All four of the incumbent members of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board whose four-year terms are up this year are seeking re-election. One of them, Nicole Drake, has a very poor attendance record.
The other three are running on the “Affordable Housing” slate selected at a convention of rent control supporters this summer. They are Asa Dodsworth, Judy Shelton, and Igor Tregub. They are joined on the Affordable Housing slate by Alejandro Soto-Vigil, vice chair of the City’s Housing Advisory Commission and a legislative aide to Councilmember Kriss Worthington.
The Committee for a Progressive Berkeley, an independent expenditure committee supporting the Affordable Housing slate, raised the issue of Nicole Drake's attendance in one of their mailers..What are the facts?
Here are the absentee rates for the four commissioners seeking reelection for the period beginning after the last election in 2010. The first table is for full Board meetings, both regularly scheduled and special meetings. The second is for attendance at meetings of the various committees that commissioners serve on, currently totaling nine.
Absentee Rates
Incumbent Rent Board Candidates
Regular and Special Board Meetings |
| Candidate | Meetings Absent |
| Igor Tregub (AH) | 0% |
| Asa Dodsworth (AH) | 4% |
| Judy Shelton (AH) | 4% |
| Nicole Drake (TUFF) | 41% |
Based on attendance at meetings from Dec. 2010 - Sept. 2012.
AH = “Affordable Housing” Slate; TUFF = “Tenants United For Fairness” Slate
Source:
Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, Absentee Rates
Incumbent Rent Board Candidates
Committee Meetings |
| Candidate | Meetings Absent |
| Igor Tregub (AH) | 0% |
| Judy Shelton (AH) | 0% |
| Asa Dodsworth (AH) | 7% |
| Nicole Drake (TUFF) | 64% |
Based on attendance at meetings from Jan. 2011 – June 2012, the latest available online; does not include meetings with no minutes available
AH = “Affordable Housing” Slate; Tuff = “Tenants United For Fairness” Slate
Commissioners typically serve on 3 or 4 committees;
Source:
Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, Nicole Drake, a legislative aide to Vice-Mayor Linda Maio, is running on a slate calling itself Tenants United for Fairness. Other slate members are Kiran Shenoy, an attorney and police review commissioner; Judy J. Hunt, a commissioner on the Alameda County Commission on Aging, and an owner of rental property; and Jay James, a mechanical engineer with no prior record of public service.
The TUFF Web site, as of today, provides no information about how this slate was formed.
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