Corruption of Culture, Culture of Corruption

At an angry June 19 city council meeting on the coming year's budget, councilmember Quan and her allies suddenly produced almost $18 million in funds previously considered off-limits. The crew already had a complete list of things to spend the money on, infuriating councilmembers who were frozen out of the maneuver.

Quan tried to act as a defender of public cultural institutions, including the Chabot Space and Science Center up in the hills. This move was pure hypocrisy, considering that City Hall, with Quan in the thick of the action, halted progress on a branch library promised at 81st Avenue and Rudsdale. When announced in 2004, the library was to be completed by June 2007. The lot is vacant today, a blunt reminder of a broken commitment to one of the poorest parts of the city.

Youth in the deep east Oakland district do not have their promised library. Quan would no doubt invite them to get on a bus and go up to the Chabot center, as if that were any substitute for a neighborhood library that boys and girls could visit by walking or riding a bike.

Quan and crew suspended the branch library in 2005. They schemed to milk more money from taxpayers by putting the project in Measure N, a $148 million bond proposal devoted mostly to a palace library downtown. They made this decision after receiving a State grant specifically for 81st Avenue and Rudsdale. When voters rejected Measure N last November, the City was left with the obligation to build the 81st Ave branch, but no one knows when it will become a reality – two years late, three years late, or never.

Dear Ms. Quan, When will we get our library?

So far the story reveals the corruption of culture. Quan and allies have real nerve trying to pose the question as being for or against public cultural institutions.

Why, however, is Quan so devoted to Chabot center? Part of the answer is her culture of corruption. In order to campaign for Measure N, Quan raised $150,000, about half of it in major contributions by businesses holding City contracts or angling for them. The grass roots opposition spent almost nothing.

One contributor was Chris Townsend, owner of Townsend Public Affairs, a lobbying firm based in Irvine, California and active in Capitol politics. Townsend gave Quan $2,500 for her Measure N campaign in October 2006. That was enough for the council to renew his contract this Spring to lobby for the City of Oakland in Sacramento, for $120,000 a year. The plum was handed out despite the fact that Townsend's firm did nothing to prevent the City from dropping the ball on renewal of an anti-sideshow law last year.

Another client of Townsend is – you guessed it – the Chabot Space and Science Center. Or perhaps you did not realize that one local planetarium needs to spend $10,000 a year on Capitol lobbying, but hey, when buddies like Townsend give to Quan, their services become invaluable.

In Oakland, the corruption of culture equals the culture of corruption. Meanwhile, Oakland has half a police department, basic services keep shrinking, and public facilities like a branch library remain empty promises.