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Newcomer Kaplan Losing to Chang

By Faye Lederman

With three quarters of the votes tallied at midnight last night, Oakland City Council hopeful Rebecca Kaplan was trailing incumbent Henry Chang, with 43 percent to Chang's 56 percent. But Kaplan, a newcomer to Oakland politics, remained hopeful about her chances to surge ahead.

"Everyone's all up in a tizzy about the presidential race, but it's the people in local government who can really control things," said Kaplan, who has challenged Chang for the council's at-large seat.

At 30, Kaplan, has earned a BS from MIT, a Master's in Science from Tufts, and a law degree from Stanford. Kaplan said her age has proved an advantage in campaigning because she does not yet have family commitments competing for her time.

"To run a grassroots campaign against a big-money incumbent, you have to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Kaplan said.

So what's a nice well-educated Jewish lesbian doing running for Oakland City Council?

"I decided the local level was where people could have the most impact," Kaplan said recently in an interview. "Plus, I also think it's more fun--from a selfish perspective."

Since last November, Kaplan's idea of fun has been campaigning at full throttle. "Now I understand why they call it running for office," she has said to the crowd at events.

At Kaplan's first campaign house party last fall, then councilmember John Russo was among the guests. Russo offered Kaplan a job that evening, assuming she would not make it past the March primary.

She turned him down. Kaplan, a prominent Green party member who spoke at Nader's November 3rd Oakland rally, survived the early stages of the race by building broad-based support. She also garnered endorsements from several prominent Oakland officials, including nightclub owner Geoffrey Pete, who lost during the March primary for this seat.

Kaplan is a vocal critic of the two-party system, which she has said caters to corporate demands. She is
vehement about campaign finance reform, citing a need to decrease the influence of corporate money in
elections.

"I think it's hard for organizations to lobby councilmembers to do the right thing when they're
getting paid to do the wrong thing," said Kaplan. She recently decided to return a contribution from a small local company.

"It was a hotly debated issue," said Ralph Kanz, the campaign's co-coordinator. "But the check said incorporated on it so we couldn't take it. We're suffering financially because of it."

Fundraising is a major hurdle for Kaplan. While Chang spent $200,000 on his 1996 City Council campaign, much of that his own money, Kaplan's budget is a quarter of that.

She has fundraised through volunteer-sponsored house parties and special events, like a concert by the feminist band Rebecca Riots. "Everyone is a volunteer and everyone stretches every penny," Kaplan said. "We work harder and smarter."

In her campaign Kaplan emphasized improving public transit, advocating extended service hours and more bus shelters, complete with maps. She also called for additional affordable housing and a just-cause conviction policy. A proponent of what she describes as "environmental justice," she has sought to reduce toxic emissions, which she said are often highest in minority neighborhoods. She also promised to fight police crackdowns on raves and parties, and to promote nightlife by extending weekend bus service. "Someone said I was the pro-dance candidate of Oakland's future," she said.

As explanation, she cited her hero, Emma Goldman, who once said, "If I can't dance I don't want to be part of this revolution."

Neither does Kaplan. "The improved vision of our city includes jobs and living wages," she said, "but also art and music, culture and good food."

Kaplan said she tried to make winning a matter of meeting and talking with as many people as possible. "Face to face contact is our number one priority," she said. "We have to go everywhere and we are going everywhere." She printed her campaign literature in Spanish and Chinese, which Chang did not do. She focused on aggressive precinct walking, reaching over 200 of Oakland's 278 districts.

Kaplan said both her Jewish and lesbian identities have been key in informing her political ideology.

"In both of those cases, having been a member of the minority, working for social justice is most important," she said. "It has helped reinforce in me the idea of working against all forms of oppression."

Kaplan also acknowledged the unexpected advantage of being Jewish in the political sphere today. "Who ever thought of riding Lieberman's coattails?" she asked, adding that several pastors told her their Oakland congregations were supporting Gore's ticket.

Kanz, her campaign coordinator, said before the election that he expected Kaplan to win. "We're all amateurs at running campaigns," he said. "So the disadvantage and advantage is that we don't have a preset way of doing this. Maybe we'll be successful despite our lack of experience."