Wilson Leads Mayor Bid in Oakland Vote

Incumbent Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson had a hefty advantage over six other competitors Tuesday night shortly after polls closed on a fierce election that some fear could divide black residents and weaken their power base.

With 64 of 303 precincts reporting, the 70-year-old mayor collected 7,565 votes or 62% of the 12,254 votes counted two hours after polls closed at 8 p.m.

Wilson’s closest challenger--as expected--was Wilson Riles Jr. Riles had 3,628 votes, or 30%, said the Alameda County registrar of voters office.

The remaining 8% of the votes cast were divided among other mayoral contenders who included a TV producer, a painter, a Socialist Workers Party candidate, perennial candidate Hector Reyna and a man backed by controversial conservative Lyndon LaRouche.

‘Keep Up Good Work’ Wilson, an attorney and former Superior Court judge, sought to repeat the 1977 victory that made him the city’s first black mayor. He collected about $250,000 for his campaign, which adopted the slogan, “Let’s Keep Up the Good Work, Oakland.”

Riles, 36, is a former Peace Corps volunteer and city councilman whose father was the first black elected to statewide office as superintendent of schools.

Riles, who waged an aggressive, $60,000 campaign, accused Wilson of favoring big business and wealthy Oakland hills residents at the expense of the lower- and middle-class residents who elected him. His literature said, “Mayor Lionel Wilson has taken good care of his friends. But has he taken good care of you?”

“Wilson Riles says a lot of things; whether they’re true or not is open to question,” said Wilson, who agreed that the campaign might have divided the black community, “if I was willing to indulge him in the kind of mudslinging he’s been engaging in.”

Oakland has been plagued by economic woes, including a teen-age unemployment rate of 50%. It has been hit by a highly publicized, violent drug gang war, which Wilson said could be solved through a task force of law enforcement agencies. Riles said he believes education is the best weapon against drug abuse.