Race for Alameda City Council Stays Ugly

For those of you who don't follow Alameda city council races closely, be warned that there is plenty of drama this time to go around.

For example, many charge that the investigation into Councilmember Lena Tam (who is up for re-election on Nov. 2) was politically motivated, designed to discredit her name and prevent her re-election.

In response to the manner the allegations against her were handled, council candidate Jeff Mitchell called on Mayor Beverly Johnson (who is term limited as mayor but is now running now for a city council seat) to apologize to Tam.  Mitchell also called for the resignation of City Attorney Teresa Highsmith and Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant. 

But a more recent incident takes the OMG nature of Alameda politics to a whole new level. On Sunday, city council candidate Adam Gillitt got into such a loud and heated exchange with Florence Hoffman, an 80-year-old volunteer at an Alameda Democratic Club table at Saturday's Webster Street Jam, that police were called. 

The Gillitt/Hoffman exchange left eyewitnesses shocked and surprised. Michele Ellson of The Island has a helpful play-by-play of how the events unfolded and you can read eyewitness accounts and comments by Gillitt and others on Lauren Do's blog posts here and here. 

Corrected and updated Sept. 16, 2010.