Comment Archives: stories: Special Sections: UC Berkeley Student Guide
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Robert,
This has become a waste of both your time as well as my own. But I will continue to poke the beast.
1) I read the entirety of Measure R before commenting on your story. The mistake I made was a result of misreading the existing language in the charter as being language created by the ballot measure. When you pointed this out to me, I compared the existing charter to Measure R and acknowledged my mistake.
2) I commented on my understanding of a ballot measure that I had been following from before joining Jacquelyn McCormick's campaign. The bulk of my comments pertained to my own experience as a prior student at Cal and not as McCormick's campaign manager. I was writing as an individual, off the campaign's clock and my comments were not submitted to Jacquelyn for her review. As such, I felt that identifying myself was unwarranted.
3) I agreed to become Jacquelyn's campaign manager based on her support for open government, her ability to collaborate with other leaders in a meaningful way that is respectful to others, and her opposition to sit-lie. I asked myself a simple question when offered the position: Would she make a better mayor than the incumbent? Did I research what she did 20 years ago? No, and I don't think it was necessary. But you are right that I should be prepared to speak to her actions during that time now that I'm her campaign manager.
4) I have never claimed that there isn't an alliance to defeat Bates, which includes Kriss. What I've repeatedly said is that she didn't form an alliance with Kriss. It's probably fair to say that she formed an alliance with Kahlil, and that Kahlil has formed an alliance with Kriss. It's certainly fair to say that all three have appeared together. But as I've said repeatedly, Jacquelyn is committed to building as broad a coalition as possible. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Community Campaign Office Jacquelyn has created will be the home to nearly a dozen individual campaigns and has space for any campaign to join, no matter the issue and no matter the candidate.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
So, Josh,
Let's review:
1. You decided to comment on this story without first researching what you were commenting about, and then proceeded to contend that the story was inaccurate, when it was not. In fact, it was you who got several things wrong -- which you have since acknowledged.
2. You decided to comment on this story without disclosing to readers that you're the campaign manager of one of Bates' opponents in the November election -- and didn't acknowledge it until I pointed it out.
3. You agreed to become Jacquelyn McCormick's campaign manager without researching her background -- specifically, her role in creating the gerrymandered districts that Measure R seeks to overturn, districts that have effectively kept Cal students powerless on the council since Nancy Skinner moved on.
4. You now claim that that there is no informal anti-Bates alliance involving your candidate and Kriss Worthington, when, in fact, you told the Daily Cal that there was.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
When asked, what is the relationship between McCormick, Kriss and Kahlil, that was part of my response.
The quote is accurate but incomplete, and I don't see much use in taking to the comments every time a reporter fails to focus on what I feel is the important part of what I said.
From the inception, our campaign has been focused on bringing candidates and issue campaigns together to create change, and that of course does include Kriss. But to suggest that this is simply an alliance between Kriss and Jacquelyn doesn't paint the complete picture.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Josh,
In terms of the McCormick-Worthington informal alliance against Bates, the Daily Cal says you personally confirmed it:
"During the press conference, Jacobs-Fantauzzi and his two competitors, Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Jacquelyn McCormick, announced they will be endorsing each other in what Jacobs-Fantauzzi called a “Berkeley progressive alliance.”
“The three are working together to defeat Bates,” said McCormick’s campaign manager, Joshua Wolf."
http://www.dailycal.org/2012/08/10/uc-berk…
If the Daily Cal got it wrong or misquoted you, then why didn't you post a comment on that story, correcting it?
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
I have no problem disclosing my role as campaign manager. But my comment on your post was written prior to speaking to Jacquelyn McCormick about what I planned to write and on my own time, nor was my comment reviewed by her. It's difficult to separate my statements as McCormick's campaign manager and my statements as an individual, but I do feel that anything I write with my association to Jacquelyn included should be reviewed by my candidate.
I'm not going to address your historical comments about McCormick, because I haven't looked into them. But Jacquelyn has not created an informal alliance with Kriss Worthington. Jacquelyn has created a formal alliance among all campaigns and invited everyone to share the campaign space she has secured. Jacquelyn *has* endorsed Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi as her second-place vote for Mayor, but she has not formed any formal or informal alliance with Worthington.
Yes, Kriss recognized Jacquelyn's leadership at his kick-off event, and both her and Kris came to support Kahlil at his earlier press conference, but the three of them have in no way formed an alliance and Jacquelyn has never suggested her supporters vote for the three of them as a bloc.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Josh Wolf,
In the interest of transparency, you should have disclosed that you are the campaign manager of Jacquelyn McCormick, who is running against Mayor Tom Bates this fall. McCormick also has emerged as the main opponent to Measure R.
Readers also should know that McCormick has created an informal anti-Bates alliance with Kriss Worthington, who is also running for mayor. McCormick also was one of the primary backers of the 1986 effort that resulted in the gerrymandered districts in Berkeley -- districts that have been instrumental in ensuring that Cal students have virtually no power in the city.
It also should be noted that McCormick led the effort that resulted in the gerrymandered districts just two years after then-Cal student Nancy Skinner was elected to serve on the city council. To this day, Skinner is still the only UC Berkeley student ever elected to the Berkeley city council.
Skinner, now a California Assemblywoman representing Berkeley, has aided efforts over the years to overturn those 1986 council boundaries and create a student district in the city. She also supports Measure R.
Re: “How to Smoke Weed”
First off, I think I love you. Next, you're absolutely right. About no publicity for acid, an amazing therapeutic. After my first trip I realized that yes, I really could trust what was inside my head, all the stuff that I'd never heard voiced aloud and that completely contradicted the society I was living in.
Some of the original guys who were responsible for acid becoming known made a recording in the late '70s, called "LSD Ten Years Later", in which they basically said the same things I'd been saying about it for ten years - how it can literally save your sanity, but it has to be done right - clean your house, get clean yourself, have nice, light food ready, including brown rice and veggies. DON'T EAT A POUND OF CHERRIES! (You'll pay for it the next day. Happened to a good friend...)
Have 24 hours available. 36 is even better. You need 12 hours for the trip and then time to think and transition back to dealing with the jungle out there.
If you decide to go somewhere for your trip, plan it so there's as little as possible hassle.
Make sure you're in a comfortable, SAFE situation, such as at home, and won't be disturbed. Maybe pick a theme(s). My fourth trip was my Dylan trip, with my best friend, a confirmed Dylan freak. Thanks a lot, Bob! (Always have music you love readily available.)
Back in the day, 250 micrograms was the standard dose. I was using it to think, not to get high. I kept taking less and less, until I finally settled on an eighth of a tab (I weighed about 105 lbs). It allowed me to do the kind of analytical thinking I wanted to do, but I remained completely functional, and, it didn't make me sick to my stomach. I tripped approximately every three weeks for about two years. I quit when I realized I didn't need the drug anymore to do the kind of thinking I wanted to do.
NEVER TAKE ANYTHING FROM AN UNKNOWN SOURCE!
In my experience, knowing a lot of people who tripped, a bad trip usually was the result of getting into a bad situation. I talked many people down off bad trips. And, of course, 250 micrograms was way too high of a dose, yet it was the standard dose.
The poles in the subway cars felt like melting chocolate, btw... That was my "2001" trip. We went to see it tripping. That's when it first came out. That was SOME trip!
Everyone needs to realize that movies such as "2001", bands such as "Pink Floyd", and so much more amazing art, never would have happened if not for acid.
Yet no one talks about it. And that's so wrong.
Re: “Don't Be Afraid of Oakland”
Arron, welcome to Oakland. Uptown is a fantastic addition and improvement over what was there before. (no it was not urban removal).
Ask people who have lived in Uptown for a year or two what precautions they take to stay save there.
Most of them will tell you that either they or their acquaintances have been mugged.
Len
Re: “Don't Be Afraid of Oakland”
Thank you for the plug, but there's a reason for the empty sidewalks of Oakland just a few blocks away from the main drags after 7pm.
People who have lived here more than a few months adapt to the high crime even in good parts of time by biking and driving cars instead of walking after dark. At most you'll see a few people walking their dogs, or hurrying home from work.
Not saying that Berkeley is any better, but the other evening I visited a friend on Grant Street, I got paranoid walking on that residential street with almost no street lights, which is normal for Berkeley. In Oakland where I've lived for almost 40 years, you learn to avoid dark streets. My Berkeley buddy assured me his street was safe.
Len Raphael
Candidate for Oakland City Council District 1
www.LensForChange.com
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Robert Gammon is a shill for Mayor Bates, and has been for the past 3 years that I've read his column. It's most amazing that the East Bay Express, a publication that serves our community well, allows him to publish such drivel. He derides the public who come to council meetings to plead their causes, always rejected, and calls Berkeley residents NIMBY (not in my back yard) snivelers. Well, I am a Berkeley resident, and a so-called NIMBY. In fact, I don't want most of what Gammon supports in my front yard either. Is his purpose to take over both of my yards? Two other questions: What has Bates given you, Mr. Gammon, to be his broken mouth-piece? And, where in the world do you live? It would be hard to believe it is Berkeley. Finally, in your article lauding Bates, the picture is at least 10 years old. Why not use the more current one the SF Chronicle published in it's May 27th, 2012 edition: It is far more telling of an old pol out to sack his community.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
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Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
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Re: “Don't Be Afraid of Oakland”
Well Put. My Girlfriend and I just moved to Uptown. We love the feel of Uptown and the surrounding neighborhoods . We lived in SF for several years and had the same negative opinion of Oakland before we moved.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Josh,
The language wasn't removed from the election code because Berkeley's use of ranked choice voting is still dependent in part on the participation of other cities -- like Oakland and San Leandro. So if those cities decide at some later date to not use ranked choice voting and thus Berkeley's costs for using it increase (right now they share the costs), then the council has the right under the law to stop using ranked choice voting and go back to the old system of a general election and then a runoff if no one gets at least 40 percent of the vote in the general election.
In terms of the council determining the district boundaries based on the guidelines provided in Measure R -- you're still misreading it. Under current law, the council already has the power to adjust districts, and there is no provision in the current law for an independent commission. To get an independent commission for Berkeley, you would need a separate ballot measure, which might be a good idea, but it hasn't happened.
Where Measure R is different from current law in that it allows the council to ignore the out-of-date boundary lines established in 1986 -- boundary lines that were gerrymandered by many of the same members of the anti-growth crowd that the above story talks about -- boundary lines that arguably were designed to keep a student from ever serving on the city council.
Getting rid of those old gerrymandered boundary lines is progress. And Measure R does it.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Thanks for your clarification. In rereading Measure R, I see what you are saying, but I'm confused as to why this language wasn't removed from the charter when ranked-choice voting was implemented. I'm also unclear why Measure R itself didn't excise that language either, but I suppose doing so might've been an elections code violation.
I stand behind what I said about the rest of Measure R though. I think the state ballot measure to create an independent committee was a solid approach to redistricting; this is a local government attempt to essentially do the opposite.
Student votes have played a role in putting both Kriss and Jesse into office; perhaps there is some ground that could be gained by creating a voting district that surrounds the university, but it should not be undertaken by the Council itself.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Josh,
You have misread Measure R -- it does not change the 50 percent threshold back to 40 percent. It clearly states that the 40 percent threshold does not apply in ranked choice elections:
"If the provisions of Article III, Section 5, Paragraph 12 related to instant
runoff voting are operative, the vote threshold requirements in this section [which talk about the 40 percent threshold] shall have no application to municipal elections."
I think you may be confused because Berkeley used to have the 40 percent threshold -- that is, there would be no runoff if a candidate got more than 40 percent in the election. But that changed to 50 percent with the adoption of ranked choice voting, and Measure R does not affect that.
As to a student district versus student power spread throughout the city, that argument makes little sense considering that students have virtually no power now. A council seat occupied by a student would be a huge improvement over what currently exists, and does not represent ghetto-ization. And though Measure R does not guarantee a student district, it makes it more likely than it is now. Moreover, even if a student isn't elected in a student district, whoever is elected will likely have to make student issues, such as housing, his or her top priority.
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
Bob,
Your distortion of Berkeley's Measure R astounds me. The carefully crafted — technically correct — misinformation in this article coupled with your praises of Mayor Tom Bates leaves the article looking more like it came from the Mayor's desk than the leading East Bay alt. weekly.
Measure R would not only put the future make-up of council districts solely in the power of the city council,it would fundamentally change the way candidates are elected into office.
While student groups have flocked to the promise that Measure R will create a "student council seat" in reality, it would neither improve student power nor is it even possible to create a student council district. Measure R neither mentions the word student, nor identifies students or any other populations within Berkeley.
Student population *is* concentrated in certain parts of the city, but aside from the hills that are almost exclusively long-time homeowners, UC students live all over Berkeley, and many commute from other nearby cities. Students will continue to vote for whatever council candidates represent the district they happen to live in.
While Measure R would likely result in student votes being concentrated in one district, the purpose is not to create a "student council seat," but to prevent their growing voter base from infecting the outcome of multiple districts. It is a process of ghettoization not empowerment.
The most pernicious element of Measure R, and the strongest evidence that it is nothing more than a power play engineered by those trying to hold onto their power, is the radical change to Ranked Choice Voting imposed by the ordinance.
Under Ranked Choice voting, the candidate with the least votes is taken out of the running until one candidate has more than 50% of the ballots counted. Measure R would reduce that number to 40%. In other words, it would no longer take a majority of votes to win an election in Berkeley.
Eliminating majority-rule is a massive change that the proponents of Measure R have been silent about. While I suppose these changes Mayor Bates is trying implement could be considered progressive, is this the kind of progress you want to see for Berkeley?
Re: “How to Smoke Weed”
This quote applies just as well to weed:
"Always that same LSD story, you've all seen it. 'Young man on acid, thought he could fly, jumped out of a building. What a tragedy.' What a dick! Fuck him, he’s an idiot. If he thought he could fly, why didn’t he take off on the ground first? Check it out. You don’t see ducks lined up to catch elevators to fly south—they fly from the ground, ya moron, quit ruining it for everybody. He’s a moron, he’s dead—good, we lost a moron, fuckin’ celebrate. Wow, I just felt the world get lighter. We lost a moron! I don’t mean to sound cold, or cruel, or vicious, but I am, so that’s the way it comes out. Professional help is being sought. How about a positive LSD story? Wouldn't that be news-worthy, just the once? To base your decision on information rather than scare tactics and superstition and lies? I think it would be news-worthy. 'Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. That we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we're the imagination of ourselves' . . . 'Here's Tom with the weather.'" ~ Bill Hicks
Re: “"Liberal" Doesn't Always Mean Liberal”
I have read the comments over the last two days with great interest and want to clear up two of Mr. Gannon's comments about me. Both incorrect assumptions and just outright misrepresentation.
First, I was in no way part of the 1986 charter amendment efforts which, by the way were strongly supported by our city's African American community so I guess this means that you are accusing that community of gerrymandering tactics. As concrete evidence of that fact, I did not move to Berkeley until 1996.
Secondly, I am running an independent campaign as are all the other candidates. The following is an excerpt from Berkeleyside http://www.berkeleyside.com/2012/08/13/ros…
“I am not part of a coalition,” said McCormick. “All of us are running our campaigns independently. I am working to ensure that Tom Bates doesn’t get reelected. So is Kriss. So is Khalil.”
Worthington concurred.
“We are displaying the kind of cooperation that Berkeley voters deserve,” said Worthington. “The three of us clearly have very different perspectives and experience and priorities but all of us — and many more — are ready to have a new mayor.”
I am glad to have had the opportunity to clear up these questions and invite all to the website for my campaign: www.mccormick4mayor.com
- Jacquelyn McCormick