Matt Mahan, the San Jose mayor, is an ambitious politician. Only 42 years old—the same age as JFK when he ran for President--he’s telegenic and articulate, and could easily be a future California Governor or Senator. Mahan is not going to do anything stupid, like supporting a candidate who goes down to defeat. So when he endorses Loren Taylor for mayor of Oakland, it’s because the Democratic establishment has concluded that Taylor will win.

It may be true, as Barbara Lee’s latest attack ad alleges, that five years ago Loren Taylor voted to defund the Oakland Police Department. There were so many procedural votes at that time that it’s possible some omnibus legislation got Taylor’s vote and OPD defunding was part of it. But these procedural votes are never final and mean little. What is certain is that, when push came to shove, Taylor did not vote to defund OPD. The all-important vote came on June 24, 2021, during a contentious City Council meeting on the upcoming budget. Nikki Bas, then Council president, along with Carroll Fife “spearheaded the push to defund the Oakland Police Department,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Loren Taylor voted against that initiative.

I’m reading Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which came out in 2016, well before his political career began its rapid acceleration, resulting in his becoming Vice President earlier this year.

How many news articles have I seen in which homeless people refuse shelter because the place they’re offered isn’t to their liking?

I’ve seen a lot of sleazy ads in my life. Willie Horton (George H.W. Bush) was the worst, but almost everything Trump has run has been disgusting. And I must say it’s usually the Republican candidate who runs the most dishonest ads. But the sleaziest, dirtiest, most fraudulent ad I’ve ever seen in Oakland is Barbara Lee’s mailer on Loren Taylor, in which she accuses Taylor of being the cause of homelessness and crime.