Ron Dellums Totally Explained

Everything about Ron Dellums totally explained

Ronald Vernie "Ron" Dellums (born November 24, 1935), U.S. Democratic Party politician, is the Mayor of the City of Oakland, California. He was a U.S. Representative from California from 1971 until his resignation on February 6, 1998 and following that, a lobbyist until his election as mayor. He is the 47th mayor of Oakland.
Dellums was the first African American elected to Congress from Northern California and the first openly socialist Congressman since World War II.

Early life

Dellums was born in Oakland. His father, Verney Dellums, was a longshoreman. His uncle, C.L. Dellums, was one of the organizers and leaders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
   He attended Oakland Technical High School and McClymonds High School.
   He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956. Dellums later received his A.A. degree from the Oakland City College in 1958, his B.A. from the San Francisco State University in 1960, and his M.S.W. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962. He became a psychiatric social worker and political activist in the African American community beginning in the 1960s.
   Dellums is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. He is a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

Political career

Dellums has been in politics for over forty years. He has held positions on the Berkeley city council, in the US House of Representatives, and is the mayor of Oakland, for the term beginning 1 January 2007.

Berkeley city council

Dellums was elected to the Berkeley city council, and served from 1967 to 1970.

U.S. Congress

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970 after being recruited by anti-Vietnam War activists to run against the incumbent, Jeffery Cohelan, a white liberal close to organized labor who hadn't opposed the war early enough to win reelection in the district. Dellums defeated Cohelan in the Democratic primary and won the general election, serving without interruption for 27 years.
His politics earned him a place on the so-called Nixon's Enemies List, where his notation stated Dellums "had extensive EMK-Tunney support in his election bid."

Vietnam war crimes hearings

In January, 1971, just weeks into his first term, Dellums set up an exhibit of Vietnam war crimes in an annex to his Congressional office. The exhibit featured four large posters depicting atrocities allegedly committed by American soldiers, embellished with red paint. This was followed shortly thereafter by a series of hearings on alleged war crimes in Vietnam, which began April 25, 1971. Dellums had called for formal investigations into the allegations, but Congress chose not to endorse the proceedings. As such, the hearings were ad hoc and only informational in nature. As a condition of room use, press and camera presence were not permitted; however, the proceedings were transcribed. A small number of other anti-Vietnam War congressional representatives also took part in the hearings.

Anti-apartheid campaign

In 1972, Dellums began his campaign to end the apartheid policies of South Africa. Fourteen years later, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Dellums's anti-apartheid legislation, calling for a trade embargo against South Africa and immediate divestment by American corporations. The bill, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, had broad bipartisan support. It called for sanctions against South Africa and stated preconditions for lifting the sanctions, including the release of all political prisoners. Ronald Reagan called for a policy of "constructive engagement" and vetoed the bill; however, his veto was overridden. It was the first override in the 20th century of a presidential foreign policy veto.
Dellums' fight against apartheid in South Africa was the subject of a Disney Channel made-for-TV movie, The Color of Friendship, released in 2000. The role of Congressman Dellums was played by actor Carl Lumbly in the movie.

Cold War conflicts in southern Africa

As part of the Cold War struggle for influence in southern Africa, the United States joined with the apartheid government of South Africa in support of UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, against the ultimately victorious Angolan forces of the MPLA supported by the Soviet Union and the Cuban armed forces. Dellums was criticized for his support of Fidel Castro's involvement with the MPLA in Angola and was called a "Castroite congressman" by the conservative press. He also introduced legislation (which was unsuccessful) in September 1987 to prohibit economic and military assistance to Zaire, citing poor human rights, corruption, and alleged collaboration with South Africa.

Military budgets and arms control

Throughout his career Dellums led campaigns against an array of military projects, arguing that the funds would be better spent on peaceful purposes, especially in American cities. Programs he opposed included the Pershing and MX missiles, and the B-2 bomber (popularly known as the "stealth bomber"). Because of his commitment to the closing of unneeded military bases, Dellums didn't oppose the closing of the Alameda Naval Air Station in his own district.

Opposition to the MX missile

The MX missile was a "third-generation" inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). One of its advantages over earlier missiles was its greater survivability. Unlike previous missiles, the MX was mobile. The design was for fifty missiles to be placed on trains that would be shuttled between numerous hiding sheds around a railroad loop located in remote Utah. Another advantage was that the MX was a MIRVed missile — each missile had up to ten nuclear warheads.
Dellums argued that constructing the MX would only propel the ongoing arms race and cause the Soviet Union to construct more weapons. He also argued that the issue of survivability of existing missiles was a red herring; the Soviet Union couldn't expect a first strike to go unpunished — U.S. nuclear-equipped submarines, bombers and cruise missiles would inflict devastating damage even if all American ICBMs were disabled. As part of the campaign, Dellums met with the Mormon church in Utah.
The MX project was eventually cancelled and the last missile decommissioned in 2005 as part of the START II treaty.

Opposition to the B-2 Stealth Bomber

The B-2 "stealth bomber" is a long range strategic bomber. Featuring "stealth" technology that made it far less visible to radar, the B-2 was a major technological advance over the existing B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers. However, it was designed during the Cold War for military scenarios that some argued were less relevant following the collapse of the Soviet Union and, at over two billion dollars per airplane, critics considered it enormously expensive.
Although Dellums opposed the B-2 project from the start, Congress approved initial funding for production of 135 bombers in 1987. However, with the winding down of the Cold War, total B-2 production was reduced to 21 aircraft in the early 1990s. But in 1997, seven former Secretaries of Defense signed a letter urging Congress to buy more B-2s, citing the difficulty of assembling a similar engineering team in the future should the B-2 project be terminated. Dellums, citing five independent studies consistent with his position, offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the bombers with the existing 21 aircraft. The amendment was narrowly defeated; nonetheless, Congress never approved funding for additional B-2 bombers.

U.S. House Committee positions

Dellums served as chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia and the House Armed Services Committee.
Dellums also served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate the Intelligence Community.
Dellums co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971.

Dellums' last Congressional election

Dellums easily won his next eleven elections in the traditionally Democratic 9th District. In his last House election race, in 1996, Dellums bested his opponent, Republican Deborah Wright, by a 77%-18% margin.
In 1997, Dellums announced that he was retiring from Congress in the middle of his term and a special election was called — which created a series of five special elections in 12 months as various East Bay politicians ran for different political office. For more detailed information, see Special election musical chairs.
Dellums' successor, Barbara Lee won the 2000 election by an even larger, 85%-9% margin.

Congressional tribute

Upon his resignation, several members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, William Coyne, Nick Rahall, Ike Skelton, Juanita Millender-McDonald and Tom DeLay gave speeches on the floor of the House in honor of Dellums. Millender-McDonald described Dellums as a "distinguished, principled [and] educated man." Her tribute went on:

Congressman Ron Dellums is revered on both sides of this aisle because of his integrity and his commitment to progressive ideas. He was always on the cutting edge of the issues. California will miss him in the ninth district, but the State has been enriched by Ron Dellums. While he towers above most of us physically, this attribute is matched by his intellect, faith in the process and optimism for peaceful resolution of conflict.

Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois described Dellums:

A creative, piercing, probing, incisive, thought-provoking, inspiring, charismatic, careful, considerate and deliberative mind. The mind to stand up when others sit down. The mind to act when others refuse to act. The mind to stand even when you stand alone, battered, bruised and scorned, but still standing. Standing on principle, standing tall and standing for the people.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay described Dellums as "...one of the most giving, open and stalwart, a real stalwart man when he was Chairman"

We are losing one of its finest Members, a Member that I've great respect for, because he always did his homework, was so articulate and eloquent on this floor. He always got my attention when he stood up and took the microphone. He would stop every Member in their tracks to hear what he'd to say, and there are very few Members that have served in this body that can claim the respect that both sides of the aisle had for the gentleman from California. And the incredible reputation that the gentleman from California has brought to this House; he's elevated this House. He has elevated the distinction of this House by serving here, and this House will greatly miss him when he leaves.

Voting record

Dellums' voting records in Congress were "almost without exception straight As" from groups such as the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women and the AFL-CIO.
In contrast, he received an 'F' from NumbersUSA, a group dedicated to limiting immigration, and a score of seven out of a possible 100 from the League of Private Property Owners, a property rights organization.

Oakland mayoral election

Dellums was recruited to run for Mayor of Oakland by an informal committee called "Draft Dellums," which collected 8,000 signatures and presented them to the former Congressman at a public meeting at Laney College, chanting "Run, Ron, Run".
In October 2005, reportedly after weeks of deliberation and speculation, Dellums announced that he'd run for mayor of Oakland. The previous mayor, former California Governor Jerry Brown, was ineligible to run for another term, and ran (successfully) for the position of California Attorney General. The other formidable candidates in the election were City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, and District 3 City Councilmember Nancy Nadel. Landlord and activist Arnie Fields also ran in the race as did perennial candidate Hector "Reno" Reyna.
On June 16, 2006, after nearly two weeks of ballot-counting and a dispute over whether votes for unqualified write-in candidates such as George W. Bush and Homer Simpson counted towards the total, Dellums was unofficially declared the winner in the Oakland mayoral race. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters said Dellums garnered a 50.18 percent majority — 155 votes more than needed to avoid a runoff with De La Fuente. Dellums received just 41,992 votes, about 10% of the city's population.

Mayor of Oakland

Mayor-Elect Dellums' transition to office involved 800 Oaklanders who joined 41 task forces to make recommendations on issues ranging from public safety to education and affordable housing.
   Notwithstanding the significant pay and benefits received by Mr. Dellums as a result of his congressional service, an early priority as mayor was his own compensation and staff budget.
   Since his election, there has been criticism of the secret nature of the task forces Dellums established, despite having repeatedly vowed to restore "transparency" to city government, and criticism of disarray among the task forces.
   Within a few months of Dellums' election, Oakland voters were already rating him poorly on key issues. On a scale of 1-10, Dellums scored a 3.7 on improving education, a 3.8 on crime, 4.3 on ecomic development and a 4.3 on providing housing.
   According to local media, Dellums "frittered" away his first year in office, making no significant policy initiatives in those areas of concern to average citizens, beyond a smoking ban at bus stops. Meanwhile, crime in the city increased dramatically, with Oakland being declared the 4th most dangerous city in the nation. Dellums resisted calls to increase the police force, claiming citizens didn't want an oppressive police force, but local reporters expressed skepticism. Multiple "recall Dellums" websites have appeared.
   Elise Ackerman, a reporter for the Bay Area News Group and a resident of Oakland bought the domain recallmayordellums.com and sent an open letter to Dellums that was covered in the local press, saying to Dellums, "African Americans and Latinos live in fear in Oakland because of your lies. Middle-class residents working two jobs live in fear because of your lies. Nurses, teachers and social workers live in fear because of your lies." Near the end of the message, she continues "You are not effective, you're not honest, you've no integrity and you should step aside."
   When faced with an irate crowd at a town hall meeting, Dellums declared "I'm giving it everything that I have. If that's not enough, that's cool. Recall me. and let me get on with my private life."

Party affiliations

Dellums describes himself as a socialist. In the 1970s, Dellums was a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), an offshoot of the Socialist Party of America. He later became vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which was formed by a merger between the DSOC and the New American Movement, and which works within and outside the Democratic Party. As of 2006 Dellums is no longer a vice-chair of the DSA.
While running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums was registered as a member of the Democratic party, and has run as a Democrat in all his congressional races.

Drug use allegations

In 1983, Dellums and his aide John Apperson were investigated for cocaine and marijuana use by the House of Representatives, based on allegations from a House doorkeeper. After eight months, the investigation closed, having found no basis for the charges.

Support of Black Muslim Bakery

Ron Dellums was a well known supporter of Your Black Muslim Bakery, an organization accused of numerous violent acts over the years, including the August 2007 public assassination in downtown Oakland of journalist Chauncey Bailey. Dellums, even after Mr. Bailey was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun by a "handyman" at the bakery and the subsequent shutdown of the bakery following revelations of widespread protection rackets, murder, and torture by bakery members, refused to disavow a letter he sent in support of the Bakery.

Family life

Dellums has been married three times. He married his second wife, attorney Leola "Roscoe" Higgs, in 1961. The two divorced in 1998. A U.S. Marine invasion of the island later obtained the diary of the former Grenadian defense minister. One entry in it read: "The Revo has been able to crush counter-revolution internationally. Airport will be used for Cuban and Soviet military."
The invasion also recovered a letter from Dellums' chief of staff Carlottia Scott to Maurice Bishop, describing Dellums' feelings towards Bishop and, presumably, Cuban President of the Council of State Fidel Castro.

Ron [Dellums] has become truly committed to Grenada, and has some positive political thinking to share with you.... He’s really hooked on you and Grenada and doesn’t want anything to happen to building the Revolution and making it strong. He really admires you as a person and even more so as a leader with courage and foresight, principles and integrity.... The only other person that I know of that he expresses such admiration for is Fidel. When running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums listed his most recent profession as "retired Congressman" in election filing forms. When assistant City Clerk Marjo Keller informed the Dellums campaign that this description was unacceptable, the campaign elected to leave the occupation field blank.
Progressive journalist Doug Ireland wrote a column titled "Dellums for Dollars" criticizing Dellums' lobbying, and said of Dellums, "Ron has gone bad, I'm afraid. He talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk anymore." Speaking in defense of Dellums, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said that, if asked, Dellums would likely say "just because I'm advocating for a company that may be paying me consulting fees, I'm not selling out my beliefs."Further Information
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