Oakland Tribune Outtakes

One reason I’m reviving this blog is that, even without a recall, there’s going to be way more candidates running for elected office in Oakland this year than we can find space to profile in print.

The latest entrant is Richard Raya, who required a correction from your’s truly before he even entered the very full field to replace Councilwoman Jane Brunner. Raya is the policy director at California Forward — a group advocating government reform. I wrote recently that he was the “police” director.

Click the link below for lots more about Raya. He’s got a pithy slogan “Love this Town,” a big font size, lots of nonprofit experience and four boys. He’s also got two french mastiffs, which I pictured looking like over-sized poodles, but actually look like the toughest things to come out Fifth Republic since Andre the Giant

Raya is one of seven declared candidates in a field that includes BART Director Bob Franklin, Community policing leader Don Link, council aide Joanne Karchmer, and Democratic Party activist Dan Kalb.

Kalb could become the first politician to run unsuccessfully in both San Francisco and Oakland within a 10-year period. He moved to Rockridge shortly after losing a supervisor’s race to Ross Mirkarimi.

Raya