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While candidates decided whether or not to put their toes in the water of several Oakland City Council and Oakland School Board races, announced candidates in the hotly contested state seats of Senate District 9 and Assembly District 14 continued to raise war chests for the June 3 election. 

In the latest reports filed with the California Secretary of State's office, 14th District Assembly-member Loni Hancock raised far more money in 2007 for Don Perata’s District 9 State Senate seat, but her opponent, former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan, ended up with more cash on hand at the end of the year.  

The Hancock for Senate 2008 committee reported contributions of $500,506 last year ($270,850 for the last six months of 2007), while the Chan for State Senate committee reported $164,834 raised for the year and $88,441 in the last six months of 2007. But Chan’s committee had $526,641 on hand at the beginning of the year, while Hancock’s committee had $343,906. 

In the race for Hancock’s termed-out 14th Assembly seat, Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff led four candidates with $75,570 on hand at the end of 2007, followed by Richmond City Councilmember Tony Thurmond with $58,469 and Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthing-ton with $48,625. No campaign committee for former Berkeley City Councilmember Nancy Skinner, who is expected to run for the 14th Assembly as well, was listed on the Secretary of State’s website. 

The Polakoff For Assembly committee raised $90,635 in 2007, all in the last six months of the year. The Tony Thurmond for Assembly committee raised $84,731 in 2007 ($46,731 in the last 6 months of the year), and the Friends Of Kriss Worthington committee listed $61,112 in contributions for 2007, all between September 24th and the end of the year. 

[The Daily Planet plans to provide information on individual donations to candidates in a follow-up story.] 

Meanwhile, in Alameda County Board of Supervisors races, incumbent District 5 Supervisor Keith Carson has filed for re-election, with no challengers taking out papers as of last Friday. Incumbent Nate Miley has taken out papers for re-election to his District 4 seat, along with potential challenger Berkeley activist Steve White. Area 2 Alameda County School Board incumbent Gay Plair Cobb has a potential challenger in author and Oakland Commission on Aging member Ernest L. Hardmon III. Sixteen candidates have taken out filing papers for the vacant Alameda County Superior Court Judge seat 9, while the 20 other seats have only one potential candidate apiece. 

Only two candidates have actually completed their filings with the Oakland City Clerk’s office for Oakland races--Ignacio De La Fuente for re-election to his 5th District City Council seat, and Oakland Residents for Peaceful Neighborhoods co-founder Charles Pine for the At-Large City Council seat currently occupied by Henry Chang. 

But with the filing deadline set for today (Friday) at 5 p.m., several other candidates have taken out preliminary filing papers for council and school board races in Oakland. They include: 

City Council At Large (Henry Chang, incumbent): AC Transit Board member Rebecca Kaplan, former AC Transit Board member Clinton Killian, incumbent Henry Chang, OUSD School Board member Kerry Hamill. 

City Council District 1 (Jane Brunner, incumbent): neighborhood public safety activist Patrick McCullough, incumbent Jane Brunner. 

City Council District 3 (Nancy Nadel, incumbent): incumbent Nancy Nadel, OUSD School Board member Gregory Hodge, Covenant House Director Sean Sullivan, and West Oakland residents Alan Brown and Africa Williams. 

City Council District 5 (Ignacio De La Fuente, incumbent): Realtor Mario Juarez, David Wofford (former aid to former District 5 Councilmember Wilson Riles), NCPC leader Beverly Blythe. 

City Council District 7 (Larry Reid, incumbent): Incumbent Larry Reid, neighborhood activist Clifford Gilmore. 

School Board District 1 (Kerry Hamill, incumbent): Parent activist Jody London, education philanthropist Brian Rogers, author Tennessee Reed. 

School Board District 3 (Gregory Hodge, incumbent): Education activist Jumoke Hinton-Hodge.  

School Board District 5 (Noel Gallo, incumbent): Incumbent Noel Gallo. 

School Board District 7 (Alice Spearman, incumbent): East Oakland resident Beverly Williams, East Oakland resident Doris Limbrick, incumbent Alice Spearman. 

Incumbent City Attorney John Russo has taken out filing papers for re-election. No challenger had taken out papers as of Wednesday.