Found this item about now ex-Planning Commissioner Doug Boxer in Trib scribe Angela Woodall’s Friday entry interesting:
Boxer, however, looked relaxed because it was his last meeting. He was appointed to the commission nearly six years ago and stepped down a few months shy of being termed out. His resignation wouldn’t attract much attention except he is behind Let’s Go Oakland, the group leading efforts to keep the A’s in Oakland. And he is well known as the son of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has a condo in Jack London Square and is a client of his political consulting firm, Boxer and Associates.
Critics and people who are fighting against keeping the A’s in Oakland raised an eyebrow way up high at Boxer’s connections with developers and politicians and his seat on the commission when talk about a new ballpark near Jack London Square began heating up. Boxer dismissed the accusations — and they were accusations even though spoken in whispers by people with an agenda. And anyway, he said, the commission only makes recommendations to the City Council, which would have the ultimate say so over a ballpark.
“It’s time to go,” he said. “I will keep fighting the fight on the A’s.”
I’m not on the inside in terms of Oakland politics, so I don’t really know what to make of this. Either this frees Boxer up so that he can be a more forceful advocate for Let’s Go Oakland or he knows that nothing can be done prior to the expiration of his term so he’s bailing early (or both). Either way it’ll be interesting to see if Boxer’s public profile is raised in the coming months.
Update 7:30 PM – Almost forgot! In addition, Oakland City Attorney John Russo is a finalist for Alameda’s City Manager position. Russo, who famously threatened lawsuits against the A’s for anything from breaking the lease to censorship, may be looking to head across the estuary. He’d get a raise in Alameda and an escape from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, which given their friction, may be a vacation for him. Should Russo get the job, it would set off a chain of events in Oakland in which his successor would have to be chosen or elected. One or more current City Council members may be interested in Russo’s job, maybe even Doug Boxer?
newballpark.org 
“Critics and people who are fighting against keeping the A’s in Oakland…”. I didn’t think those kind of people existed within Oakland city limits; interesting. Also heard that their city attorney is trying to defect to Alameda, on the heels of Anthony Batts attempted defection to SJ; interesting. Also heard the Oakland A’s are tr…oh, never mind.
@Tony D. – The only reason you don’t hear more from the critics is that they haven’t been given a chance to air their grievances through the EIR process and public hearings.
Nothing really to add to this post. I just wanted to say . . . ah, it’s good to hear Oakland A’s baseball on the radio again. Well, it’s really Gameday Audio, but still… At least for today, all is right in the world of Oakland Athletics baseball.
It’s nice to see that someone still remembers our team’s name: Oakland Athletics. I root for the Oakland Athletics. Do you? Here’s some interesting research: on the last ten pages of Marine Layer’s posts, dating back to 11/7/10, he mentions Oakland Athletics a total of two times – once in a poll referencing another team. Is there some sort of bias against the Oakland Athletics here?
Who ordered the troll?
@Freddy – I dunno, how many times have I written “San Jose Athletics” in that period? Therein lies your answer.
@Freddy, A bit petty if you ask me. I think most refer to the team as the “A’s” or “The Athletics”. Will you be giving us a report on how many times Oakland Athletics is mentioned on AN, or should that be “Oakland Athletics Nation”? Sheesh…
As a blogger, I don’t like to use “Oakland Athletics” because it’s not casual. However (and this is big), if you want to get your post to show up in email for people who use Google Alerts, you’d better use “Oakland Athletics” or at least “Oakland A’s.”