Here's the Moonbat
Posted on 10/27/2007 4:32:28 PM PDT by SmithL
* Berkeley man is dealing with fines, drug charges, while collecting signatures in effort to oust mayor
BERKELEY -- There's so much going on in Zachary Runningwolf's life, it's hard to know where to begin.
First, he's trying to recall Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates -- a man who trounced Runningwolf in last year's election. Bates collected 62.9 percent of the vote and was elected to a second term with the largest margin of any mayor in Berkeley in 40 years.
Bates previously served more than 20 years in the state Legislature.
Runningwolf, who in 1999 served a stint on the city's Peace and Justice Commission and staged his own run for mayor, took 4.7 percent of the vote.
Second, Runningwolf has been dodging a $100 fine from the city for missing a deadline to file the proper paperwork showing last year's campaign contributions, said City Clerk Pam Means.
Runningwolf, who said he did not collect any contributions, was still required to file a statement by Jan. 31, but he was a month late, accruing a fine, Means said.
"It's all just political payback," Runningwolf said. "I filed it in delay -- maybe four or five months ago. There are so many things that are going on right now. ... Time is flying by."
Runningwolf also has been spending much of his time this year supporting a group who are living in trees near Memorial Stadium at UC Berkeley. The group is protesting a plan to raze the trees so UC Berkeley can build a $125 million sports training center. He's been at the grove nearly daily since December.
But last week, Runningwolf spent the night in jail. He was taken in by UC Berkeley police -- at the tree grove -- for an outstanding warrant stemming from a July 23 arrest for possession of illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms and two traffic warrants, said Mitch Celaya, UC Berkeley assistant police chief.
Runningwolf will be back in court next week on that issue and declined to comment on the drug charge.
Outside of jail, Runningwolf seems most focused on his recall effort, which requires collecting 17,500 signatures from Berkeley's 70,000 registered voters by mid-December to put a measure on a 2008 ballot.
Some say that would be a near impossible feat.
"Getting that many signatures is very, very hard," said City Councilwoman Betty Olds. "I'm sure, like me, if you saw him coming toward you, you probably wouldn't sign it."
Olds, a moderate on the council who does not always vote in line with Bates said, "I don't think it's going anywhere."
Runningwolf served Bates the paperwork at a City Council meeting Tuesday night -- two weeks after he announced the recall effort. Runningwolf walked up to Bates and handed him the recall paperwork, which Bates said he will respond to early next week.
Later, Runningwolf, who is American Indian, spoke on a few issues and then went outside to burn some white mountain sage, he said.
"It's how we brush the bad spirits off of us," he said.
A short while later, a Berkeley police officer asked him to extinguish the sage because the smoke was wafting into City Hall and people complained that it smelled like marijuana smoke, city officials said.
Runningwolf complied.
He is no stranger to dealing with police.
In February, he spent a weekend in Berkeley city jail in lieu of $40,000 bail after he was arrested on suspicion of threatening a UC Berkeley police officer. The charges were later dropped.
Runningwolf denies that the recall effort is a ploy to gear up for next year's mayoral race, which he plans to join.
Instead, he said the effort is based on an eight-point plan that is critical of Bates' support for high-density development and the mayor's stance on global warming.
"Bates' promises to address global warming are bad because he's supporting the (British Petroleum) deal," Runningwolf said in an interview Thursday.
Under a $500 million research plan, UC Berkeley is joining BP Amoco PLC, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois to study ways to increase energy production and reduce energy use.
Bates has been a leader in reducing global warming.
Under his leadership, the city last year passed a first-of-its kind measure to reduce global warming by 80 percent by 2050.
The city this year launched an aggressive campaign to get as many residents and businesses involved in doing their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Bates was awarded on Wednesday a global citizen award by the United Nations Association for the city's "innovative and aggressive efforts" to address the climate crisis.
Much of what Runningwolf presented in his plan is erroneous information and does not accurately reflect Bates' opinions of stances, Bates said.
"Any citizen has the right to bring any action that is appropriate," Bates said Thursday. "But all of these issues that were raised are a rehashing of misstatement and falsehoods that were discussed and debated in the last election."
I'm so glad that he has a REAL life out of the trees in Berkeley.
Here's the Moonbat
Did they miss the part where he can open a bottle of Miller Lite with his ass?
Berkeley—home to perpetual teenagers.
Lessee, “Nobody is Illegal”, hmmmmmmm, but it’s okay to condemn the unborn and partially born to death, right? What a twisted, screwed up world moonbats live in.
pay them $100,000 each, get them off the "res" and exploit the natural gas reserves they are sitting on!
perhaps then the tribal "elders" wont be able to steal their money, intimidate them, and preach their communistic garbage.
let them move off the "res" with their cash and let God take care of the rest!
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