If you can spare a couple of hours on a wintry evening in spring, why not go have a “conversation” with Don Perata who’s running for mayor in November? That’s what I did last week.

It was held in a back room of the Youth Employment Partnerships building. A group of up to 20 folks sat in folding chairs while the “Don” sat perched on a table at the front of the room, microphone in hand.

The talk he gave was quite general and vague. At his last conversation, he offered to abolish the Citizens’ Police Review Board (and the Public Ethics Commission), and received more publicity than he, perhaps, had expected which may have accounted for his reticence this chilly evening.

Most of the audience lobbed soft ball or very general questions at the candidate. Curiously, one audience member with many questions and comments remarked that he was from Mississippi and didn’t know much about Oakland. The moderator and Perata staff person would offer a mic to the speaker and then grab it away saying, “this is my mic” so that they seemed to lean precariously over the mic while trying to focus on their concerns.

In spite of this, there were a couple of pointed questions-one audience member asked how he would hire more police officers while dealing with a huge budget deficit. He responded that “there is money…we have to cut council members’ pet projects, like boards, and commissions.” The questioner pointed out that that would provide little savings but got no response.

The candidate also said that “we’re a lot closer to bankruptcy than most people realize” and posited that the police and fire unions would probably consider a significant reduction in their retirement benefits if only someone knew how to ask them. I have no idea if that’s realistic; but because Mr. Perata has been endorsed by them, maybe he knows the magic words.

One question arose from Gilda Gonzalez, CEO of the Unity Council, Port Commissioner, and a close associate of Ignacio de la Fuente (Perata’s website does not list his endorsers), who asked if he would start proceedings to rid us of wasteful spending on things like Measure O (Ranked Choice Voting /alternative voting), Measure Y (the anti-violence measure that pays for more police and violence prevention programs), and the Kids First Initiative. Of those, only the initiative now known as the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth is an unfunded mandate, but it was recently reduced by the voters in light of the current budget crisis.

To be fair, the new voting system, which was passed by overwhelming electorate support in 2006, will cost additional monies in its first year but should reduce the cost of future city elections by eliminating the June primary. Mr. Perata has been notorious in his opposition to the implementation of Measure O, RCV, this year.

But Mr. Perata did not respond directly to Ms. Gonzales’ question;  instead he said that there is no organizational chart on the City’s website. He then said  what he would do as the new mayor of the cash-strapped city with too many “wasteful boards and commissions” would be to appoint a Charter Review Commission “to look at the City Charter” and see if it needs revising.

Here’s hoping that we have some warmer evenings to look forward to (during which you can sample all the various yogurt and gelato shops in the Grand Lake neighborhood, for instance) but I would encourage you to attend a conversation with Perata some hard questions--as well as attend forums and meetings with all the other candidates.

OL editor's note & disclosure: Pamela Drake is a Jean Quan supporter with a long time interest in Oakland Politics; her view do not reflect OL's perspectives.  Others are welcome to blog here about the race; contact editor@oaklandlocal.com

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