Political Notebook: Alameda voters could elect out judge and supervisor
Published 04/22/2010
by Matthew S. Bajko
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4735 (http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4735)
This June voters in Alameda County could elect their first openly gay county supervisor and an out judicial candidate. Hayward City Councilmember Kevin Dowling is seeking a seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors while administrative law judge Victoria Kolakowski is running a second time for a seat on the Alameda County Superior Court.
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When Kolakowski, 48, a transgender woman, last ran in 2008 for an open seat on the Alameda bench, she faced a similar predicament. The eventual winner, Dennis Hayashi, was able to lean on his wife Mary, a Democratic state assemblywoman from Hayward, for campaign cash from her own coffers and muscle within state Democratic Party circles to secure endorsements.