Jean Quan

Jean Quan (Chinese: 關麗珍) (born October 21, 1949) was the 49th mayor of Oakland, serving from 2010 through 2014. Mayor Quan is the first woman and the first Asian American to be elected Mayor of Oakland. She did not get reelected in the 2014 Election and is working on the transition with her replacement, Libby Schaaf.

She makes appearances at numerous civic events such as Code for Oakland, the Oakland Indie Awards, and Oakland's Christmas parade, and occasionally enjoys a good stroll around Lake Merritt.

As Wikipedia will be happy to tell you, she has come under a great deal of criticism and faced a recall campaign for a variety of reasons including her lack of leadership, evasiveness and dishonesty about public safety in Oakland and her response to Occupy Oakland. She was also minorly ensnared in the lockpickgate scandal of early 2013.

On August 26, 2013, Quan and a bunch of other mayors met with President Barack Obama to discuss youth violence and ask for money. To learn more about it, read her newsletter. This is notable because we will probably hear about it FOREVER. (It's already catching flak.)

Believe it or not, she was once a student activist back at UC Berkeley.

In 2011, Quan's total compensation from the City was $204,781.¹

Quan beat Don Perata and Rebecca Kaplan in the 2010 mayoral election. This was the first election that used ranked choice voting, which is credited with part of the reason why Quan was able to succeed. Please read more about the Oakland 2010 mayoral election on Wikipedia.

2014 Mayoral Election

Please note:The OaklandWiki 2014 Mayoral Election Team is making every effort to keep the information on this page up-to-date and neutral as possible. In the spirit of a wiki, however, this page is fully editable. We encourage sourced/sourceable contributions above as well as respectful comments below.

Jean Quan ran unsuccessfully for reelection in 2014.

For info on Quan's positions, see Jean Quan's Positions.

Jean Quan candidate information page on oakmayor2014.com

Ballotpedia.

Endorsements

See http://www.jeanquanforoakland.org/supporters for complete list
SEIU Local 1021 (3rd choice- Siegel 1st, Kaplan 2nd)- note: listed on Supporters list with no qualifications, which makes some of the list a bit suspect.
District 1 CM Dan Kalb (see explanation here)
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee
Congresswoman Judy Chu
Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee
Assemblymember Tom Ammiano
Assemblymember Paul Fong
Former State Senator Carole Migden
Former Assemblymember Sandré Swanson
Former Assemblymember Joe Coto
County Superintendent of Education Sheila Jordan
Former Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker
Former Oakland Councilmember Henry Chang
Oakland School Boardmember David Kakishiba
Oakland School Boardmember Jumoke Hinton
Oakland School Boardmember Anne Campbell-Washington
Oakland School Boardmember Rosie Torres
Oakland School Boardmember Chris Dobbins
Former Oakland School Boardmember & Superintendent Gary Yee
Former Oakland School Boardmember Lucella Harrison
Peralta Community College Board Trustee Abel Guillén
Peralta Community College Board Trustee Nicky González-Yuen
Peralta Community College Board Trustee Cy Gulassa
County Board of Education Member Joaquin Rivera
San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar
Alameda Councilmember Stewart Chen
Alameda Councilmember Lena Tam
Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington
Berkeley Councilmember Jesse Arreguin
Michael Colbruno, Oakland Port Commission
Sokham Mao, Juvenile Justice Commission
Alameda County Building Trades Council
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 16
Ironworkers Union Local 378
Northern California Carpenters
Northern California Laborers Local 304
Sheet Metal Workers Local 104
Sprinkler Fitters Local 483
Wellstone Club (source)
Oakland Rising- 2nd choice (source)
League of Conservation Voters East Bay (1st- source)
Bay Area Reporter (sole endorsement- source)
East Bay Express (second- source)
Elaine Brown, tweet.

2014 Mayoral Election News:

8/4/14 Siegel wins the endorsement of Local 1021. Quan, long the favorite of the unions, came in third in their endorsements. Oakland: Dan Siegel is union's top choice for mayor

4/16/14 Robert Gammon writes an unfavorable editorial on East Bay Express regarding the latest news coming out of City Hall. Loss of two City Administrators within a month, misstatements about the status of the Coliseum City Project and poor performance at the Make Oakland Better Now Public Safety Debate. He basically thinks Jean Quan is going to have a tough re-election race. -> http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/a-rough-time-for-quan/Content?oid=3892646

9/24/13 Mayor Quan found unfavorable by Chamber of Commerce poll! Oakland Chamber of Commerce published a telephone survey of likely November 2014 Voters and Mayor Quan's voter confidence showed a decline. The poll asked voters if they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Jean Quan. Her favorable percentage points dropped from 36 in 2012 to 24. Her unfavorable percentage points increased from 53 points in 2012 to 62 in 2013. Also 69% of the participants stated that they are likely to vote for someone else next year. The poll asked several other questions regarding how people feel about Oakland and it's direction. Download the pdf file of the poll here: http://oaklandchamber.com/files/1245.pdf

10/17/13 The Oakland Tribune says Quan should not run for re-election: Citing the above Chamber of Commerce poll on voter dissatisfaction, Tribune asserts it was wrong in thinking she would be a great mayor. They are disappointed in her traveling, her public safety record and made jabs at the "100 Block" program. Read more here: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_24331054/oakland-tribune-editorial-oakland-mayor-jean-quan-should

10/20/13 East Bay Citizen: One Year in Advance, A Pivotal in Oakland's Mayoral Race Emerges. Steve Taveres notes some both to of the above articles on Jean Quan, but hands out a word of warning: "..before Quan haters rejoice, her demise is long from assured. In fact, she still sits ahead of the pack with both time on her side and the certainty many issues and controversies will arise from here to November 2014." Read more here -> http://www.ebcitizen.com/2013/10/one-year-in-advance-pivotal-moment-in.html

11/5/2013 Mayor Jean Quan responds to Oakland Tribune Editorial: She begins by saying "A mayor of Oakland cannot fear criticism -- it's a tough job that requires an open mind and thick skin. This newspaper recently published an editorial criticizing my job performance thus far, and I welcome this opportunity to discuss where we are on the issues that they and the people I represent care about most.." Read more here --> http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_24410132/jeam-quan-editorial-ignores-our-exceptional-progress-oaklandv=?3

1/31/13 Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's re-election hinges on crime Will Kane, SFGate.com

1/31/13 Oakland: Mayor Jean Quan still trails mayoral money race Matthew Artz, Contra Costa Times

Quan, May 2013. adapted by greenkozi from Quan's newsletter Jean Quan, February 22, 2013 at 12th Street Project
photo from Our Oakland

Music Videos

When Jean Quan was running for mayor in 2010 she made some (ill-advised?) rap videos:

2014 Mayoral Election

2014 Mayoral Election News:

Music Videos

More on Jean Quan

Things Quan Supports

Things Quan Opposes

Links and References