Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democratic Club

Next MGO Meeting: Tuesday, June 18th

Posted on June 16, 2019

MGO is honored to welcome three esteemed members of the Alameda County Superior Court for our next meeting to examine whether there is a school-to-prison pipeline, and if so, how can it be closed.

The meeting will begin on Tuesday, June 18th at 7:30pm in the Family Roomof the Montclair Presbyterian Church at 5701 Thornhill Drive in Oakland.

To ensure that the meeting runs promptly and to be respectful of the time of both our guests and other audience members, please arrive on time, keep questions focused and concise, keep disruptions to a minimum, and limit comments to informal conversation after the official program is over. 

The Hon. Charles A. Smiley, III is the presiding judge of the Alameda County Juvenile Court, where he was appointed in 2012 by former Governor Jerry Brown. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. After earning his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1997, Smiley joined the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office, where he served as a deputy public defender for ten years. In 2007, Smiley was named a court commissioner for the Alameda County Superior Court and held that position until his appointment to the bench in 2012.

The Hon. Lupe C. Garcia was appointed to the bench by former governor Jerry Brown in 2016. She filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Cecilia P. Castellanos (ret.). She is registered without party preference. Judge Garcia graduated with her B.A. in public policy from Occidental College. She went on to earn her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1995.

The Hon. Scott Jackson was elected to the bench in 2016. Judge Jackson graduated with his B.A. in political science and history from Williams College in 1992. He went on to earn his J.D. from George Washington University Law School in 1997.  Before entering civil practice in 2011, he was an Alameda County Deputy District Attorney.

Join MGO and Dr. Gray Brechin for a Discussion on the Green New Deal on Tuesday, May 21st

Posted on May 20, 2019

Please join MGO for our next general meeting on Tuesday, May 21st at 7.30pm in the Family Room of the Montclair Presbyterian Church at 5701 Thornhill Drive in Oakland.

Dr. Gray Brechin will speak on “The Ethics of The New Deal, Parent of the Green New Deal.”

Gray A. Brechin is a geologist, architectural historian, and English-language author. He received his B.A. in geography and history in 1971 and Ph.D. in geography in 1998, both from from the University of California, Berkeley. He is founder and, as of 2017, project scholar of the Living New Deal Project.

Currently, he is a visiting scholar in the U.C. Berkeley Department of Geography, he has authored two books: one (with Robert Dawson) Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the California Dream, and the other, Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin, both published by the University of California Press in 1999.

Join MGO and Asm. Rob Bonta on Saturday, March 30th

Posted on March 22, 2019

MGO is honored to welcome Assemblymember Rob Bonta to our next general membership meeting on Saturday, March 30th. Asm. Bonta will present his legislative package for the upcoming year and will also field questions and comments on your priorities. The meeting will take place at:

Asm. Bonta will be available until 2:00pm, after which the meeting will continue onto other topics. To maximize our collective time, please come with concise, focused questions and comments.

MGO Holiday Party on Tuesday, December 11th

Posted on December 1, 2018

Join MGO in celebrating another successful year at our holiday party on Tuesday, December 11th. It will take place from 6.00-7.30pm at the 310 Gallery (a.k.a. Gallery Art Bar) at 310 14th Street in downtown Oakland.

The event is free to current paid members as well as all who join or renew on the spot, and is $10 for non-members. See you there!

Join MGO and All-Star Panelists for a Review of 2018 Election Results

Posted on November 19, 2018 Updated on November 19, 2018

MGO Endorsements for the November 2018 Election

Posted on September 26, 2018 Updated on November 12, 2018

Nov. 2nd Update: Download a PDF summary of our endorsed candidates and measures here for your own reference or to forward to friends. Also, learn more about MGO via our November 2018 printed newsletter or by joining our email list. Furthermore, join MGO for the following events:

• Sun 11/4, 12.00-1.00pm – informal pre-election brunch and coffee at La Boulangerie, 5500 College Ave., Rockridge
• RESCHEDULED: Tue 11/20, 7.00-8.30pm – general membership meeting at Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Dr.; program will feature local journalists and commentators who will review election results

A huge thank you to all the candidates, MGO members, and audience members who participated in MGO’s three endorsement meetings on September 28th, October 5th, and October 12th! In particular, MGO is deeply grateful to all the candidates for their availability on Friday nights filled with campaign and personal priorities.

MGO is pleased to announce its slate of endorsed candidates for the November 6, 2018 election. Any races not listed are ones in which MGO made no endorsement. An endorsement requires 60% of the votes cast for that particular race. With so many impressive candidates, it is with regret that MGO can only endorse one candidate per race.

City of Oakland
Oakland Mayor: Libby Schaaf
Oakland City Council, District 2: Abel Guillén

Regional
BART Board of Directors, District 4: Robert Raburn
Peralta Community College District, Area 5: Cindi Reiss
Alameda County Assessor: Phong La

Federal
U.S. Senate: Kevin de León
U.S. Congress, California District 13: Barbara Lee

State
California State Assembly, District 15: Jovanka Beckles
California State Assembly, District 18: Rob Bonta
California State Board of Equalization, District 2: Malia Cohen
California Governor: Gavin Newsom
California Attorney General: Xavier Becerra
California Secretary of State: Alex Padilla
California State Treasurer: Fiona Ma
California State Controller: Betty Yee
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond
California State Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara

Additionally, MGO is pleased to endorse the stated “yes/no” positions on the following ballot measures:

YES, California Prop 1 – authorizes bonds to fund specified housing assistance programs
YES, California Prop 2 – authorizes bonds to fund existing housing program for individuals with mental illness
YES, California Prop 3 – authorizes bonds to fund projects for water supply and quality, watershed, fish, wildlife, water conveyance, and groundwater sustainability and storage
YES, California Prop 4 – authorizes bonds funding construction at hospitals providing children’s health care
NO, California Prop 5 – changes requirements for certain property owners to transfer their property tax base to replacement property
NO, California Prop 6 – eliminates certain road repair and transportation funding; requires certain fuel taxes and vehicle fees to be approved by the electorate
NO, California Prop 7 – conforms California daylight saving time to federal law; allows Legislature to change daylight saving time period
YES, California Prop 8 – regulates amounts outpatient kidney dialysis clinics charge for dialysis treatment
YES, California Prop 10 – expands governments’ authority to enact rent control on residential property
NO, California Prop 11 – requires private-sector emergency ambulance employees to remain on-call during work breaks; eliminates certain employer liability
YES, California Prop 12 – establishes new standards for confinement of specified farm animals; bans sale of noncomplying products
YES, Measure E – Peralta Community College District – parcel tax
YES, Measure G – Peralta Community College District – bond issue
YES, Measure V – City of Oakland – cannabis business taxes
YES, Measure W – City of Oakland – vacant property tax
YES, Measure X – City of Oakland – graduated real estate transfer tax
YES, Measure Y – City of Oakland – amending eviction ordinance
YES, Measure Z – City of Oakland – minimum wage and employment standards for Oakland hotel workers
YES, Measure AA – City of Oakland – parcel tax for education
YES, Measure FF – East Bay Regional Parks District – extension of existing parcel tax

For your reference, please review a PDF version of the state voter guide here and the text of the local measures here.

Also, many thanks to MGO’s Judy Cox, Gary Sirbu, Steve Statler, and Annie Flores for their work in organizing these endorsement meetings and in keeping MGO running, and to Arlinda Befort, Linda Olvera, and Karan Balaji in helping count votes!

MGO September General Meeting: Wildfire Prevention and Vegetation Management in Oakland

Posted on September 13, 2018 Updated on September 13, 2018

Join MGO for our September general membership meeting on Friday, September 14th at 7pm in the Thornhill Room of the Montclair Presbyterian Church. We are honored to welcome Vincent Crudele of the City of Oakland and Sue Piper of the Oakland Firesafe Council for a discussion on wildfire prevention and vegetation management in Oakland. We will also elect a new set of board directors for the 2018-2019 program year.

Don’t forget to save the following dates for our endorsement meetings for the November election. We will use all three dates and we will vote at each meeting on the races discussed, instead of saving and combining the endorsement vote for the final meeting. All endorsement meetings take place at 7pm in the (larger) Family Room of the Montclair Presbyterian Church:

• Friday, September 28th
• Friday, October 5th
• Friday, October 12th

If you have not been a paid MGO member in the last two years, you must join 20 days before an endorsement meeting in order to vote. If you have been an MGO member in the last two years, you may renew up until any endorsement meeting. Join or renew here.