A 2008 yard sign A non-commercial yard sign, circa 2006

Robert Roy successfully ran for ASUCD Senate on the Friends Urging Campus Kindness slate in the Winter 2005 ASUCD Election. In Winter of 2006, likely due to disagreement regarding the unqualified candidates issue of the fall 2005 election, Rob renounced his affiliation with the Friends slate and declared himself an independent. One of the novel ways in which he campaigned was a video of him rapping about the issues that faced the current ASUCD Senate and his platform points. He has since stated: "I feel guilty about some of the stuff in that video, now being a senator and having the gift of hindsight. I was a little harsh. But at that time ASUCD was not at its best in reaching out to the students or having the students best interests in mind. But I tried to be fair".

Rob was a candidate in the 2008 City Council Election. He spent less than $250 on his campaign and ended up in last place, receiving 4,504 votes (which does mean that 31.8% of people voting, voted for Rob). His website is VoteRobRoy.org. Rob ran for City Council in the 2006 City Council Election and lost, getting 5.58% of the vote.

Rob officially ran for ASUCD Senate as an independent in the Fall 2006 ASUCD Election, but was eliminated in the second round, due to telling people to vote for other candidates, as was the intention of his candidacy. All of the candidates he endorsed that were running on a slate got into office.

Rob also ran for ASUCD President with Arlen Abraham as his VP in Winter of 2007 as part of the Don't vote for Rob and Arlen campaign. Their intent was to increase voter turn out as well serve as an example of single transferable voting being successful. The pair also endorsed six Senate candidates (four of which won), and the LEAD Executive ticket, which was also victorious. Voter Turnout was 22% so the Unitrans Fee Referendum, on the ballot that election, met the necessary 20% threshold to be implemented.

Rob Roy also coined Little Tomato as a nick-name for Davis.

Campaign Literature

Biography

Rob Roy at Delta of Venus, emceeing for Jason Webley (Oct. 2005).

Rob Roy is an integral part of Davis culture and lore. He worked in management at the downtown Ben & Jerry's from 2002 to 2009 (at one point Rob Roy was a District Manager in charge of dozens employees in Berkeley, Concord, Roseville, and Sacramento), he was a DJ on KDVS, and, well, he wears an impressive variety of hats.

Rob Roy was extensively involved with promoting and booking local music. Rob Roy was a DJ on KDVS for a number of years, as well as the Underwriting Director for KDVS for the 2003-2004 school year. Rob used to host concerts featuring a variety of local and nationally-touring acts at several of the houses that he lived during his time in the Little Tomato, including his infamous times living at The Pirate Ship, The Bombshelter, and The Turtle House. In living at the Bombshelter, he became friends with his neighbor, Elise Kane, who ended up co-starring in his long-lost music video, filmed at The Grad, for his music act. The friends were likely seen at some point singing karaoke with Lamar Heystek at Cantina. They famously sang a karaoke duet of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" at G Street Pub.

Rob began to learn guitar and accordion in late 2005 and started using the pseudonym Sterling Riot to perform around town as both a solo act and as the lead of a band of the same name. The name was playfully taken from an incident involving police and some student rabblerousers at the Sterling Apartments in 2004. Rob played venues such as the basement of F & 6th, Bistro 33 (during Poetry Night open mics), and Delta of Venus (for a Neil Diamond covers night, for example.) As a band, Sterling Riot was comprised of a revolving lineup, featuring 4-7 members to create a dance-folk-punk sound. Sterling Riot performed at Delta of Venus, Bistro 33, Sophia's and even Freeborn Hall. Rob sang and played guitar, banjo, and accordion. He has performed in cities as distant as Seoul, South Korea.

Rob appeared in drag in several of Delta Lambda Phi's annual Davis is Burning shows.

Rob often made bold-sounding comments in public such as "Chipotle is only half a shade browner than Taco Bell" or referring to Picnic Day as "White Family Day" (people "genetically predisposed to be oppressive"). Some found the comments outrageous and politically incorrect, while others see them as lighthearted yet blunt humor. Rob was also known to target Sodexho for its corporate practices (link no longer active). In a gesture shown to the ASUCD Senate, Roy gladly accepted the free meal given to the ASUCD Senate on its final day of budget hearings. This, only one day following his rant in budget hearings in regards to Sodexho's profit from Picnic Day. Would one consider this a successful buy-off?

Rob is an accomplished and active poet. He was responsible for the creation of the (now-defunct) Write Club. He frequently performed his music and poetry at Poetry Night. You can find some of his poetry on the official Write Club site.

Rob Roy is an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. Back in 1998, during his senior year of high school, he was a founding member and president of the North Area Teen Center in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento. Additionally, he was president of his 6th grade Sunday school class.

"Rob is a helluva smart guy, a capable guy, a talented guy, a courageous guy, a fun guy, and a nice guy." -an independent opinion

Departure from Davis

Farewell book for RobRob spent 10+ years in town and had become a local celebrity, essentially. He had outgrown Davis, however, through all his wonderful exploits and knew he wanted to travel the world. He signed up to teach English in Korea, ultimately staying in the country for about three years. Following his Korean adventure, he traveled through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and other areas before undertaking a new assignment teaching English in the United Arab Emirates, where he still resides as of Feb. 2015. Davis friend and former neighbor Elise Kane knew that for an epic figure such as Rob, there needed to be an equally-epic departure. Hence, she solicited the parting words of 40+ friends of Rob's from around town and presented Rob with a custom memory book, made from a repurposed vintage vinyl record compendium, containing said poems, quotes, and essays from Rob's pals.

Photos

Rob circa Spring 2003Rob circa Spring 2005 at ASUCD budget hearings

More information

Interesting Comments from People's Vanguard of Davis: 7/1/08 12:42 AM Anonymous said... "Before the last election Rob Roy was seen tagging along with Mayor Sue Greenwald precinct walking; she'd do most of the talking and then he'd chime in with supportive comments."

7/1/08 8:34 AM Anonymous said... "Probably because you can not get a word in edgewise anywhere around Sue Greenwald."

10/10/08 6:11 PM Anonymous said... "I saw Rob winning trivia night on Monday... I think he wins every Monday, along with the faculty, at Bistro33. Our team did tie his for first though, but lost the tiebreaker."

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