Is John Bauters a Snake?
Well Sure, But Emeryville Residents Don't Need a National Reality TV Show to See It.
News Analysis
The regional Bay Area press corps over the last year has spilled a lot of ink on the public foibles and discernible antics of former Emeryville mayor John Bauters; from his whiplashing but losing bid for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to his dramatic appearance on a nationally syndicated reality TV show where he shocked many when he quipped about himself as a politician who’s good at lying and manipulating people. Many of these Bauters’ watchers have settled on the TV show as an ‘aha’ moment that reveals his real nefarious motives in the world of politics. But for all his impolitic and outlandish statements on the TV show, the real revelations about John’s political proclivities come from the job he took as executive director of a billionaire funded right wing political action committee before the TV show even went to air.
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| He told Alameda County voters he was a progressive: and it's true he's gay and he rides a bike. Plutocrats and Emeryville residents however knew otherwise. Others found out about John from the TV show. |
Regardless of the lavishly funded campaign highlighting his progressive bonafides for the Supervisor’s race last fall, an effort that attempted to conceal his corporate connections and his true heart’s desire, Bauters’ move to bail from politics and accept a job as executive director at the billionaire funded astroturf organization Revitalize East Bay (and Abundant Oakland ©) immediately after he lost his bid for Supervisor, is what informs, not the TV show. That post election move, directly into the billionaires’ warm embrace, was a shock to many of his political supporters outside of Emeryville that had seen John as a true blue progressive. For Emeryville residents who know him however, John’s ‘transformation’ from grassroots to astroturf was no transformation at all, it was always just astroturf.
Settling in at Revitalize East Bay, Bauters went to work right away for the investor owned utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric, a major contributor. Progressive Oakland City Council member Carroll Fife had brought California Senate Bill 332, the Investor-Owned Utilities Accountability Act to a council approval resolution and through the graces of Revitalize East Bay, PG&E used Bauters’ political skills to try to talk Fife down. He told the Councilwoman PG&E being held accountable as per AB 332s provisions, would drive the utility to pull charitable contributions to Oakland non-profit groups and it would send an anti-business message to Oakland businesses and start ups looking to locate in Oakland. Bauters told Oaklandside he spoke with Fife to convince her to meet with PG&E and take out of the bill anything offensive to them. Council member Fife refused and Bauters helped the Oakland resolution go down to defeat per PG&E’s wishes. Interestingly, the Emeryville City Council voted on a resolution to support AB 332 earlier when the political climate in tiny, inconsequential Emeryville was able to fly under the PG&E radar. Mr Bauters was still on the Emeryville Council and receiving Revitalize East Bay campaign funding but not directly working for them as he is now.
What Mr Bauters and his employer finds objectionable about SB 332 is that it would immediately curb PG&E’s corporate abuses that have impaired service reliability, inflated customer rates (now the second highest in the nation), and criminally endangered public safety. But more importantly, SB 332 lays the groundwork for democratically replacing PG&E and other Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) with a “not-for-profit” public utility, historically a hair-on-fire no go for the utility giant (as we saw in the 2010 Prop 16 fight).
While many are now opining about John Bauters’ future and the surprise so many East Bay progressives have displayed following the reality TV show, it is unclear what actually lies in the future. Many of these prognosticators were Bauters voters in the Alameda County Supervisors race, followers who now likely feel hoodwinked after what he said to the national TV audience. Some are predicting he will return to politics and like the defeated 1960 presidential hopeful Richard Nixon’s appearance on the Jack Par show in 1961 was transformational to a come back, Bauters will be able to leverage his TV fame and return to rise like a phoenix. But the trouble for Bauters is his right wing connections that have been made clear through his Revitalize East Bay hiring. His association with this plutocratic PAC will not be possible to conceal to Bay Area voters. Revitalize East Bay reveals his true allegiances and it is likely any Bay Area political run is now out of reach for him for the foreseeable future. What has been revealed is the only reason Mr Bauters was able to get within striking distance of political power in left wing Alameda County last November was his deftness at concealing his right wing nature (despite the tiny Tattler’s reporting before the election).
All this doesn’t preclude a Bauters run at electoral politics in a conservative district outside the left wing Bay Area of course.
The Tattler reached out to John Bauters for this story but inquiries were not returned.
This is an interesting analysis. I have wondered why Bauters would appear on a show called The Snake and go on to say he knows about manipulating people. It seemed like something too dumb for the smartest guy in the room to do. You're saying he might be hoping to use The Snake for a political comeback seems true. I think he made some calculation that it would help him. Maybe a negative attention is still attention idea. I hope you're right that whatever happens, he's out of electoral politics. He has a problem with the truth.
ReplyDeleteThis story gets it spot on. John Bauters is what's wrong with the Democratic Party. The elite in the party have to hid their association with plutocrats and corporations to try to appeal to normal everyday people. This is true nationally and here in Alameda County. Bauters has always been in bed with corporate power and Democrats like him everywhere are expanding their power by concealing their associations with billionaires. The Democrat leadership in the county can't or won't stop it so best way is to expose it. Thanks Tattler.
ReplyDeleteWe were the families who breathed in the lead dust from Wareham’s developments, our children poisoned while John Bauters stood before us acting like he cared. He listened, nodded, even promised action but in truth, he pacified us just long enough to cash Wareham’s checks for his campaign against Nikki Bas. When the cameras left and the donations cleared, so did his so-called commitment to our health and safety.
ReplyDeleteNow the city talks about raising our utility fees on top of PG&E’s outrageous hikes, and it feels like the same old pattern: Bauters (and his minions) siding with the powerful while residents shoulder the burden. He has always been more comfortable serving the interests of developers and corporations than standing in the gap for the people he claimed to represent - as long as he was the bike-riding YIMBY mayor, the establishment Dems loved him.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). That’s the role Bauters played with us—slithering in with soft words and false reassurances, but delivering betrayal instead of protection. And as Christ said of the Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33).
Snakes themselves are innocent creatures of God, but John Bauters has lived up to the darkest meaning the serpent came to symbolize deception, manipulation, and the fall of a community that placed trust in him. He is not the progressive champion he claimed to be. He is the serpent who sold us out and he isn't the only one in city hall. Most are following his playbook.
Any publicity - positive or negative - is of value to politicians. Today's world is of getting clicks and building impressions appeals to people who are ambitious and seek power and glory. Empathy and honesty are not of value to anyone seeking higher office in today's America.
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders, AOC (and more). They show us a non-violent path to a more fair, equitable and sustainable America. Empathy and honesty are part of the equation.
DeleteJohn Bauter's scheming ways have a left trail of many klak city council members who use the same basal self-aggrandizement to bolster and fight among themselves. If there is no unity of compassion among the city council how can there be peace and order in the city? Bauters propagated a clan of "do as I say and not as do" yes-persons. All appearance and no substance. Sound and fury signifying nothing. Where is the independent Code of Ethics Committee? Time to move on to find real accountability and innovation in our city.
ReplyDeleteI could accept this criticism at face value if the character assessment didn't remind me so much of Kalimah Priforce, which the author often praises. What's the real difference?
ReplyDeleteI’ve always thought it best to judge a politician by what they do over what they say they’ll do. The Tattler has this at the core: the skepticism way (and government accountability) is always the best way in a healthy democracy. The difference between Council member Priforce and John Bauters is who they work for. Mr Priforce works for the people, average people and Mr Bauters works for corporations. We know this because we have watched what both do over the years. I praise politicians who are truthful, true. But even more, I praise politicians who work in the people’s interests. Those pols that are not truthful and who work for the tiny fraction of people that control corporations aren’t going to get any love at the Tattler. Bauters is cynical but the Tattler is not.
DeleteMan, you and Kalimah really are obsessed about John for some reason. I think it’s time you both go to seek professional help to understand why someone that’s been off the city council so long still lives rent free in your head. The obsession is quite staggering.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for Council member Priforce but as for me, I AM very interested in John Bauters and one could fairly say therefore he does live in my head. He lives there because it's my job to have him live there. Bauters is still very influential in the Emeryville Council chamber. Like it or not, John Bauters still is in control of politics in our town. The Council majority's politics is highly Bautersian. Meaning: they believe in total narrative control, they loudly tell people they are progressives while they quietly forward Corporate Democrat policies and they refuse to speak with constituents or press that is critical of their performance: no talking, no press conferences, no town halls, no accountability or transparency. All these tactics are straight from John Bauters. The Tattler's job is to report on politics in Emeryville. When you do that, you must acknowledge and report on this man who still casts his spell on 4 out of 5 Council members.
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