SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- It’s been five days since Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Saturday first tipped off the community to upcoming immigration raids, and her office phones are still ringing off the hook. On the front lines at the reception desk as calls come in from around the country, Khalil Corbin broke out a notepad and began keeping score.
The rough, subjective tally, as of Thursday afternoon? Love her decision: 135. Hate it: 908.
“I’m surprised it’s not more,” said Joe Tuman, a San Francisco State University professor of political and legal communications and 2014 mayoral candidate. “It’s an emotional issue for them thanks to (Donald) Trump. Very likely people that would go to the trouble to email or call are the very same people that would tweet about this, which is the daily diet for the nutcase we have in the White House right now.”