Berkeley, CA. – Last night, Assembly candidates Buffy Wicks and Jovanka Beckles participated in The League of Women Voters AD15 candidate forum at Berkeley Community Theater. After the forum, a Beckles campaign supporter, unprovoked, verbally attacked a a high school-aged volunteer intern for Buffy Wicks’ campaign. The harassment, which brought the student, named Sarah, to tears, included yelling, obscenities, and lies about Buffy’s background. Sarah is a junior at Berkeley High School, where the incident occurred.
“I was approached by the Jovanka supporter, and she promptly started to yell the things she did, like, ‘the corporate b**ch needs to go back to Washington,’ and some comment about how Buffy didn’t grow up in a trailer,” said Sarah, who was recently given the “Spirit of the League Award” by the League of Women Voters for her civic engagement work in the community. Sarah serves as one of the organizing fellows for the Wicks campaign.
The Beckles supporter was identified as Ida Martinac. She has been an on-the-record supporter and volunteer in previous press reports. After the hostile exchange with the young student, Ms. Martinac proceeded to harass Buffy’s campaign with additional obscenities, stating: “I think she’s a bitch. So what? Buffy, yes I think she’s a corporate whore and a bitch. That talks nicely, a well-spoken murderer, just like Obama – who she adores.”