Extra

Before the election, on an internet platform called Next Door, someone who claimed to be "Alex Goldman" kept calling all the candidates not running on the Berkeley Rent Board's tenant slate "liars." The details he let slip in his inflammatory outbursts made it clear that he was a member of the BTU Steering Committee. After the election the writer deleted all the accusatory posts. 

Most would dismiss this incident, arguably not uncommon. People lie about who they are online and those who participate are at least well warned in advance that controls for truth are nonexistent or easily sidestepped. Elon Musk's Twitter Blue verification is famously a comic disaster. But this incident implicates someone in a leadership position. 

But aside from the internet's ragged role in exacerbating all-too-human prevarication, Berkeley used to have real open conventions for the Rent Stabilization Board with rip-snorting speeches, great food, and live music. If you wanted to run, or just had something to say, you were welcomed. These days if you even show public support for an independent candidate you're likely to get a phone call from the insiders trying to discourage any unsanctioned competition, as I have. The slate candidates are pressured to take a "loyalty oath" to belong. 

In recent years the slate based selections have gone so far as to haul in candidates in from other cities rather than open their ranks to the enormous, diverse group of Berkeley-based voices who dedicate their lives to civil and tenants' rights issues year after year. These people certainly are fresh faces, and this practice may be legal, but it insults those whose institutional memories and independent spirits play an important role in policy. 

Each candidate should be considered independently for their merits. This time, the voters did so, and appear to have elected independent as well as slate-backed voices. It is unfortunate that so many people have been treated by the Rent Board's slate supporters dismissively. But we have an opportunity now to come together. Every community member deserves to be heard.