Why do Oakland elected officials ignore their constituents pleas?
A common question people ask me face to face when I'm canvassing is why Oakland council members and the Mayor don't try increasing policing to reduce property crime to the levels of other cities.
Some people have attended community meetings that Dan Kalb and other council members have organized and have heard them explain that we can't reduce crime here until we fix the underlying causes of crime.
Usually, the same person I'm talking to adds that, of course, more policing won't cure the causes of crime but will say, "We need to stop the bleeding before we can cure the disease." These are almost the same words a woman ER doctor used when she signed the DA Price recall petition last year.
I explain that most of our elected local officials wear ideological blinders that prevent them from increasing police funding. They are convinced that spending more money on policing staffing and tech is, at best, a waste of money, and at worst, it just sends more poor people of color into the school-to-prison pipeline.
The same people ask me how elected officials can stay in office if they ignore voters' demands for more policing.
Simple explanation: extremely few individuals or businesses contribute money or time to local candidates. At one time, most of the money came from real estate developers. For the last several years, a very high percentage of total funds contributed, directly and indirectly, comes from muni unions.
All the muni unions expect for their contributions are approvals of their wage and benefit demands. They give the elected officials they've funded free range to set policy.
Typical Oakland voters know more about international affairs than Oakland voters. It is difficult to get information about the Oakland government in our newspaper desert with online sources that are either "gonzo" like Oaklandside or superficial like the East Bay Times and SF Chron. (Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity)
Most voters pay no attention to city government until they're either personally impacted or half an hour before filling out their ballots.
Since it is very expensive to communicate one's platform and vision to the voters in even a district-wide campaign here (upwards of 150k) and over 1 million for a mayoral race, the union-backed candidates usually win. That's reinforced by the slate cards emailed or mailed to all union households.
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