Oakland Mayoral Candidate: Libby Schaaf

It is really fortuitous that Libby Schaaf was next in line for me to write about, because I attended a "meet the candidate" meeting for her held by a colleague on Saturday, and had an opportunity to hear her speak for an hour and meet her afterwards. Here's Libby Schaaf's website.

I was very impressed by Ms. Schaaf. She reminded me of Leslie Knope from Parks & Recreation, and I mean that in the best possible way. She had an incredible grasp of the details of every issue people raised, and her ideas were good. She could also speak to concrete things she has done as a City Council member that related to these issues, and very gently informed people when their perceptions of city issues were wrong. An example: one gentleman complained that there was only one inspector for the fire department on overgrowth abatement (This is an issue for Hills homeowners). Ms. Schaaf told him that there is one full-time, 3 part-time, and the new budget calls for two additional full-time, plus a civilian fire marshal, and that a real issue is that the city is not collecting the fines assessed against property owners who don't abate their fire hazardous overgrowth, something she has raised to the fire chief. She was that thorough on every issue. She also was very inclusive in mentioning which of her colleagues she worked with on which issue, demonstrating her ability to work with the council members on difficult issues.

I asked her about the Ruby Report, and whether her close relationships with other council members would prevent her from holding them accountable. She asked me for an example. I said, things like insisting that family members be hired, and meddling in the city departments. She was a little flustered and said that she would have voted for a motion to sanction one of her colleagues if one had been made that night. I am not sure what she was referring to, and didn't ask her why she didn't make that motion, because it seemed a little controversial for what was an otherwise pleasant and genteel meeting.

Which gets to my other concern. Libby Schaaf is doing a great job making connections with voters in the more affluent neighborhoods but I don't know how much she is campaigning in other neighborhoods. As one person there said, "The Mayor is going to all the churches. Are you going to the churches?" Libby's response was basically, "I would love to go to services anywhere you invite me." I don't really know how much exposure she has gotten.

Some other things I learned from her: The field will probably be winnowed a bit on August 8, which is the filing deadline for candidates to submit signatures. They only need 50 signatures, but that might shake some candidates out of the race. Neither Libby Schaaf nor Courtney Ruby can run for their current position because both seats are on the November ballot. That's disappointing; we will lose one or both of them regardless of the outcome of the election. Finally, there is a debate at city hall on August 21 for all candidates who have garnered more than 5% in an independent poll. I cannot attend that but it will make clear who the "real contenders" are.