The Editor's Back Fence

Here’s a funny one. Stuck at home for a bit, I’ve been looking at campaign websites which local candidates have put up in anticipation of the 2024 spring primaries. At this stage of the game, endorsements are the currency. With local news holes shrinking every day, all the average East Bay voter for the state legislature offices knows is names of endorsing organizations, if that. For example Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin is heavily backed by the building trades, which is not surprising since he’s flipped to support downtown Berkeley’s Big Box building boom for “market rate luxury apartments” which are really nothing more than pricey dorms for well-off UC students. Of course this also garners UC administrators’ support.

With the collapse of the Republican party, it’s very hard for average Berkeley voters to know who they’re voting for. It used to be possible to hold your nose and pull the Democratic lever, but now the developer shills who used to be Republicans (and racist Republicans at that} are running in the primary formerly known as Democratic. These “Democrats” are doing their damndest to get rid of California environmental laws of all kinds, including the California Environmental Quality Act and the Coastal Commission. But they do endorse those regular Dems who vote the way they want, so you can’t tell the players without a scorecard, which they can pay someone to hang on your door on election day.. 

And here’s the really funny part: google Jesse Arreguin Endorsements and you come out here. There’s a union section and a politician section, but scroll down and you end up at

COMMUNITY LEADERS, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS

Out of curiosity I scrolled on down the very long list of these folks who were listed as endorsing Jesse Arreguin for State Senator, and was astounded to discover the name of a somewhat irascible strong-minded friend who had been active in Berkeley politics for many years. I emailed him to ask why he was endorsing Arreguin, and his response was not printable in a family newspaper, or even in the Daily Planet. NO, he does not endorse Jesse, he said, not since the Box Boom started in 2016.

“I’m only endorsing Dan Kalb (and Margot Smith for State Legislature)” he said.

So I picked out a couple of the more suspect names and contacted them too. And then there were friends of mine who are now dead on the list. When I got up to four faux endorsers and two deceased I was bored and stopped counting.

Is your name there? Readers might enjoy checking out the rest of the "Friends" list themselves, and maybe the other categories too. And no,l don’t think anyone’s exactly trying to steal the election, but I do think it’s pretty funny. Will Atteguin be asked to run a correction?

Or would the page just disappear when the news gets out? Don't worry, I've got a copy of the list. 

UPDATE: Since this was first published I've been contacted by even more outraged voters who are, as they say, NOT supporting Jesse for, well, anything, anymore.