Source: SFGate.com
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Despite his pledge last year to join Oakland city workers being forced to take a 10 percent pay cut, Mayor Ron Dellums has never stopped collecting his full $183,000-a-year salary.
When the City Council suggested last June that Dellums take a pay reduction and cut his staff to help Oakland balance its budget, the mayor’s public stance was that he was on board. “I am in no way interested in a fight at a time of significant economic despair and economic problems,” he said. “This is a time we need to close ranks.”
It turns out, however, that closing ranks didn’t mean taking less money.
Dellums’ spokesman, Paul Rose, declined on Thursday to say why the mayor didn’t forgo $18,300 in pay this past year. A statement issued by Dellums’ office said only that “changed family circumstances following the death of a close family member made it (taking the pay cut) impossible.”