Today, I filed as a candidate for mayor of Richmond.

Our current mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, is termed out and is now running for City Council.

Nat Bates has already filed, and Uche Uwahemu has taken out papers. Mike Parker has generously decided to stand down (see his statement at the end of this email).

Many people were surprised by my decision, not the least of which was myself.

Richmond has made huge progress the last few years, but that trend is in danger of being undermined by contention between the extremes, both on the Council and in the community, not unlike our Congress.

I respect Nat Bates as someone who has served his country and served Richmond for over four decades. He is from the old school where parliamentary procedure is respected, and he has the best sense of humor on the Council.

However, Nat and I have significantly different visions of where Richmond should go and how we should get there. As a good example, I joined the Council majority in a 5-2 vote for the adoption of our new General Plan 2030. I saw it as an excellent blueprint for a more sustainable city with a growing quality of life that is designed to accommodate substantial growth, jobs and economic development. I can’t speak for Nat, but my perception is that, despite widespread and ambitious density increases, he saw it as overly restrictive of private property owners and developers. Nat and Corky voted against it, as they have for many other legislative initiatives to improve the quality of life, such as integrated pest management by City crews to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and a bicycle/pedestrian plan to encourage walking and to make walking and bicycling safer.

I feel the people of Richmond need a choice about their future, and I felt that I had to provide that choice.

As a long-time business owner and architect in the City of Richmond, I have years of professional experience resolving disparate perceptions people have of what kind of building they need to fit their needs and their budgets. In the end, I have to bring them together to agree on a single building design, not a separate one for each point of view. This is a skill I have brought to politics to bring people together in search of a single goal.

No subject is more contentious than Chevron, and Nat has been highly critical of any effort to regulate or seek compensation from Chevron. Last week, I voted with the City Council majority to impose  the toughest environmental controls on Chevron of probably any refinery in America, and they didn’t pull up stakes. In the last four years, I have negotiated a total of $204 million from Chevron, first in settlement of a tax dispute, and just a week ago, as an Environmental and Community Investment Agreement pursuant to the Refinery Modernization. The previous payments went to keep our Police Department fully staffed and to pay for streets, parks and libraries. The funds resulting from the latest agreement will go towards $30 million of local greenhouse gas reduction, $35 million for a promise program providing college scholarships for Richmond high school graduates, $12 million for job training and youth activities and much more.

For 19 years I have been both crafting and supporting innovative legislation and providing both leadership and collaboration on the City Council, twice as vice-mayor. I am the only council member who also represents the City’s critical interests outside of Richmond, serving on multiple regional and state boards and commissions dealing with transportation, San Francisco Bay (BCDC), energy and planning – all essential to Richmond’s future from both a policy and funding standpoint.

Richmond is better off in every way -- safer, cleaner, healthier, quieter and greener. We have a more diversified economy and a growing reputation as a city where “We can do it!” We need to keep up this drive for excellence. Crime continues to plummet year after year, violent crime down 24% and property crime down 23% compared to last year.

I believe I am the next mayor who can lead the City Council out of its contentious ways, bridge the gap between business and environment, bring decorum to meetings and make sure all council members and the public are treated fairly and respectfully.

I will continue to focus on the fundamentals – public safety, streets, parks and libraries, clean air and water, jobs, education and economic development -- more business, less bickering.

A voter said she would vote for me for “…your intelligence, your perspective, your wisdom, your experience, your integrity - and, perhaps most of all, your consistent ability to see and express humor in the midst of all of it.”

My first three endorsements include all three living Richmond mayors, Irma Anderson, Rosemary Corbin and Gayle McLaughlin.

My campaign organization is just now ramping up. If you want to help, just email me and tell me what you would be willing to do. We also need to build a campaign fund quickly, and if you wish to donate, please just mail me a check or drop it by my office. The maximum personal contribution is $2,500, and there is no minimum. Everything helps. Make checks out to Tom Butt for mayor 2014, ID #1235726.

Tom Butt
Candidate for Richmond Mayor 2014, ID 1235726
117 Park Place
Richmond, CA 94801
(510) 231-7502
Tom.butt@intres.com

Below is a statement from Mike Parker:

Aug 8th: Statement from Mike Parker

After five months of vigorous campaigning for the office of Richmond Mayor, I am withdrawing from the race. A few days before the final filing deadline, I learned that Tom Butt had decided to enter the race.

My supporters and I determined that in this race the progressive vote would likely be split. We decided my time is better spent campaigning for our team of progressive candidates for the Richmond City Council: Jovanka Beckles, Eduardo Martinez, and Gayle McLaughlin.  

Taken together Gayle, Eduardo, and Jovanka, and the many campaign supporters behind them, represent a different kind of politics, based on organized people-power --not on corporate power.  

I am still an active part of "Team Richmond." I will work very hard to continue the progress we have made in Richmond and to elect members of the Council who support the fight for Doctors Hospital, a cleaner and safer refinery, jobs for Richmond, and rebuilding our system of public education through community involvement. We need to challenge the Chevron candidates and those unwilling to stand up against Chevron when representing the community.
 
In the course of this campaign, I have met and been inspired by many wonderful Richmond residents. I thank all those volunteers, unions, and community organizations who have endorsed me and especially those volunteers who worked so hard to make my campaign an exciting grassroots effort. I know we can continue the same spirit and energy to make Team Richmond a success.
 
In gratitude and solidarity,
Mike Parker

Friday, August 8, 2014
Breaking: Tom Butt to Run for Mayor of Richmond
by John Geluardi

·         Tom Butt.
Longtime Richmond city councilmember Tom Butt has decided to run for mayor this year. Butt, a liberal who often votes with the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), will square off against fellow councilmember Nat Bates, who is being backed heavily by Chevron. Butt has often taken a tough stance against the oil giant, which is both the largest polluter in the city and is Richmond's biggest private employer. Current mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a progressive who also has battled with Chevron over the years, is being termed out.

In addition, Mike Parker of the RPA has decided not to run for mayor this year. Parker had been the best hope for progressives in 2014. But with Butt's entrance in the race, he and Parker might have split liberal votes, allowing Bates to win.

Richmond mayoral race pits polar opposites
By Robert Rogers
Contra Costa Times
Posted:   08/08/2014 02:33:13 PM PDT | Updated:   42 min. ago

RICHMOND -- The city's always raucous political season got a new jolt Friday with a shuffling mayoral race, as Richmond Progressive Alliance mayoral candidate Mike Parker bowed out and longtime Councilman Tom Butt confirmed that he would throw his hat in the ring.
"After five months of vigorous campaigning for the office of Richmond Mayor, I am withdrawing from the race," Parker wrote in a statement Friday. "My supporters and I determined that in this race, the progressive vote would likely be split (between Parker and Butt)."
Reached by phone Friday, Butt said he spoke with Parker that morning, then went to City Hall to officially file for his candidacy.
"Parker standing down took away some of my hesitations about running," Butt said. "I really appreciate what he did. It's hard for him. He and his friends have invested a lot of time and money in this campaign; it was difficult for him (to drop out), and I appreciate it."
The last-minute moves pave the way for a showdown between longtime council rivals Butt, a 70-year-old architect, and Nat Bates, 82, who has served on the council off and on since the 1960s and typically enjoys the backing of big business and public employees unions.
Observers say it's a matchup of two longtime heavyweights with no love lost, and the outcome could steer the city either toward the progressive direction it's been on for years or toward policies more amenable to Chevron and other industry groups, which back Bates. Both Bates and Butt live in Point Richmond, the city's tiny, elite enclave that's been home to many political leaders over the years.
"It will be a competitive race between the two most senior members of the council who have very different styles and politics," said county Supervisor John Gioia, who added that Uche Uwahemu could exceed expectations.
Uwahemu, a 41-year-old Nigerian-born businessman, is also expected to run for mayor but had not yet filed his papers ahead of Friday's 5 p.m. deadline.
Bates could not be reached for comment Friday.
Butt kicked off his campaign Friday by saying he didn't want to run a "negative campaign" but didn't shy away from lobbing a critique at Councilman Corky Boozé, a Bates supporter.
"I think that the choice for Richmond voters will really boil down to style and political philosophy," Butt said. "I actually like Nat, and in many ways Nat's been a good council member. He doesn't misbehave like Corky. He respects decorum, has a great sense of humor and so forth. But his politics and mine are 180 degrees different."
Butt and Bates squared off for mayor in 2001, but both lost to Irma Anderson. Butt came in second, and Bates third.
Richmond City Clerk Diane Holmes said candidates have until 5 p.m. Friday to officially file their papers. Fourteen people have pulled papers for the four council seats up for grabs this year. Incumbents Boozé, Jim Rogers, Jovanka Beckles and Jael Myrick are all running for re-election. If Bates or Butt become mayor, a fifth seat will be awarded to the next highest council vote-getter.
In a twist, three people have pulled papers with the intent to run for Myrick's two-year seat. The abridged time period is owed to Myrick being appointed by the council to fill the seat in 2012 when the electoral winner, Gary Bell, died after falling ill with a severe sinus infection.
Boozé is one of the people who pulled papers for the two-year seat, which political observers say he will vie for because of concerns he may not be able to win a four-year seat in the crowded field.
Boozé denied late Thursday that he had decided to run for the two-year seat.
"I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm not afraid of nobody," Boozé said.
Contact Robert Rogers at 510-262-2726. Follow him at Twitter.com/sfbaynewsrogers.