Let me just cut to the chase on Patrick McCullough, whose interview-serving-as-campaign-video I am too lazy* to watch. Mr. McCullough is the guy who shot a drug dealer (or kid, or both) who he claimed was making trouble on his corner. As I recall, Mr. McCullough was frustrated with police response times to his calls and the OPD failure to adequately dealing that was occurring on his street, near Bushrod Park. After a confrontation with the dealer and others, Mr. McCullough shot him. He was never charged with anything. Here's the NPR story about it.
It's too bad that this happened, because overall, Mr. McCullough is not the craziest person in this race by a long shot. And he has a platform that probably mirrors the Oakland general population's pretty closely. Less city bureaucrats, more cops. Better technology for public safety, not more. Keep DAC limited to the port. Deal with the remnants of Occupy Oakland that undermine public safety and city development. Better use of city resources coordinated with Oakland schools, including volunteers and better input from school community.
I am summarizing all this from an article I read about Mr. McCullough. Just as when he ran for city council (he lost to Jane Brunner), I think he is more thoughtful than his vigilantism suggests. Unfortunately, I think the grayness of his confrontation with Milton McHenry make his candidacy difficult to support.
*Maybe lazy is the wrong word. Maybe "I value my time too much to spend it watching a grainy phone-video for 37 minutes" is a better word.
No comments:
Post a Comment