My Turn: Former Emeryville City Council Member Ken Bukowski

My Turn

Former City Council Member Ken Bukowski

Council: Increase Citizen's Civic Engagement

The Tattler has always made itself available to all elected and former elected officials in Emeryville to use as a platform to reach out to the citizens for whatever reason they wish.  We call it 'My Turn'.  The electeds and former electeds are invited at any time to submit information in the public interest and the Tattler will post it verbatim. 

Former Council member Bukowski takes issue with the Council’s recent turn away from a proposal to increase citizen engagement with their City Hall by re-starting remote (Zoom) meeting participation for Council meetings.  Zoom participation began during the Covid pandemic and many cities continued on after by use of ‘hybrid’ participation (via zoom or in person).  Emeryville’s Council said NO to this idea in 2024 but State legislation in Sacramento that would force all cities to restore hybrid meetings is being forwarded.  Resisting the statewide trend towards greater municipal accountability, the Council recently told their legislative advocate in Sacramento Emeryville City Hall will “oppose unless amended”, meaning NO to citizen participation by zoom unless they’re forced to by Sacramento.

The Mayor and the Vice Mayor as it turns out have both had a change of heart about hybrid meetings, being publicly in favor of them as candidates and then moving against them once they were in power. Mayor David Mourra told the Tattler in October 2022 when he was running for election: “The ability to participate in public meetings via teleconference tools like Zoom has greatly expanded access and given voice to people who otherwise would not have been able to participate due to demands from work or family obligations. A hybrid approach seems sensible in the future.” 

For her part, Vice Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur also told the Tattler in 2022: “I prefer Zoom meetings as they are much more accessible, easier to record and access later,  they cut out the commute time, reduce the carbon footprint,  and one can almost always make Zoom meetings even if one is in another town or country.”

Nonetheless, the Council voted to stop remote meeting participation in March 2024 after some Nazis began calling in during the public comment section.

Mr Bukowski sent the Council (and the Tattler) two letters about this issue (they have been combined below):

Dear Mayor and Council-

As a former mayor/council member who served Emeryville for 24 years, I was very discouraged when you eliminated remote participation at council meetings.  There are often times at meetings when questions about past history are raised.  When you eliminate remote participation, it prevents people like me from providing input which could help you decide important issues.

I'm making you aware of pending legislation SB279 which would force the restoration of remote meetings.  I am not only asking for your support for this bill, I'm asking you not to wait for it to be enacted.  Please take that step before it's required.  Show the public you want to hear what they have to say.  It could make a difference.

You may not be aware SB707 and SB292 have been recently merged.  The new version will require the council meetings to have remote participation.  The City may want to reconsider the City's position on the bill(s).

As I see it there is no justification for the Council to limit public participation in such a major way.  There are families with kids who can't come to council meetings and a whole host of others.  Remote participation exists in other cities.  It is especially important in Emeryville since the local issues are not well covered.  What is the point of watching a meeting and being forced to keep your opinion to yourself? 

The thrust of my letter is to suggest the Council reconsider what is soon going to be required.  I have watched this legislation closely, and it's well on its way to being approved.

Thank you for allowing me to share my concerns about this issue.

Best-

Ken Bukowski

'Revitalize East Bay' PAC Selects John Bauters as their Executive Director

Former Emeryville Politician Now Working for the Private Sector; Bauters Will Serve Billionaires' Interests, Helping Bend Public Policy to Their Liking

Long Time Local Politician John Bauters
He's made the move to the private sector for
an undisclosed salary.

Breaking News

Former long time Emeryville City Council member John Bauters has accepted a job managing a crypto billionaire backed political action committee that seeks to recall insufficiently conservative politicians and pull down local regulation in order to assist real estate developers and corporate landlords.  ‘Revitalize the East Bay’ PAC recently hired the former councilman as their executive director despite Bauters’ loss in his November election for district five Alameda County Supervisor, a race the shadowy group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on but failed to win.

Revitalize East Bay, flush with dark money from tech billionaires and Real Estate Investment Trusts, is seeking to “professionalize” their conservative agenda in anticipation of the 2026 elections and the Bauters hire indicates a high level of  confidence in the former council member’s political acumen. 

 

What Happened To Bauters?

Many in Emeryville and the surrounding community have wondered what happened to John Bauters who went quiet after his ignominious loss in the election he was believed to have a lock on, especially among his most conservative backers.  Mr Bauters had the backing of the corporate sector who went all in with him, including Revitalize the East Bay.  His Emeryville Council colleagues (save the lone progressive Council member Priforce) as well as several former anti-labor Council members also backed the seemingly unstoppable Bauters campaign, leaving some surprised and puzzled, especially at the post election silence.    

During the Supervisor campaign, Mr Bauters ran as a loud and proud ‘progressive’, keeping his conservative, pro-developer views largely hidden from the electorate.  It was a strategy Revitalize East Bay saw as a potentially effective path to power for the secretive right wing PAC in the famously left wing northern Alameda County.  Mr Bauters probably was hoping his talk of his progressive values could win the day in the November election but he lost his race to his labor backed opponent, Nikki Fortunato Bas, who revealed Bauters' anti-labor record in Emeryville to Alameda County voters, quoting Tattler stories in a controversial mailer and website.

Hedge Fund Manager 
Capitalist Philip Dreyfuss
One of the primary backers of
Revitalize East Bay and John Bauters.

Revitalize East Bay has faced criticism for not properly disclosing its donors, raising concerns about the potential influence of hidden money on local elections. The group has not shied away from using subterfuge in their efforts;  creating a new committee with a similar name, which allowed them to delay disclosing their donors.  

Donors include Philip Dreyfuss: a Piedmont-based hedge fund executive, who contributed significantly as well as YIMBY California backed real estate developers and corporate landlords as well as the energy utility giant PG&E that’s headquartered in Oakland.

Leading up to the November election, Bauters received more than $1.29 million from tech venture capitalists, real estate billionaires including Mr Dreyfuss as well as other corporate special interest groups according to the Phoenix Project, a local collective of citizen activists who shine a light on dark money flooding Bay Area elections forwarding conservative interests.  The Phoenix Project produced its near legendary and viral 'Astroturf Network Map' that chronicled the 2024 effect of dark special interest money in the East Bay election.  The influential map shone a light where the dark money was and did not spare the Bauters campaign.

Three time mayor Mr Bauters was an extremely influential Emeryville Council member during his years in power here having served as the chair of the powerful Budget and Governance Committee for all eight years, during which time he quietly shepherded a $11.8 million budget deficit, the worst in the little city’s history.  Mr Bauters audaciously blamed the Planning Commission for the red ink, a fact that likely impressed Revitalized East Bay and factored in as they moved the former City Council member into his new pricey digs as executive director for a PAC with budget of millions of hedge fund dollars and an appreciation of subterfuge looking after private interests operating in the public realm.

We reached out to John Bauters for this story but he did not respond.

 

The Phoenix Project's Astroturf  Network Map famously laid Revitalize East Bay bare.