The economic news from City Hall is worse than expected. The Oakland deficit has grown in the first quarter to $19 million. Even with the passage of the July tax increases, the City is still facing a deep financial hole. It will take an extra effort by the creative minds in City Hall to come up with a solution. 

Many Council members are resistant to short term solutions, such as selling City assets, to balance the budget. Others suggest that the City should focus on revenue collection and government efficiencies to help balance the budget. The police department is doing its part by lowering its overtime bill by 30% this year. We need more such internal efficiencies to weather this severe crisis. 

Speaking of the police, Chief Anthony Batts continues to make a great impression whereever he goes. He is in the middle of touring various Oakland neighborhoods and meeting with community groups. He is making an effort to share his vision for improving the Oakland Police Department. 

One of the things he stresses is that the department is broken and its leaders need to be accountable to the City and the public in general. The second goal is to ensure that the police are responsive to the City’s need for immediate and basic safety. Thirdly, we must attack the true root cause of crime in Oakland: the extensive drug trade. 

The police chief has pointed out that Oakland is the gateway of drug distribution in the Bay Area, the main source of our enormous murder and crime activity. He has plainly stated that the Oakland Police Department does not have the resources to combat such a large regional problem. He is committed to bringing other State and Federal resources into Oakland to combat our drug trade, thereby lowering crime. 

Chief Batts understands the link between crime, job creation and quality public school education in Oakland. These issues are inter-dependant and must be resolved for things to improve. I am sure it is the first time that many Oakland citizens have ever seen their police chief so open and committed to improving the quality of life in Oakland.

There appears to be more to the picture regarding the Oakland Police Officers Association’s endorsement of Don Perata for mayor. Apparently, the endorsement was announced at a community forum that had been established by the mayor to introduce the police chief to neighborhood volunteers. At this City function, the OPA announced their endorsement, thereby causing candidate Councilwoman Jean Quan to request acknowledgment and an opportunity to speak. This was followed by several City and community officials stating their discomfort with this partisan display at a City function. 

Our former mayor, now attorney general, and governor hopeful Jerry Brown is running into big problems. As you might recall, his communications director resigned when it was disclosed that he was secretly taping, without authorization, reporters’ phone calls. The attorney general’s internal investigation concluded that no criminal activity had occurred, even though California law clearly makes it a felony to tape someone’s conversation without authorization. 

This issue has blown up for Mr. Brown because he is currently investigating ACORN and a movie producer for the very same thing. The producer, secretly and without authorization, taped an ACORN representative allegedly giving advice to clients on how to break the law. 

If Mr. Brown pursues criminal charges against the producer, and not the communications director, then it is seen as favoritism and a cover up. If he refuses to indict the producer, then he will catch the wrath of ACORN supporters who felt that they were set up in an unlawful manner, and not protected by the Attorney General. 

Mr. Brown has decided to request that the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office conduct an independent investigation of his spokesperson's fiasco. No word as of yet on what he will do regarding ACORN vs. Movie Producer quandary. 

One sad note of acknowledgment, this last week, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller passed away unexpectedly. Judge Miller had served on the Alameda County bench for over 20 years and had distinguished herself as a very competent jurist. For many years, she was the probate judge and I had the opportunity to appear before her hundreds of times. I always found her to be very fair, engaged and thorough in her judicial assignments. A very good judge will be sorely missed, but more importantly, a dear friend will never be forgotten. 

Finally, this is Big Game weekend! That’s right, Cal vs. Stanford at Stanford. Even though the Cal Weenies, oh, um, I mean Bears, have won the axe for the last five years, Stanford is coming off victories over Oregon and USC, which beat Cal! This week is the opportunity to pull for the great school of your choice. GO CARDINALS! 

Clinton Killian is an attorney in downtown Oakland, an Oakland resident, a former Oakland Planning Commissioner. He can be reached at: (510) 625-8823 or email: clintonkillian@yahoo.com.