Opening Questions + Early Questions

 Live Blogging the #OakDebates

Opening Questions + Early Questions

Each candidate is given 2 minutes each for an opening statement. Brunner indicated that she would work proactively with the council to bring new life to the city attorney’s office. She cited her work on the council with the Oakland Amy Base and local hire requirements. She said that she has, “watched that  (the city attorney’s) office for 15 years, [and] its bureaucratic and much too slow with contracts” and that settlements arrive too late from the office, which costs the city “lots of money.” Brunner state that if elected she would work on consumer fraud, reducing elder abuse, she indicated that she would be an “activist attorney” and will “help make that office change.”

Parker, highlighted that she was the first in her family to attend college (at Harvard) and in her one year in the position she has worked to improve public safety, streamline services, and act as watchdog “to ensure fair and honest practices in City Hall.” Ms. Parker highlighted that in her short tenure her office has, “shut down two hotels [hotbeds of prostitution], cut cost of outside counsel 40%, despite staff cuts of 1/3.”