Extra

After four years on the Council, I continue to find the divisions between those who share similar values very distasteful. But even more than that, I despair when I see outside monied interests taking advantage of that division. 

This is the case in the Council race for District 2. Real estate interests (the California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee and the National Association of Realtors) have spent $11,000 and $9,871 respectively to defeat Cheryl Davila and in favor of Alex Sharenko, whose fliers feature him and Timothy Carter (but not Terry Taplin). The National Association of Realtors have spent over $100,000 to defeat the pro-tenant Rent Board slate. Sharenko has also sent out mailers accusing Davila of creating the homelessness crisis – tactics reminiscent of when he served as the campaign manager for my opponent in the last election. 

On the other hand, we have two candidates – Cheryl Davila and Terry Taplin -- who care about tenants, police reform, and dealing with homelessness in a compassionate way. Cheryl has introduced and stood with me on legislation supporting tenants, reducing police use of force, taking Berkeley out of Urban Shield, addressing the climate emergency and looking for solutions to homelessness that avoid criminalizing the poor. Terry has endorsed the pro-tenant slate for the Rent Board (Cheryl endorsed only two of its members), believes public land should be used for affordable housing and has been active in the Racial and Criminal Justice Reform group. 

Politics is about choices, not perfection, and certainly shouldn’t be decided by money. Berkeley introduced rank choice voting so voters could indicate which candidate they wanted most and which others they would find acceptable. I am recommending that voters in District 2 vote for Terry Taplin and Cheryl Davila for 1 and 2 in whatever order they prefer. 

Update: the realtors have now spent $160,000 against the Rent Board slate and issued another hit piece against CM Davila.