Posted on 11/14/2008 8:06:13 AM PST by SmithL
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata hasn't thrown his hat into the ring for the 2010 Oakland mayor's race, but he certainly performed a very nice jig around it in a radio interview this week.
In a half-hour segment on KQED-FM's "Forum" show, the lame-duck East Bay senator was asked about his future - and said Oakland's top post had been a goal for much of his political career.
"Ironically, the only job I've ever wanted was to be the mayor of Oakland," Perata, 63, who lives in the city, told host Michael Krasny. "And it may be the last job I ever have."
Until such an opportunity presents itself, say perhaps in another year or so, Perata said he wants to work, presumably in the private sector, after 12 years in the Legislature - including the last four as Senate leader. He leaves office in Sacramento at the end of this month.
"I made a commitment to my caucus when I took the office that I would not do anything to earn outside income, so I've been subsidizing myself for the last four years, and I have to go out and earn a living for a while," he said.
Perata, a Democrat, is also at the center of an FBI investigation, which began more than four years ago, into his business associates, family members and political consultants to determine whether he improperly obtained money in exchange for official actions.
Still, the notion of another political race seems well within the veteran East Bay politician's reach and desires.
"Politics is in my blood, public service is in my blood, and I love Oakland," said Perata, a schoolteacher who began his political career as a member of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors more than 30 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What is Dellums going to do?
Lose if he runs.
I’m sure the people of Oakland can’t wait for this narcissic POS to do for them what he’s done for the rest of California.
Lose if he runs.
Isn't Perata a white man?
White man keepin' the black man down again.
They had Ex-Governor Moonbeam as Mayor before Dellums
Brown was fine as Oakland’s Mayor. He’s been a disaster as California’s Attorney General.
His only goal in life is to be Mayor of Oakland ? Why doesn’t he set his sights higher... like an intense desire to crawl naked through toxic waste ?
I’ve read that Don Perata is the child of immigrants, but none of his bios say what country his parents immigrated from. Does anybody know?
I checked and couldn’t definitively find it, but I’m speculating Finnish. “Perata” is a Finnish word meaning (I’m not joking) “to gut” (as in “to gut a fish.”).
Italy?
Interesting. I was wondering if it was Portugal. A significant number of Portuguese-Americans live in parts of the U.S. In CA, there are a lot of them in the Sacramento area.
I believe I’ve heard him claim affinity with Italians in casual smart-ass remarks (that he’s always making) on the floor of the Senate.
Darn, I was hoping he was Finnish. The name so suits him.
Richard Nicholas Perata, a lifelong Alameda resident, dairyman and father of state Assemblyman Don Perata, D-Oakland, died Tuesday of complications following brain surgery. He was 87.
Mr. Perata established the Alameda Dairy and Lakehurst Creamery during the 1930s and for the next four decades delivered milk to East Bay homes.
The child of Italian immigrants, Mr. Perata had a strong work ethic, said his son Don, who worked his way through college delivering milk for the family dairy.
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