HOME THE PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE PERATA IN THE NEWS THOUGHTS AND ANALYSES WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING THE FEDERAL CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION
THE OAKLAND SCHOOL TAKEOVER PERATA AND THE POLICE LAYOFFS BUYING THE OAKLAND MAYOR'S RACE THE VIDEOS POST-ELECTION COVERAGE STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY

An independent website not affiliated with any political officeholder or candidate or political campaign


 

A Final Word

Since the defeat of Don Perata and the election of Jean Quan as the next mayor of Oakland, California, we've been asked two main questions: how much effect did the Anybody But Perata website have on the election, and what will the Anybody But Perata website do now.

For the first question—how much effect did the Anybody But Perata website have on the 2010 Oakland mayoral election?—we have no idea. Based upon the statements of people who participated in the election or observed it as reporters, we believe the website had some effect. But how much? Who knows?

The real question is, would Jean Quan have been elected without the help of our website? We think that's an impossible question to answer and, in any event, it doesn't really matter. Jean Quan was elected. Don Perata was defeated. That's all that is important.

The second question is even easier to answer. What will the Anybody But Perata website do now? Absolutely nothing. While individuals involved in the creation and operation of the website will move on to other things, including political action activities in Oakland, the website itself served its purpose with the defeat of Don Perata.

While we briefly considered creating an analysis of the election, we finally decided that this was beyond the website's mandate. While some of the individuals involved in the website may participate in such an analysis, the website itself will not.

Following her victory, mayor-elect Jean Quan said that she believed the 2010 Oakland mayoral election will be studied for many years to come. We agree with her, and that is one of the reasons why we have decided to leave the Anybody But Perata website archived online. Every political candidate and every political campaign are unique, but we hope that the Anybody But Perata website can serve as a guideline for how a powerful politician with enormous financial resources and an auroa of "inevitability" can be defeated. While the Anybody But Perata site was hard-hitting, we are most proud of the fact that we never hit below the belt. We did not resort to rumor, gossip, or innuendo. The information published on the website was taken from articles written by reputable reporters and previously published by reputable media outlets, and our opinions given or the YouTube ads created by the site were all based upon those facts. While the Anybody But Perata website never pretended we were balanced, we believe we were fair. And so we believe this shows that one can stand and prevail in a tough political battle without sacrificing their principles or ideals.

For everything else, we leave the verdict to history and—of course—to the decision of the citizens who voted in the 2010 Oakland mayoral election.

With this, we sign off.

Anybody But Perata Website
Oakland, California
November 18, 2010

Return to top

 

 

 

 
 

 


You can contact the Anybody But Perata For Mayor website at admin@notdon.org