Free Republic

Oakland Mayor Ronald V. Dellums owes the residents of this great city an explanation. And if he can't provide one, he owes his resignation. ... He is a hometown hero entrusted with the highest public office Oakland can offer. His $239,000 tax bill is peanuts compared with the weight of his responsibility as Oakland mayor. Anyone can make an honest mistake, and if that's all this is, then no harm, no foul. But Oakland residents deserve to know why the mayor was unable to handle his legal obligation to pay income taxes, .. ... They are deserving of far more...

(11-03) 15:20 PST OAKLAND -- Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and his wife failed to pay more than $239,000 in taxes over a three-year period and have had a lien slapped on their property by the Internal Revenue Service, public records show. ... Yeah yeah yeah, another Democrat politician didn’t pay all his taxes. But Dellums isn’t your typical “the rich aren’t paying their fair share!” Democrat. He was among the luminaries of the 60’s New Left and was the first traveled in April to Cuba to meet with their hero Fidel Castro. Now that’s its been discovered that Dellums has...

Oakland mayor's chief of staff to resign By Kelly Rayburn Oakland Tribune Posted: 09/04/2009 02:56:00 PM PDT Updated: 09/04/2009 08:34:01 PM PDT OAKLAND — David Chai, chief of staff to Mayor Ron Dellums, is leaving his position to take a job working as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's "business czar." Chai, 41, will depart a little more than two years after joining Dellums' staff. He said he is leaving on his own terms and will begin working for Newsom — whom he worked for before being hired by Dellums — at the end of the month. "Working for Mayor Dellums...

OAKLAND -- A former intern in Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' office has pleaded no contest to credit-card theft after being accused of stealing bank account information from two mayoral staff members and a law firm where she previously worked, her attorney said Friday. Phelicia Williams, 27, of Oakland entered her plea this week in Alameda County Superior Court, where she had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing. She will be sentenced Aug. 20 by Judge Morris Jacobson. In exchange for her plea and her promise to pay $15,000 to the victims, prosecutors dropped five other felony counts, defense attorney Robert...

The allegations in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by former Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly threatens to become a courtroom drama focusing on the Oakland mayor's office - and who's really in charge. To some Oakland residents, Edgerly may represent the antithesis of political reform. She was accused of interfering with a police investigation, she hired her friends and family, and she underestimated the 2008-09 budget deficit by millions of dollars. But she is also a veteran political insider who knows - and can allegedly prove - how things really work in the mayor's office. Ever since Mayor Ron Dellums...

An ad hoc group of Oakland community leaders and activists demanded on Tuesday that the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) police union apologize for its role in preventing Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums from speaking at the joint funeral of the four Oakland police officers killed in the March 21 MacArthur Boulevard shootings. “The exclusion of Oakland’s mayor was more than a disrespectful affront to the mayor himself, it was an act of insubordination to Oakland’s governing body, and a back-handed slap in the face to all of the citizens of Oakland who pay the generous salaries of the members of...

(03-27) 10:51 PDT Oakland, Calif. (AP) -- Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is attending Friday's funeral for four slain city police officers, but will not be speaking at the request of at least one killed officer's family. The mayor's spokesman, Paul Rose, said Dellums turned down a police offer to give opening remarks after at least one of the families requested he not be among the dignitaries speaking at the ceremony. Rose said the mayor did not want to "make an awkward situation even more awkward."

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums says a proposed HBO television series that would examine the world of prostitution in Oakland "goes against our vision of Oakland as the Model City and does a disservice to our residents and visitors alike." In a statement released by his office, Dellums said, "While I understand that there are certain benefits to having a major film done in our city, I am not willing to support this project at this time." Dellums said, "The people of Oakland have come too far to have our city's name trampled upon in the name of entertainment. I am...

OAKLAND — Police internal affairs detectives investigating the handling of journalist Chauncey Bailey's slaying will have state investigators present when they interview members of their department's command staff. Investigators from the attorney general's office will be there to monitor the interviews, according to a letter the Department of Justice sent to Mayor Ron Dellums in November. But the Justice Department won't take over the whole investigation — which is apparently what Oakland internal affairs investigators wanted, the letter stated. "We do not believe, as has been suggested by the Police Department's Internal Affairs investigator, that the Police Department investigation be...

Shhhh. What's the big secret? When it comes to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' deliberations on matters of grave importance - they are cloaked in more secrecy than an illegal CIA counterterrorist operation. When Dellums ran for mayor in 2006, he pledged to run a transparent government. Yet at a time when Oakland needs a strong leader to deal with budget cuts and lack of leadership in several key departments, Dellums is missing in action and his decision- making process is one of the best kept secrets in Oakland City Hall. I don't think even the mayor knows what's going on...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A judge ruled Monday that there's sufficient evidence for the reputed leader of Oakland's worst drug gang to stand trial on attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting a member of a rival gang at 31st Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way on June 30, 2006. At the end of a preliminary hearing that stretched over three weeks, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Vernon Nakahara also ordered 34-year-old Marc Anthony Candler of Castro Valley, the reputed leader of the Acorn gang, to stand trial on a street terrorism clause, possession of assault weapons and being an ex-felon...

Susan Gluss may be one of the most recent Oakland residents to move on to safer, saner confines in the Bay Area, but she is by no means alone in her decision to call it quits. Gluss, and countless others like her, are the collateral damage - the civilian fallout - from the city's timid efforts to stem a series of crimes that have terrorized residents much of this year. The steady increase in crime since 2006 has raised residents' concern about personal safety and security to the level where that now vies with the city's underperforming school system as...

OAKLAND — Mayor Ron Dellums told hundreds of business leaders at the Oakland Marriott on Friday that city and state officials are on the verge of an "unprecedented" effort to work together to revitalize 470 city blocks across Oakland.His remarks were offered at the San Francisco Business Times' "Building Oakland" breakfast, and came one day after high-ranking city and state officials met in Oakland to discuss the project, called the California Urban Communities Collaborative.The effort will focus on four separate areas of Oakland, but Dellums offered little information on how it will work. He said more details will be available...

Oakland, in the Jerry Brown years, practiced an unofficial policy of what might be called “community cleansing.” This is not to be confused with “ethnic cleansing,” the horrific activity in parts of, say, Eastern Europe or Central Africa where whole ethnic populations are violently and bloodily removed, either through exile or actual genocide. No, Mr. Brown’s “community cleansing” policies were far more genteel, involving little violence (though some—that’s what the whole Oakland Riders police scandal was about) and targeting not whole ethnic groups, but rather portions of the population that were considered as being “undesirables.” Part of this involved harassment,...

Armed robbers terrorized Oakland restaurants and small businesses in three separate crime sprees over the past year. The first wave targeted Asian eateries and struck during the 2007 holiday season. The second arrived last spring and was more indiscriminate. The third struck in July and August. All three made newspaper headlines and led television newscasts, shining a spotlight on the city's out-of-control crime problem and the Oakland Police Department's apparent inability to cope with it. In fact, the department's public response to the takeover robberies was both odd and illuminating. The department's mantra for dealing with the city's crime spike...

Michael Dellums, the son of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, was denied parole once again today for his second-degree murder conviction for killing a reputed drug dealer in Oakland in 1979, according to Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Bill Boselli. Michael Dellums, 50, has been denied parole numerous times, most recently on Jan. 8, 2007, the same day that Ron Dellums was sworn in as Oakland's mayor. The California Board of Prison terms panel that presided over Michael Dellums' hearing today at the California State Prison, Solano, in Vacaville, where he is being held, decided he won't be eligible for another...

OAKLAND — Oakland had the fifth-highest crime rate among U.S. cities in 2007, according to a widely followed but controversial report released Monday by the publishing company CQ Press. Richmond ranked No. 9. Oakland dropped one spot in the rankings after finishing No. 4 in last year's report. That was of little consolation for Oakland officials, even as they said they believe the city is on the right track with its public safety programs. "We are obviously disappointed that we're not the fifth-safest city in the nation," police Chief Wayne Tucker said. "To explain why we're (No. 5), I think...

Oakland, Calif. (KCBS) -- Oakland is affiliating with the national OK Mentorship Program, which fosters guidance and support for kids at risk for incarceration and homicide. OK, which is short for “Our Kids,” offers one-on-one mentoring and puts value on education, health and positive associations. The African-American community is disproportionately affected by homicides and incarceration and Oakland’s Mayor Ron Dellums says it’s time for that to change. “The police cannot solve this problem alone, [and] the community cannot solve this problem alone. We need a multifaceted strategy,” said Dellums. The program seeks to reduce gun violence and gang affiliation, and...

OAKLAND — Mayor Ron Dellums detailed his decision to postpone the 166th Oakland Police Academy in a letter to City Council members Friday, saying the city does not have the money to put more recruits through training at this time.The academy was originally scheduled to begin Dec. 8 and will be postponed until spring or summer of next year."Given the harsh fiscal realities that we face today — which are more severe than expected even a few months ago — delaying the December police academy is the only responsible decision we can make," Dellums wrote.Police officials told 44 recruits Nov....

City of Oakland offices will shut down Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving, making it the first of 13 citywide closures aimed at cutting costs amid a $42 million budget shortfall. Roughly 10 departments — including the mayor's office — will close once a month until June 30, in addition to days city offices regularly close between Dec. 25 and Jan. 2. Mayor Ron Dellums announced the cost-cutting measure late Wednesday afternoon, saying that many cities affected by the economic crisis have chosen to take similar measures. "These are hard, painful choices that require a delicate balance between the need...

Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod, once worked for a man who was an identified member of the Communist Party USA, a registered agent of the Soviet Union and a paid disseminator of Soviet black propaganda. This man went on to become a key Chicago political fixer who helped elect communist linked politicians including the late Chicago mayor Harold Washington and former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun. This man knew Barack Obama and was a key member of an organisation which endorsed Barack Obama in his 2004 US Senate race. Barack and Michelle Obama were active members of this...

When bank robbery suspect Elmer Reyes crashed his getaway car on Interstate 880 in the East Bay, he told the officers who arrested him that the bad economy made him commit the crime. And when Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums responded to a spree of takeover robberies at restaurants in the city this month, he also blamed poor economic times as a motive for the crimes."The desperation of these crimes speaks to the broader issue of where we are in terms of this economy," the Quiet Mayor said. "When people become this desperate, they take desperate acts and we have to...

He is incredibly compassionate.He is incredibly reticent when faced with making decisions. And as a result, his handling of the Deborah Edgerly affair was an incredible disaster.That's pretty much how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' aides, past aides, city department heads, politicos and longtime friends explained his apparent inability to deal with Edgerly after it came to light that the city administrator had possibly injected herself into a police investigation of her nephew."You have to understand, he's never fired anyone - that's not his style," said one friend who has worked with Dellums since his days as a congressman. "He always...

OAKLAND — Mayor Ron Dellums announced Tuesday that City Administrator Deborah Edgerly will be allowed to stay at her post until July 31, even as she faces increasing criticism for possibly interfering with a police investigation. Dellums and Edgerly said that under a months-old agreement, Edgerly will retire July 31. Dellums said Edgerly's retirement has nothing to do with recent allegations that she intervened on behalf of a nephew, William Lovan, 27, in the police department's ongoing investigation of the Acorn gang of West Oakland. "What's important is that this is about the announcement of a decision that was made...

Whether Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly leaves office quietly or fights tooth and nail to keep her job, it's time for a higher authority to take a look at operations inside Oakland City Hall during her term in office. This wasn't the first time that Edgerly has intervened on behalf of a co-worker, friend or family member, police sources say: -- Two years ago, Edgerly and Assistant City Administrator Cheryl Thompson showed up and made similar threats when police arrested Thompson's son, also a city employee, for disorderly conduct outside a bar in downtown Oakland. He remains a city employee....

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, nearly 18 months in office, still reacts like a rookie to the most important events that affect the lives of city residents. When major breaking news has occurred while he was away, Dellums' office has issued generic, one-paragraph statements that are not only vague but leave the impression that he doesn't understand the city and the impact that such events have on the people who live there. His dispatches from afar no doubt are intended to convey a sense that the mayor is on the case, but they have the opposite effect - highlighting his emotional,...

North Oakland shopkeeper Scott Silvera tried for months to get Mayor Ron Dellums' attention about the explosion of crime in his neighborhood. Finally, fed up, he vowed to stop paying sales taxes until he heard from the mayor's office. Silvera is still waiting. But he did get an official visit the other day - from a representative of the state Franchise Tax Board, who warned the storekeeper to pay up the taxes he owes.Or else.Silvera, who runs Scout Home Hardware at 5026 Telegraph Ave. in the Temescal neighborhood, says he intends to pay the $3,000. The funny thing is, he...

Former President Bill Clinton listens to a question from the audience about the sub-prime mortgage crisis during a campaign visit for his wife at a barbecue restaurant in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. Former president Bill Clinton talks to a crowd of about 550 people at the Carson City Fire Department, while stumping for his wife Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008.

<p>Haiti's government, while controlled by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his party, spent $7.3 million between 1997 and 2002 lobbying the U.S. government as more than 80 percent of the country was impoverished.</p> <p>During this time, U.S. funding to Haiti — a typical measure of lobbying success — declined, and its economy foundered, fueling his opposition's successful effort to depose Mr. Aristide last week for the second time in 15 years.</p>

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday responded to a recent spike in Oakland homicides by committing more California Highway Patrol officers to patrol the city, where 79 people have been killed this year. "The violence in Oakland is absolutely unacceptable and represents a serious threat to innocent people," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "We must do everything we can to eliminate that threat." The shooting death of a journalist downtown last week increased awareness of violence in the area. And even as community leaders gathered over the weekend to mourn Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, gunfire felled seven others...

Just about every proposal Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has pitched since he took office seven months ago has sailed past the City Council. His first, a plan to hire qualified ex-felons for city jobs, was praised for its utility and humanity. And when he asked the council to significantly increase the budget for the mayor's office, not one member of the council questioned it. But now it seems that Dellums' honeymoon with the council and the public is coming to an end. Many residents are weary from the 3-week-old garbage lockout and are looking to Oakland City Hall -- including...

As part of his effort to help ex-felons get jobs and become integrated into society, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums wants to make it easier for them to get jobs with the city, his spokesman, Mike Healy, said Wednesday. Dellums wants to end the requirement that prospective city employees disclose whether they have been convicted of a felony by checking a box on the standard employment application, according to Healy. "There may be some jobs that ex-offenders who aren't violent can come out and do if they're qualified," he said. Healy said applicants for jobs in the Police Department and some...

OAKLAND - With the hopes and expectations of a city riding on his shoulders, Mayor Ron Dellums publicly took the oath of office Monday, becoming Oakland's 48th mayor. In a fiery and eloquent speech, Dellums pledged to end the violence that has long plagued Oakland, limited the city's progress and stained its reputation. "Let us unite to bring peace to the streets of Oakland," Dellums said, bringing the standing-room only crowd at the historic Paramount Theatre to their feet. "Peace is about justice, and we have a responsibility to bring justice to the streets of Oakland." Dellums, 71, reiterated his...

Dellums to engage youths 'as equals' Mayor-elect vows to appoint teenagers, young adults to every city board, commission By Heather MacDonald, Staff writerInside Bay Area Article Last Updated:12/03/2006 02:51:16 AM PST OAKLAND — Mayor-elect Ron Dellums said Saturday morning he would appoint young Oakland residents to every city board and commission in an effort to make sure the voices of teenagers and young adults are heard at City Hall. Dellums, who spoke often during his campaign of his commitment to Oakland's youth, said it doesn't make sense for the Planning Commission, for example, to make decisions about the future...

OAKLAND -- An ebullient Mayor-elect Ron Dellums today embraced voters' endorsement of his vision to make the city a model, saying he will soon set up citizen groups to help him deal with the city's public schools, crime, economic development and other issues when he takes office Jan. 1. "It is a responsibility I accept with honor, humility and optimism," the progressive former congressman, 70, said at a news conference that was his first public appearance since the June 6 election. "We can solve the problems of Oakland. We can be a great city." His chief opponent in the race...

Oakland, Calif. -- After nearly two weeks of ballot counting, former Rep. Ron Dellums emerged as the winner of the Oakland mayor's race Saturday when his chief rival said he would not challenge the election results. City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente called Dellums at home to concede, said Mike Healy, a spokesman for Dellums' campaign. "Ignacio was very gracious," Healy said. "He said he wants to work with Ron for a better Oakland, and that it was a great campaign." De La Fuente campaign officials would not confirm that he made the concession call, but they scheduled a...

For those watching the Oakland mayor's race, there was a bit of news Friday as Ron Dellums slipped below the threshold needed to avoid a runoff, but many more said they simply aren't watching the horse race. World Cup fever. Soaring gas prices. The war in Iraq. Violence in Oakland. Those loom larger on many residents' radar than the mayor's race, in which former Congressman Dellums maintained a significant lead over City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. Dionecio Espinoza voted for De La Fuente, but he's not fretting over the fact there still was no winner three days after...

Exposing America's Enemies (Part 2): Communist Progressive Democrats Linda Kimball From Exposing America’s Enemies: the ‘Social Justice Seeking’ Communist Left, comes this relevant quote, “For over forty years the New Left has been waging a Gramscian ‘quiet’ revolution for the overthrow of America’s Constitution, Rule of Law, sovereignty, and our way of life. Today the subversives call themselves liberals, progressives, and Democrats (and) as David Horowitz attested to (the majority are) social justice seeking communists. “The Democratic Party is very close to being the (Communist-controlled Progressive) party of Henry Wallace…the vast bulk of the American Left is a communist left.”...

It's starting to get personal in the Oakland mayor's race -- and the focus is front-runner Ron Dellums' post-congressional career as a Washington lobbyist. In their efforts to escape Dellums' shadow, rivals Nancy Nadel and Ignacio De La Fuente are going after the longtime congressman's reputation for political purity. The targets include his refusal to release tax returns, questions over how his profession would be described on the ballot -- and his recent service in the revolving-door ranks of lawmakers-turned-lobbyists. "The voters have a right to know what we've done and what we've earned for the last eight years,'' De...

The "Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors" is an organization which "supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war", according to its website. Among the resources available on the website are How-to guides on being AWOL, various reasons for getting out of the military, as well as a list of reasons one should not join the US military. The following picture on its website illustrates the goal of the organization: This organization lists among its sponsors former Democratic congressman Ronald Dellums of California. Dellums was an anti-war, anti-military radical who created a stir during the Vietnam...

OAKLAND -- Former U.S. Rep. Ron Dellums ended months of speculation today and announced he will run for election as Oakland mayor next year in a move that shakes up the race to succeed Jerry Brown. Dellums' announcement came after months of urging by community activists, including a drive by independent volunteers who collected about 8,000 signatures begging the former congressman to run for office in his hometown. He credited that network with helping him make his decision. Dellums, a 69-year-old former Marine, served 28 years in the House of Representatives before retiring in 1998.

Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party that ruled Cambodia from 1976-1979. "Khmer Rouge" (or Khmer Reds) was the French rendering of the organization’s official name: the "Communist Party of Cambodia," later the "Party of Democratic Kampuchea" and also the "Communist Party of Kampuchea," or CPK. (Kampuchea is the local name for Cambodia.) Pol Pot was born Saloth Sar in what is now the province of Kompong Thong, Cambodia in 1925. He came from a prosperous farming family that in 1931 moved to the capital, Phnom Penh, where the young Pol Pot learned some of...

On January 18 Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, told a placard-waving anti-war crowd: "The greatest patriots of this country are here today...The president said it'd be a cold day in Washington before this country turns against this war, but it is a cold day in Washington and here we are." Apart from Conyers nasty insinuation people who disagree with his leftwing views about war against the genocidal Saddam are not patriotic, what can we deduce from his presence? Well, for one, Rep. does not like America and prefers the company of totalitarians to that of genuine democrats. And how...

The passions of war in a divided nation can be not only unpleasant, but dangerous as well. They can tie our hands, weaken our resolve, and make us vulnerable to those who are determined to destroy us. But when lives are at stake – and those lives are our own – it is easy to abandon common civilities and to think of our opponents as an enemy camp vying for the right and the power to determine our fates. In these circumstances it is easy to forget the ties that bind us, and that we are, when all is said...

“We must develop instead a new world order in which the United Nations, regional organizations,constructive diplomacy and equitable development policies lead to a reduction of the economic,social, cultural and political tensions that foster these spasms of violence and human rights abuse..... “If the new world order is to move us past nationalism, then even the proprietor of the world's most powerful military force must be prepared to conform to a perhaps laboriously created international consensus...... “Progressives have an opportunity to enter this debate and to convince our families, colleagues and neighbors that we need not fear and have much to...