Yar's Voting Guide

Oakland, California, June 2018

intro

Now with color-coded results

US

California

East Bay / Alameda County / Oakland

Also, does anybody want to run for sheriff? Now’s a good time.

the great gay judge debate

Superior Court Judge #11: Karen Katz ho boy. this deserves its own section…

Alameda County Superior Court has dozens of judges. When they come up for renewal every few years, they usually stay off the ballot, unless someone decides to pick that judge in particular and run a campaign against them.

Judge Kolakowski is a transgender woman, and Judge Flanagan is a cis lesbian. All the other judges are straight and cis.

Flanagan has a reputation for being man-hating and racist. I am sure that the man-hating part is based in part on hateful stereotypes about lesbians. And I am sure that the racism part is real. She is a “former-prosecutor-turned-domestic-violence-survivor’s advocate” which screams carceral feminism.

A defense attorney, Karen Katz, who is also a bisexual woman, is challenging Flanagan. Katz has a history of personal grudges against Flanagan and has even faced her in court, but she says her campaign is focused on bail reform and restorative justice. Meanwhile Flanagan and her supporters are calling Katz’s campaign homophobic, which sounds a lot like bi erasure.

I think Katz should have run against a different judge. I’m sure Flanagan is terrible, and I’m sure there are even worse judges out there. The decision to run a dirty campaign distracts from any systemic issues she claims to care about. At worst it inspires conspiracy theories from cis lesbians. At best it’s a poor, shortsighted, almost tragic way to start a career.

I’ll vote for Katz, but the whole thing is a mess IMO.

other voting guides

official results