Zusha Elinson/The Bay Citizen

Ken Bukowski outside of Emeryville Town Hall on his way to campaign

Ken Bukowski helped transform Emeryville from a polluted industrial backwater into a shopping destination with stores like Ikea and a home for innovative companies like Pixar. Once a popular nightclub impresario, he first ran for City Council in 1987 and has been reelected for six consecutive terms. 

But personal troubles have left Bukowski destitute, unable even to land a job at Target, and alone as he tries to win a seventh term. 

Bukowski's long-time supporters, led by the powerful Emeryville Chamber of Commerce that he founded 25 years ago, have turned against him. Following a very public downward spiral, including his admission to The Bay Citizen last year that he had used methamphetamine, the city's business and political leaders are working together to end his political career. 

“We feel he's committed a number of missteps: everything from the admitted drug use to being fined,” said Bob Canter, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “We weren't able to support him again. We felt we needed someone who can reflect well on the city and frankly not be an embarrassment to the city.”

In recent years, Bukowski has been fined by the state for using campaign funds to pay his mortgage; censured by the City Council for taking a salary from a city contractor; and investigated for taking personal loans from Emeryville developers to keep himself afloat. 

Three seats are being contested on Emeryville's City Council. The Chamber is backing two incumbents, Ruth Atkin and Nora Davis, and a popular newcomer Jacqueline Asher. Kurt Brinkman, a fellow councilmember,has formed an independent expenditure committee to support the three women and lob hit pieces at Bukowski.

“How can I be an embarrassment?” said an indignant Bukowski this week. “Tell me something I did wrong on the job. If you liked me all these years, why don’t you like me anymore?”

Bukowski, 59, has few endorsements and even fewer donors, but he still can’t be counted out in a city where less than a thousand votes can win an election. He’s a dogged campaigner, knocking on doors, making calls, and personally folding thousands of pieces of campaign literature for the Nov. 8 election.

There’s also another reason why it will be hard to pry the City Council spot from Bukowski's hands: it may be the only job he can get. 

Since his troubles began to surface, Bukowski has had a hard time finding work. At one point, he tried to get a job as a bus driver for the Emery Go Round, the city’s free shuttle, even though he hit and killed a security guard in a much-publicized 2007 incident while driving home from a city meeting. He didn’t get the job.

Most recently, he was turned down for low-paying job at a new Target store, which happens to be located in a shopping center that Bukowski and his fellow councilmembers supported. He lives on the $1,100 he makes as a councilman and the charity of an old friend, who allows him to stay in an apartment free of charge.

It wasn’t always like this.

In the 1980s, Bukowski owned the most popular black nightclubs in the East Bay, Silk’s, which featured such A-list acsts as MC Hammer and Rick James. He had a second home in Las Vegas.

Even after Bukowski’s fortunes began to decline, the city’s business leaders continued to back him politically and financially. For example, John Gooding, an Emeryville consultant and power broker, spent $900 on clothes to wear during meetings with officials in Washington, D.C.

The Chamber of Commerce kept endorsing him in spite of some concerns four years ago, Gooding said.

“During the discussion about the endorsements, there were a significant number of people who said we just gotta stop this,” said Gooding, who is a member of the Chamber.

“Then one member of the board said ‘He may be a mess, but he’s our mess.'” 

Now Gooding is helping to raise money for the independent political group that sent out a campaign mailer that reads, “Sometimes politicians become so corrupted, they are no longer fit to serve the public. That’s the case with Ken Bukowski.”

Brinkman, the councilmember, said the mailer is meant to educate voters in a city where there is no newspaper.

“There's two Kens -- there’s a Ken that’s brilliant, and there’s a Ken that is very self-serving,” Brinkman said. “When you listen to him and you don’t know the history, then you’re probably going to vote for him.”

Adithya Sambamurthy/The Bay Citizen

Ken Bukowski at City Hall in Emeryville, where he has been a City Council member for nearly a quarter of a century

Madison Marquette, Wareham Development and other businesses that used to bankroll Bukowski’s campaigns helped finance the hit piece against him and are supporting his opponents. “After twenty years of dealing with these people, I cannot get a return phone call,” said Bukowski.

There are a few who have not turned on Bukowski publicly. Michael Webber, an attorney who is also running for City Council, lent Bukowski $2,000 for his campaign.

“I want to run to win, but I also think what they are doing to Ken is unfair,” said Webber. “This is America. We believe in second chances.”

Ken Schmier, an attorney who invented the Fast Pass, has helped Bukowski over the years. Bukowski lost his house to Schmier, who had given him a $50,000 loan. Now Schmeir lets him stay rent-free in a ramshackle apartment in the back.

“I think he's been a responsible councilmember, and I recognize that he has personal problems,” said Schmier. “It’s unlikely I’m going to get much rent for it -- and I just don't have the heart to put him out.”

Since last year’s interview with The Bay Citizen, Bukowski sold his SUV and bikes and walks everywhere. He appears to be in better health. Bukowski said that interview hurt him politically.

“How do you deal with being classified a drug addict when you’re not using?” Bukowski said. “Have these people never used recreational drugs? I mean give me a break.”

Aside from his candidacy, Bukowski is pushing a measure that would outsource legal services for the city. His opponents call it a shot at the city attorney with whom Bukowski has clashed. Bukowski says it will save the city money.

In last year’s interview, Bukowski was contemplating quitting the council. No longer.

“I have my heart and soul in this,” he said. “Why am I going to walk away after 24 years?”