Did you get the poll sent out via text message to registered voters in Alameda on Sunday evening? I didn't — but 6 different people have now mention it to me and provided screenshots.

There are some laugh-out-loud funny questions:

Did the consultants use ChatGPT to write this prompt? If so, it's full of so-called hallucinations...

And some questions that made me scrunch up my face in disagreement with the framing offered by the consultants writing this survey:

There are many other questions about various candidates and topics. Some of the questions are probably included out of genuine curiosity by the pollsters – while some of the questions are probably only included to make the survey broad enough such that its core focus is harder to discern.

The meat of the survey is perhaps the chance for registered voters to have their say in what slogans they'd find most convincing on a specific sort of election mailer:

While I may agree with the substance of these criticisms of this elected official, I just don't get why a PAC is paying a consultant to write these questions and blast them out to voters on a Sunday evening in September. Can't they come up with something more useful to do with their money?

Councilmember Herrera Spencer has already been elected and re-elected to multiple roles. One can respect how strategically and diligently and energetically she pursues her goals on behalf of "the community" (her name for a small subset of Alameda residents, 2 - 3 advocacy groups, and approximately 1 business owner) at the same as criticizing the narrowness of her goals and the bad faith with which she votes against many of the needs of >70,000 people, hundreds of businesses, and much wider range of diverse community groups in Alameda.

The way to beat Councilmember Herrera Spencer is to respect how hard she works — and to work harder and do better, on behalf of more Alameda residents and more Alameda stakeholders.

A challenge? An opportunity!

It's in this context that the Morning Bun has issued its "challenge" to City Council candidates.

Anyway, I was amused to load Reddit this morning and see both a post from Thushan Amarasiriwardena about his campaign for City Council and one of the first replies:

Are you taking up the Morning Bun's challenge?

As you can read in his reply above, I have met Thushan previously and I was one of a couple dozen to sign his nomination paperwork. I'll likely get one of his yard signs (although if my family wants a "We're with Her" sign, that will take priority over any local issues this election cycle in our little front yard).

But here on this blog, I'm intentionally making the Morning Bun open to all three of the viable challengers to Councilmember Herrera Spencer.

I emailed Thushan, Michele Pryor, and Greg Boller each individually a little bit after posting that announcement to let them know about this opportunity to have their public comments featured on this blog. None knew in advance about the idea, its format, or its goals.

Thanks to 3 volunteers who have stepped up to help me watch the next 3 City Council meetings! They'll help keep me honest as we tally if/when candidates do email in or speak live on any agenda item at those City Council meetings.

I'm hoping this format is beneficial to these three newcomers and beneficial to voters. It's not just about giving out more "information" and more "education" to voters in the abstract. This is about getting into the give-and-take and the nitty-gritty and the push-and-pull of actual business at actual City Council meetings. I hope this "Morning Bun challenge/opportunity" provides all three of these candidates a channel to reach voters who care about these details.

Whatever those political consultants find in their survey about potential attack lines to use on mailers about Councilmember Herrera Spencer, she's up there on the dais working hard toward her goals at each Council meeting. This blog is ready to help spread the public comments of the three challengers who are offering voters a new alternative.