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Oakland Unwrapped The Dog That Didn't Bark By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor Sherlock Holmes once solved a murder mystery by remarking on the peculiar fact of the barking dog. "But Holmes," Dr. Watson replied, "none of the neighbors said anything about hearing a dog barking." "Precisely," the detective answered. "And don't you find that peculiar?" There were a couple of Oakland dogs that didn't bark the other day, and that's peculiar, too, I think. It happened during stories in the Trib and the Chronicle about reapportionment and term limits. Some time ago, City Council-member Jane Brunner announ-ced that she wanted to run in 2002 for the State Assembly from the 14th Assembly District, where she lives. Dion Aroner of Berkeley is presently the Assembly member from the 14th District, but she can't run for the Assembly again in 2002 because of term limits. But Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson and the anony-mous Tribune political column "Between The Lines" reported a week or so ago that when Brunner took a look at the newly-drawn lines for the 14th District, she got a nasty surprise -- she was no longer living in it. The new District lines missed her house by about a block-and-a-half, deliberately, it seemed like. But who's to blame for the dirty deed? While neither Johnson nor "Between The Lines" offered any proof, both columns pointed the finger at Dion Aroner. "Between The Lines" speculated that Aroner had Brunner drawn out because she (Aroner) wants to support another (unnamed) female candidate for the 14th District. Johnson speculated that the real battleground wasn't the Assembly at all, but Don Perata's 9th District Senate seat. Perata can't run for re-election in 2004 because of term limits, and Aroner has made no secret that she wants to run for that seat again (she almost beat Perata when he first got elected to the Senate). Johnson speculated that Brunner might run for the 9th Senate seat in 2004, too, and would be a tough opponent if she were the incumbent 14th District Assembly member. That, Johnson wrote, might be a pos-sible Aroner motive for keeping Brunner out of the Assembly. So whose name was missing in all of this speculation? Don Perata's, of course. And since we're just sitting around speculating, let me just speculate on some reasons why Perata may be a better suspect than Aroner for the stab in Brunner's back: Perata is trying to change the term limit law so he can run again for the Senate in 2004. If that happens, he'd have good reason to stir up trouble between Aroner and Brunner. That would make Brunner's supporters mad at Aroner, and therefore make Aroner a weaker opponent against Perata if they run against each other. If Perata can't run for the Senate again in 2004, he would have to choose between two close supporters on the Oakland City Council who want to run for his seat: Brunner and Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. Rather than having to make such a choice, it would be easier for Perata to get one of them (Brunner) out of that race, especially if he could put the blame for it on someone else (like Aroner). Perata is the chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, which has been drawing the new Assembly lines. It's hard to see how the 14th Assembly District lines could have been changed without his knowing. Given all that, it's odd, don't you think, that the Chip Johnson column and the Trib article never mentioned Perata's name as someone who might have drawn Brunner out of the 14th Assembly District. So maybe it ain't so much a case of the dog not barking as it is a case of the dog not barking at the most likely suspect. And given how bright Mr. Johnson and the folks over at the Trib are, you wonder how they missed that. "My dear Watson," Holmes said, "I never waste time following the less likely suspects until I've taken a good look at the most likely suspect." Well, actually, I ain't so sure Sherlock Holmes ever said that. But he might have. Ruff! J. Douglas Allen-Taylor is an author, a journalist, and a graduate of Castlemont High School. He can be reached at www.safero.org and [email protected]. [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]