Letter from Andy:

I highly encourage you to attend the Berkeley Mayoral Convention this Saturday, May 4, 2002 at the North Berkeley Senior Center at MLK and Hearst at 1pm. The event is free and will have great food and entertainment.

It is highly likely that former Assemblyman Tom Bates, who has a great record on workers' rights, the environment, discount BART passes for students, and who has taught at UC Berkeley will announce his candidacy for Mayor. It would be a great opportunity for students to meet him and show your support.

Students will be gathering at Sather Gate Saturday at 12:30 to walk down. If you want to take the bus, the 51 line will stop at MLK and University, and you can walk 2 blocks north.

I hope to see you there!

Andy Katz

There's a lot more to this e-mail then it seems. Most notably, the way Andy makes it seem like supporting Tom Bates for Mayor is more or less the obvious thing for students to do. Not entirely; Mr. Katz knows very well that the probable battle between Dean and Bates for Mayor will involve pitches for student support, and both have attractive platforms. Dean will pound her greater support for the University and for housing development; Bates will emphasize what Andy mentioned above.

So why would students automatically throw behind Bates? It was his Progressives who defeated Fryday's redistricting proposal. The cynical version is that Andy wants Progressive support and logistics for his probable run in Armstrong's District. (Now my district too, incidentally.) So he puts his weight behind them. Another version is that Katz doesn't want Kriss Worthington to run, for various reasons. A relatively innocent version is that Katz wants Bates to feel indebted to students over being placed on the ballot, before going back to playing both him and Dean.

Of course, I could've e-mailed Mr. Katz and asked him, but this version is much more fun.Email This Post!