Candidate Ratings and Evaluations
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2018
7 Candidates have expressed their interest in running for rent board
The 2018 Rent Board Convention is takes place on Sunday April 22, at the Sports Basement in Berkeley starting at 1:30. We, the planning committee, are actively recruiting potential Rent Board candidates who will commit to running with a “slate” chosen at the Convention in the November general election. Seven (7) candidates have expressed their interest in running. The screening process took place on April 7, 2018. Below are the results by screeners that interviewed the different candidates. While screeners were invited to participate due to their membership of organizations, the comments are not endorsements of the organizations and are only provided for informational purposes.
| Screeners | ||||
| Julia Cato, BTU | Jesse Townley, Green Party | Betsey Morris, Gray Panthers | Harriet Steele, PSA | |
| Candidates | ||||
| Stephan Elgstrand | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommend | Highly Recommend |
| Christine Schwartz | Acceptable | Acceptable | Acceptable | Not Acceptable |
| Paola Laverde | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend |
| Maria Poblet | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommend |
| John Selawsky | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Acceptable | Acceptable |
| James Chang | Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommend | Recommend |
| Soli Alpert | Acceptable | Acceptable | Highly Recommend | Acceptable |
| Screeners | Alfred Twu, East Bay Young Dems | Matthew Lewis, CALServe | Fred Dodsworth, BCA | Varsha Sarveshwar, Cal Democrates |
| Stephan Elgstrand | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommended |
| Christine Schwartz | Acceptable | Acceptable | Acceptable | Acceptable |
| Paola Laverde | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend |
| Maria Poblet | Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommend |
| John Selawsky | Recommend | Highly Recommend | Highly Recommend | Recommend |
| James Chang | Recommend | Recommend | Recommend | Recommend |
| Soli Alpert | Recommend | Acceptable | Acceptable | Highly Recommend |
| Organizations are listed for informational purposes and are not intended as endorsements | ||||
| Luis Amezcua | ||||
| Latino Young Democrats of the East Bay | ||||
| Stephan Elgstrand | Recommend | |||
| Christine Schwartz | Acceptable | |||
| Paola Laverde | Highly Recommend | |||
| Maria Poblet | Highly Recommend | |||
| John Selawsky | Highly Recommend | |||
| James Chang | Highly Recommend | |||
| Soli Alpert | Recommend | |||
Pre-2018
Qualifications: a registered voter in Berkeley. Some commitment to, and knowledge of, rent control and tenants’ rights is desirable. Ability to meet at least once monthly on the nine-member Rent Board and 2-4 times monthly on smaller Committees. And the ability and willingness to run a strong, labor- and time-intensive campaign for election in November.
We are seeking diversity in our potential candidate pool: students, seniors, people-of-color, disabled, women.
Contact Us as soon as possible if interested. There is a screening process as well as the Convention itself. Download and return the questionnaire linked below by April 5th.
Interested in running? Download the questionnaire here: 2016 Rent Board Convention Questions
Candidate Responses Are Posted Here.
