News

On October 29 the California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee, based in Los Angeles, filed two Supplemental Independent Expenditure Reports with the City of Berkeley documenting expenditures of close to $20,000 each made on behalf of incumbent candidates for the Berkeley City Council Darryl Moore and Laurie Capitelli. -more-

On November 10, 2009, Laurie Capitelli joined the rest of the Berkeley City Council in approving the appointment of Michael Meehan as the City’s new police chief, effective December 13, 2009. The resolution of approval authorized “a housing assistance loan of up to $500,000 for the purchase of a residence within the City of Berkeley”.

In 2010 Chief Meehan moved into a home in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood in north Berkeley. I assume that he used his $500,000 loan from the City to purchase that property, which sold for $1,185,000. The seller used an agent from Northbrae Properties; the buyer used Red Oak real estate agent and Berkeley Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. -more-

The Moore (District 2) and Capitelli (District 5) campaigns for city council have received support, in the form of mailings and on-line advertising, from an independent expenditure committee known as CREIEC: The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee. -more-

A slate mailer organization (SMO), Berkeley Tenants United For Fairness (TUFF), has used a major portion of the $25,000 in large contributions ostensibly given in opposition to Measure U, to finance two mailers largely devoted to support of the four rent board candidates on the TUFF slate that includes incumbent commissioner Nicole Drake. Berkeley law limits individual contributions to candidates to $250. -more-

Yesterday, the UC Berkeley School of Law Policy Advocacy Clinic released a report entitled Does Sit-Lie Work: Will Berkeley’s “Measure S” Increase Economic Activity and Improve Services to Homeless People?. The answer, in brief, seems to be No: -more-

On November 2, the University of California, Berkeley will play the season’s first-ever Friday night football game. The game will be nationally televised and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., but please note that parking and traffic congestion will begin much earlier, and Berkeley residents and visitors are urged to plan ahead and take public transportation. -more-

An anonymous tip about a potential bomb on the University of California of Berkeley campus was emailed to UC Berkeley police this afternoon, a UC Berkeley police captain said. -more-

At today’s meeting of Berkeley’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission, more charges of illegal practices by campaigns for Berkeley’s November 6 election were filed.

Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean sent a letter to the Commission alleging that the Re-Elect Laurie Capitelli for City Council 2012 Committee violated state law by featuring a photo of a police officer in uniform on a District 5 campaign mailer. Dean said that this is “a clear and misleading violation of State Law California Government Code Title 1, Division 4, Chapter 9.5, Section 3206” which states that “No officer or employee of a local agency shall participate in political activities of any kind while in uniform.”

She said that the photo of the officer pictured on the mailer in uniform and with badge and weapon was “taken on the steps of the City of Berkeley Ronald T. Tsukamoto Public Safety Building” and thus “misleads the reader into believing the officer is a City of Berkeley employee.” A copy of the mailer was attached to her complaint.

The caption under the photo says that “My son has been a police officer …for over 15 years.” Presumably the person in the photo is Capitelli’s son; the mailer does not say where he works. -more-

Most Americans have one eye on the nation’s economic crises and the other on the presidential election. And they are asking themselves, “Are the Democrats or the Republicans better for the economic health of the country as well as for my own financial well-being?” That is the defining question of this election. -more-

Berkeley City Councilman Kriss Worthington today criticized city leaders for what he said was their poor response to problems with the city's voicemail system the past 13 days. -more-

It's not everyday that you find a table set up atop of the steps of Berkeley's iconic Main Post Office. But it's not everyday that a hometown photographer has his or her work chosen to grace a US postage stamp. -more-

"Clean Coal." Really? I heard the debate the other night and the president was promoting it. Yes, tell me about "Clean Coal"! My father died of black lung. It was a slow, agonizing death, several years in the making, till at last it did him in. -more-

Below you'll find a list of the Planet's endorsements for the November 6 election. -more-

Are you confused about the upcoming election? Below you'll be able to find all the articles about the November 2012 election that have appeared to date in the Planet, with editorial endorsements at the top of the stack. -more-