today about Dellums’ and Schwarzenegger’s planned festivities.  One can’t fault Schwarzenegger for throwing a big party this time around.  He rightly held off when he was first elected, rolling up his sleeves and telling the voters that he understood he was sent to Sacramento to get work done that the recalled Gov. Gray Davis was unable to accomplish.  But under normal situations, it is customary for governors to throw inaugural parties and there’s no doubt that Schwarzenegger’s will be one for the records.

But in a city that has the major problems that Oakland faces, it is wrong for Dellums to be throwing a lavish party.  And how ironic is it that the man who campainged on insisting "on transparency in government: with no backroom deals and no ‘pay to play’ as currently dominates the policy environment” is asking developers and lobbyists to give $50,000 to his inaugural committee?  Good for the developer who told Matier & Ross that he told the mayor’s people, "If you want us to give to a school or charity, fine – but not for a party."  The inaugural dinner he throwing at Scott’s Seafood in Oakland is supposedly open to the public, but at $150 a ticket, there sure won’t be many regular folks at that party.

Typically, winning a mayoral or gubernatorial bid deserves a party.  But Oakland is not a typical city.  Oakland has struggling with serious crime and poverty issues (although the city council thinks the fact that Chinese restaurants use Styrofoam containers is our more pressing problem, but I digress) and the new mayor should be focusing on that from the get-go, not putting the strong arm on local businesses and non-profits to fund his party.  Dellums should have followed Schwarzenegger’s example when he won in 2003–have a dignified swearing-in ceremony and get to work.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.