Dear Meg Whitman

I am writing you because I have several concerns about how you are running your campaign here in the lovely city of Oakland, California. I’m not one to mince words and beat around the bush so lemme just get to the point. Why do you have an office in Oakland when you 1-Put up insulting signs that call our collective character into question 2-you and your staff are never there?

You’ve had a storefront window for almost two months in one of the most populated sections of the city  (Lakeshore Ave) and not once have we seen you. I for one was kinda stoked when I first saw your office. Yes, we all know Oakland is heavily Democratic, but I figured here’s someone who may be the next governor of California reaching out to engage ALL of us. I was looking forward to stopping through to let you know some of the challenges we here in ‘Tha Town’ are facing. But alas..No Meg. All we got was this store front with your name plastered all over the windows and us being relegated to seeing you through those endless commercials that run every 5 minutes on TV.

Today I walked by your office and it was closed once again. I could see your name from like two blocks away, but as I drew closer I noticed someone had posted up a bunch ‘Oakland Loves Jerry Brown’ flyers all over your window. It wasn’t a just few flyers, it was a lot, which meant someone either posted them in broad daylight and no one cared to stop them or it happened at night and had sat there all day. In either case it’s not a good look Ms Whitman. It’s not a good look at all. It was an indication that you’re an absentee candidate.

Seeing those signs made me wonder if this is reflective of what would be your governing style. Are you the type to throw lots of money at a problem or people or make symbolic gestures but not stick around long enough to sincerely engage them? Or is it an Oakland thing? Do you not care enough to chop it up with folks on this side of town?

Maybe we’re a bit sensitive here in Oakland Ms Whitman, but it’s hard not to conclude you have disdain for the city especially when we recall what you did when you first set up shop. Who can forget the infamous  ‘You are under 24 hour surveillance’ signs posted all over your window? Hard working, good people in Oakland were made to feel like criminals plus our intelligence was insulted because you spelled the word ‘surveillance’ wrong (survellaince). The final insult was noting that there have been businesses on Lakeshore that have been robbed, but none of them opted to put up ridiculous signs. They seem to understand, that you don’t smash on an entire community for the acts of a scant few. The signs only changed when residents started posting the picture and a local SF Chronicle blogger Zinnie Abraham posted a video. There was never an apology for your transgressions and no visit to speak with the people.

In any case Ms Whitman, you should know with an unemployment rate hovering between 10-12% and an even higher under-employed rate there are lots of folks including myself who are willing to step up and help you out. Perhaps you can scale back on some of those commercials and toss a few thousand of the 100 million you already spent on your campaign and have one of us man your office. We can make sure no one posts up ‘I Love Jerry Brown’ stickers and we can leave people with the impression that you really care. A lot of folks are losing their homes, maybe you can do us some good by providing housing, unemployment and other types of information at your empty, always closed campaign office to help us get through these trying times. Heck maybe you can even give away a few jobs. Put those millions to good use Ms Whitman

Lastly we had a big community meeting last night and the people of Oakland promised not to bite if you come visit..

Peace out

Davey D