Free Republic

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is thinking big -- a big $1 million-plus increase in his own office budget next year. Dellums is asking the City Council to give him seven new or redefined staff positions, including a $130,000 chief of staff, two $100,000-plus senior deputies and both a full-time bodyguard and a driver. (The 71-year-old former congressman doesn't drive, and hasn't for some time.) In all, Dellums' budget calls for 24 positions in the mayor's office, compared with the 17 positions his predecessor Jerry Brown had in his final year of office. Dellums' budget director, Dan Lindheim, said about half...