CC SA-NC-BY Our OaklandAnne Campbell Washington is the city council member representing District 4. She was inaugurated in January, 2015.

Previously she was the Oakland Unified School District board member for District 4 and the Assistant City Manager of Emeryville. See political positions here.

Contact Information:

(510) 238-7004.

[email protected].   

City webpage: http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CityCouncil/o/District4/index.htm

She has a newsletter. You can sign up here.

Bio

Current

Campbell Washington is the city council member representing District 4. She is on the board of three nonprofits: Children’s Fairyland, Girls Inc. of Alameda County, and Safe Passages. She is married to Glynn Washington. Their two children attend Montclair Elementary School.

On March 18, 2014, the Oakland Tribune reported that Campbell Washington felt compelled to run for the District 4 City Council seat after Libby Schaaf decided to vacate it in order to run for Mayor.

Past

Previously Washington was the former Chief of Staff to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan,  the former Chief of Staff to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, and the Former Chief of Staff to Oakland Fire Chief. She is a former Budget & Policy Analyst, Oakland Budget Office. Smartvoter info.

In June 2013, the Oakland Unified School District Board appointed Campbell Washington as the District 4 school board member by a 5-1 vote. She was one of 12 applicants for the position, which was vacated when board member Gary Yee was appointed Acting Superintendent of the District. At the time, Campbell Washington was Mayor Quan's Chief of Staff. Shewill serve the remainder of Gary Yee's term until January 5, 2015.

Campbell Washington had promised to commit herself to the School Board after her appointment and run for school board election. Eight months after her appointment, she filed papers to run for City Council.1

The Oakland Tribune described Campbell Washington as having "crafted a reputation as a policy expert who has worked in the trenches of local government, building strong relationships with diverse political players across Oakland."

Disputed role in police chief search

The Oakland Tribune, in a December 2013 report, cited anonymous sources in saying that Washington had spoken to a potential police chief candidate during the hiring process. The firm handling the search, Bob Murray & Associates, said it was cutting ties due to the disputed incident. The anonymous sources asserted that Washington “had a conversation with at least one applicant, who later complained about the nature of the discussion."

The East Bay Express reported in January 2013 that the anonymous allegations made no sense.

“Murray's resignation was curious, however, because Campbell Washington, who also serves on the Oakland school board, appears to have done nothing wrong. She talked to the potential candidate before the city's application deadline at the candidate's request. The candidate wanted to know whether Oakland was conducting a true search — or whether it was just for show and that (Interim Police Chief Sean) Whent was going to get the job. Campbell Washington urged the candidate to apply for the position because the search was real. In other words, it appears that Murray's complaints were unfounded — and a bit strange.

Nobody has revealed the anonymous sources in the Tribune article. However, the Express reported that Bob Murray & Associates had a conflict of interest with then Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana, who was trying to leave Oakland for another job. Murray was both working for Santana in Oakland at the same time that Murray was in charge of the Dallas city manager search -- a search that placed Santana as a finalist. The East Bay Express reported described it as such:

In recent months, Murray had developed a professional relationship with City Administrator Deanna Santana that raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. He seemed to acknowledge this fact when he stated in his resignation letter to Santana that he was also upset because his "integrity has been questioned" by some Oakland officials. Murray, it turns out, was running the search for the Dallas city manager job and had recommended Santana for that position after Santana had hired him to run Oakland's police chief search. Santana is now one of the finalists in Dallas.

See Oakland's search for a police chief to learn more about all this.

Endorsements

A full list of endorsements can be viewed here.

Campbell Washington is endorsed by California State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, California State Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Former State Senator Don Perata, Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland City Council President Pat Kernighan, Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb, Former Oakland City Councilmember Dick Spees, Former Oakland City Councilmember Henry Chang, Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Sheila Jordan, BART Director Rebecca Saltzman, Former OUSD School Board President and Interim OUSD Superintendent Gary Yee, OUSD School Board President David Kakishiba, OUSD School Board Member Jody London, OUSD School Board Member Jumoke Hinton Hodge, OUSD School Board Member Rosie Torres, OUSD School Board Member Chris Dobbins, and OUSD School Board Member James Harris. Campbell Washington is also endorsed by Oakland Firefighters, International Association of Firefighters, Local 55, Oakland Police Officers Association, Teamsters, Joint Council 7, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay, Alameda County Joint Labor Council, the John George Democratic Club.

More endorsements:

Endorsements made by Campbell Washington

Anne Campbell Washington endorses Mayor Quan for a second term. There's also endorsement reference from Mayor Quan's re-elect website. Campbell Washington also contributed maximum allowable amount ($700.00) to Mayor Quan's re-election campaign (Public record).

Campaign Differences

Campbell Washington's main rival was Jill Broadhurst. Most recently, both applied to fill the District 4 vacancy on the Oakland Unified School District board. Campbell Washington was chosen by the board on a 5-1 vote. Broadhurst, who also lost a 2010 campaign for the District 4 council seat despite generous funding from landlords, did not appear to get a single vote. Both the Oakland Tribune and The East Bay Express have described the race as having stark contrasts between the two.

News, Polls and Fundraising

10/24/2014 Labor Pours Big Money into D4 in Support of Campbell Washington
"Organized labor [Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO]  is continuing to spend heavily [in the D4] Council race. In Oakland's District 4 race between Annie Campbell Washington and Jill Broadhurst, city employee unions have spent more than $80,000 through independent campaign committees to elect Campbell Washington. The outside spending by labor...nearly matches the $83,271 that Broadhurst, has raised through Oct. 18. Campbell Washington so far has raised $100,707 in her own campaign fund. The contracts for both unions expire next year.  Broadhurst [has] the backing of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, but the business group so far hasn't created independent expenditure funds, which are not subject to contribution caps, to aid their campaigns."

10/08/2014
Unions invest heavily in support of Campbell Washington's campaign for City Council. Labor Unions invest $187,117 in support of Guillen and Campbell Washington.
"Unity PAC to Elect Abel Guillen and Campbell Washington for Oakland City Council, sponsored by Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO"

East Bay Express: Labor Spending Early for Guillen and Campbell Washington
"East Bay unions have opened their checkbooks early for two liberal Oakland City Council candidates — Abel Guillen and Annie Campbell Washington — spending more than $65,000 on ads so far for the candidates, campaign finance records show. The big spending in early October — a month before Election Day — may be an indication that labor is worried about these two council seats."

Inside Bay Area: Unions Spend Freely in Oakland Council Races
"Campaign finance reports filed this week show that the Alameda County Central Labor Council and SEIU Local 1021 have teamed up to spend more than $35,000 apiece on behalf of Annie Campbell Washington in District 4 and Abel Guillen in District 2"

The result of Labor's independent expenditure has prompted the Oakland's campaign committee to lift spending limits for all candidates in District 2 and District 4 Council races.

9/18/2014 LatestCity Council poll from Tagami 
Broadhurst 60% 
Campbell Washington 36%

9/10/2014 NewCity Council poll released today
Broadhurst 52%
Campbell Washington 37%

Zennie Abrahamvideo interview.
 

External links

Campaign website: http://www.annieforoakland.com/

Bio from Oakland Unified School District where Campbell Washington currently serves as an appointed School Board Member

Bio from Annie Campbell Washington for Oakland City Council campaign website

Annie Campbell Washington for Oakland City Council Facebook site

References

  1. Artz, Matthew. "Former Jerry Brown, Jean Quan staffer running for Oakland council."Oakland Tribune: Mar 18, 2014. "She [Anne Campbell Washington] had been expected to run for the district's school board seat that she was appointed to last year to replace Gary Yee, who became acting superintendent. But Campbell Washington, 43, recently told this paper that she felt compelled to enter the council race to succeed Libby Schaaf, who is running for mayor."
  2. 2014-05-28: "School board denies charter renewal for east Oakland charter school" - included here because Campbell was absent at this school board meeting.
  3. Campbell Washington was Quan's chief of staff when it became public that Quan's 100 blocks crime claim was not correct. After that became public, Quan amitted that it was incorrect and Campbell Washington confirmed this: "The correct data,Quan's Chief of Staff Anne Campbell Washington said, is during the past two years, 58 percent of Oakland's homicides and 42 percent of shootings occurred in nine of Oakland's 35 police beats. Those nine beats, which span well over 100 blocks, contain 10 high-crime neighborhoods that Campbell Washington said are the true focus of the mayor's plan. "I don't know where the 90 percent number came from," said Campbell Washington"http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_23449137/oakland-anne-washington-campbell-appointed-district-4-school
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