Fond of law, order, and coal. 420 not ok.
Ignacio De La Fuente was relevant in Oakland politics until a decade ago, when he left his D5 seat to challenge Rebecca Kaplan’s at-large seat. It didn’t work. But with the help of Big Coal he wants to return to Oakland politics again now! He plans to increase funding to police; it is unclear if he still would like to attempt to close all the dispensaries again.
De La Fuente will do “whatever it takes to increase the number of police officers”, and to sweep away homeless encampments. He also brags about some of his past accomplishments:
It’s not all hostile to residents though, some stuff he takes credit for:
Weirdly he hasn’t taken credit for his fight against marijuana legalization:
“I promise to increase the number of police officers, but I will give them the resources that they need to help them justly do their job; and, above all, I will provide them with the backup and political support they need and deserve to provide legitimate protection for our residents and our businesses.” (“Why I Run For Mayor of Oakland,” Oakland Post, Aug. 10, 2022)
At the August 30 Center for Elders’ Independence candidate forum, he advocated for increasing surveillance access for police, specifically by installing cameras.
At the Chinatown mayoral candidates forum, he indicated that he wanted “old-fashioned policing” rather than an approach to public safety that focuses on violence prevention and MACRO’s intervention in low-level conflicts.
De La Fuente has stated that he believes Howard Terminal is an appropriate place for a ballpark, that the Port will not need to give up any functionality to accommodate it, and that the City is delaying “for whatever reason”. Regarding unions’ concerns about the project, he said the Port will still be able to move cargo and has looked at how it will handle the complication of additional traffic to the area–”industry are on board because they accept we can’t mitigate all the issues”.
Donors include a big coal developer, real estate companies, and landlords who are locally famous for extra-sketchy landlording practices.