When it comes to clichés, you have to give Nikki Bas the Oscar. Here are a few of her platitudes in the closing days of the campaign:
“I'm excited to keep fighting for Oakland’s future.”
“In these hard times, together we are making progress on housing for all; safe, healthy neighborhoods; and investing in our communities.”
“Leaders should know that power comes from the people, not back room deals.” (This one is hilarious, in light of the fact that we, the people, have no idea what secret deals Bas made to get all that Union money.)
“We're hitting the doors to share our message of safe, healthy and thriving neighborhoods for all of us.”
“We acknowledge and recognize that when we model the practice of #LoveLife, it will establish a norm that will resonate and be exemplified throughout our city and create the change we all wish to see in our communities.”
This #LoveLife rhetoric isn’t exactly JFK or Lincoln, is it? Yet you have to give Bas a break. She has no plans for anything, no innovations for fighting crime and encampments, no vision, no leadership skills, no empathy for what we’re going through. Nor does she have any explanation or apology for trying to defund the Oakland Police Department in June 2021, or for voting against new police academies three months later, along with her fellow cop basher, Carroll Fife. All she has in her arsenal are bromides.
Bas is widely loathed in her District. This isn’t just me saying so. I hear it over and over again, from people in the know. Bas is seen as arrogant, cold and incurious. Once, she and I had a candid conversation in which I pointed out how her anti-police attitude was so destructive, both to public safety and to morale within OPD. The glare she gave me was murderous, to put it mildly. If we hadn’t been in a public space—San Antonio Park—I swear she would have attacked me.
Bas’s opponent, Harold Lowe, is exactly the opposite: a soft-spoken man of great community accomplishment, with a sound head on his shoulders—a guy who realizes that public safety is, or should be, the #1 concern for electeds. Nikki Bas has put public safety in the back seat, far behind her obsession with “social justice” and “root causes.” Look, for as long as I’ve lived in Oakland—35 years—we’ve had Mayors and City Council members who claimed to be social justice warriors. And what has it accomplished? Oakland today is easily the worst it’s ever been, and communities of color are suffering more than ever. Yes, we all love The Town, but we hate what it’s become. “Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it.” Decades of progressive schemes have brought us to the brink. If Bas is re-elected (and if her colleague Sheng Thao is elected Mayor, God forbid), Oakland will continue to blunder down the same failed path of race-obsessed politics, wasting the taxpayers’ money, and becoming a haven for criminals and homeless people.
Is that what Oaklanders want? I don’t think so. I urge everyone to please vote for Harold Lowe in District 2. Here’s his website. Check out his platform, in which PUBLIC SAFETY is his priority. Check out, also, the Mercury-News’ endorsement of Harold Lowe, which contains these accurate statements: “Bas remains weak on her ability to discuss the city’s financial and tax issues. And it was Bas who issued a press release last year deceptively claiming the Police Department was receiving large funding increases. It’s time for a council member who can better handle the numbers, and who understands the need to increase the number of Oakland cops. That’s challenger Harold Lowe.”
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I hope to see you all tomorrow at our picnic!
Saturday, Oct. 22, beginning at noon.
Location: San Antonio Park, 1701 East 19th Street, Oakland
Bring a snack!
Here’s the Eventbrite registration information.
Steve Heimoff