Stop, Drop and Roll

31 January 2007 | Alameda Community | John Knox White

This afternoon, the Hospital Board will interview the top 10 candidates for filling the hospital board seat vacated by Lena Tam when she was elected to the City Council.

13 interested individuals applied, showing to some extent that the minimum notification procedures for filling vacant seats is inadequate. Though some current applicants appear to have been aware of the vacancy, but had thought that there would be many applicants for the opening and chose not to apply in the first round.

There are some interesting arguments out there, previously covered, but they are still so ridiculous as to need additional discussion. They can be viewed here. Essentially, Don Roberts is making the argument that all that is needed to sit on the hospital board is a desire to run for office, nothing else matters. Don takes it to the streets, tossing off 10-year old hip-hop lingo like he’s been watching reruns of Flavor of Love while kickin’ it with his homies. (It brings a whole new meaning to “Boyz n the hood” with Don waxing poetic as Jason “Furious” Styles). But let’s let furious do the talking: “they dissed Alameda voters who gave Tom Pavletic the most votes among the losing candidates in last year’s election.” (Ah the “first among the losers” argument).

Neither Don, nor his guest writers, appear to see the dichotomy in proclaiming that the board is “in essence, saying to the Alameda voters, we know better than you who should be on our Board.” It’s interesting that the board should feel compelled to appoint someone they felt was inappropriate in the first round of appointments AND has lost two popular elections. With less than 20% of the vote in 2006, the board would be absolutely be ignoring the voice of voters if they even considered Mr. Pavletic who is a well-known critic of the hospital’s existence.

What’s surprising is the selection of Matt Reid, who received the fewest votes of all the candidates, but perhaps the board felt that as an unknown the vote was more a reflection of name recognition (or lack thereof) than a vote against the candidate specifically. Unlike a known entity like Pavletic, with a candidate who is completely unknown, it’s much harder to discern what the will of the voters was.

That said, much more appalling is the completely unsubstantiated idea that the fix was in to give Rob Bonta a seat on the hospital board, and the downright nasty accusation that a vote for Bonta is proof of such a conspiracy. The board was right to open the application process, but the decision was not a reflection on the sole candidate-applicant. Bonta is an excellent candidate and if appointed will serve the city’s interests well.

There appear to be a number of solid candidates who will be interviewed today. The board’s decision will be made with the best interests of the hospital in mind. I would imagine that they will be weary of wanna-be micromanagers (I have no idea which candidates are in this camp).

Hopefully, the hospital board will do the right thing and not succumb to the petty complaints of a perennial curmudgeon. It would be easy to dismiss a candidate in order to remove any possible doubt as to the selection process. But to do so, gives the decision power to the people who lob inappropriate, unsubstantiated accusations, based on conspiracy theories that have not a shred of evidence.