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Oakland City Hall

Police, platitudes and malapropisms dominated last night's Oakland mayor's debate featuring nine candidates, who barely fit on the stage at the Kaiser Center.

Don Perata made news by actually showing up at the League of Women Voters' debate. But the former state senator, who's leading in the polls and has studiously avoided other debates, showed little fight and was almost listless as he avoided saying much of anything of substance. 

Perata did come down on the side of the police department when the candidates were asked how he would pay for Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts' request for 905 police officers. He said he would cut City Hall staff to save money.

"If he says he needs 900 police officers, I am going to believe him," said Perata. "There must be in City Hall enough jobs less important than police officers."  

City Council Member Jean Quan, who is polling a close second, surprised the full house by saying that she now does not support Measure X, the unpopular parcel tax ballot measure that would fund public safety. She had previously voted to put the measure before voters in November.

"I was surprised," said Rebecca Kaplan, a City Council member who is in third place in polling, after the debate. "I voted against it." 

Both Quan and Kaplan said that they would attack police pensions to help cut costs and keep police on the street. The city laid off 80 police officers earlier this year to help close the city's enormous budget deficit 

Joe Tuman, former TV political analyst, said he would encourage police officers to take early retirement and then rehire them part-time. Tuman, a first-time candidate who kept saying, "there's meat on these bones," actually emerged as a crowd favorite.

Marcie Hodge, a community college trustee, was by far the most nervous. She misspoke several times, saying that "as your mayor I would reach out to silcon [sic] types of companies" to improve Oakland's economy. She also promised "to ensure that human possibility can truly be human possibility" as mayor.

Lionel Larry "LL" Young, Jr., a realtor, was the most persistent in his messaging, saying to "Vote for LL" each time he was asked his opinion on Oakland's measures, such as X, V or BB.  Young also repeatedly said that Oakland should start its own "municipality" when he meant utility. 

The most popular portion of the night was when all candidates were asked questions that they could only answer with 'yes' or 'no.' As a result, every candidate said that as mayor they would attend every City Council meeting, something neither Mayor Ron Dellums or Jerry Brown did. Every one said that they would also take a pay cut. 

Almost every candidate supported Measure V, the pot tax measure, except for Greg Harland. He said he knew his position would be unpopular in Oakland, a city that enjoys getting high and getting its revenue from the purple. 

As for the next time you'll see Don Perata at a debate? Not soon. Perata said he wouldn't attend a  future debate of candidates that were not polling over 10 percent. Quan said she would and Kaplan said maybe. 

The Green Party's Don MacLeay and perennial candidate Arnie Fields, rounded out the the very full dais. 

Update (2:04 pm)

While Perata didn't want to face off in a debate with the top contenders alone, he will be at an Oakland mayoral forum hosted by Temple Sinai next Monday, his campaign spokesman said. Check out the details here.