Joe Tuman has fired the first official shot in the unfolding 2014 Oakland Mayor’s Race. In a new YouTube video sent to supporters and called “Meet Joe Tuman,” Mr. Tuman said that his “singular focus” would be on public safety, jobs, and creating “new revenue sources” for Oakland.
Then he kicked it into high gear and said “The truth of the matter is we’re never going to get effective change in this city if we keep electing the same people, letting them migrate from city council to the mayor’s office with the same narrow-minded sets of views, and the same unwillingness to try something different. If you want to change city hall, change doesn’t come from within city hall, it comes from outside city hall.”
Of the seven current candidates in the Oakland Mayor’s Race only two, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who was the District Four Oakland City Council Representative before becoming the surprise winner of the 2010 Oakland Mayor’s Race thanks to Rank Choice Voting, and her successor, and current District Four rep Libby Schaaf, describe the kind of people Tuman is talking about.
I didn’t think the Oakland Mayor’s Race would go negative so quickly, and I thought the first shot would come from Mayor Quan, but it’s clear Joe Tuman’s identified his direct challengers and elected (if you will excuse the pun) to come out swinging against them.
Here’s the full video:
Stay tuned.
This is just getting warm.