The runoff election between
Pat Kernighan and
Aimee Allison in Oakland's City Council District 2 has been on my mind all weekend. I drove down
Trestle Glen Road Friday night, and the only yard signs I saw were in support of Pat Kernighan. On MacArthur boulevard there was an apartment building sporting easily 10 Aimee Allison signs.
Yesterday I walked past Allison's head quarters on Grand Avenue to get to our bank, and past Kernighan's HQ on Lakeshore Blvd. to get to Arizmendi. It felt just like a neighborhood election should, with supporters wearing t-shirts and carrying clipboards. With candidates and volunteers working the crowd at the farmer's market.
The thing is, Pat Kernighan wanted no part of it.
Just before the election earlier this year, the
Oakland Tribune ran an
article that included this paragraph:
Late Tuesday night, as results showed Kernighan with a substantial lead, she said she was pleased with the figures but still concerned about a runoff. "I would much rather have it decided now, a runoff is such a waste of time and money,'' she said.
The runoff might have been avoided if the constituents of district 2 had voted for Pat Kernighan in sufficient numbers. We didn't. Therefore the election isn't a waste of time, but rather part of the due process of becoming our duly elected representative.
After the last two presidential elections, I find it baffling that anyone affiliated with the Deomcratic party would begrudge an aspect of the election process. That they would characterize any aspect of the process as a waste of time. Of course, outside of the page listing her various endorsements, the word 'democrat' doesn't appear on Pat Kernighan's website.
