From San Francisco Chronicle Matier & Ross October 18:
And finally:Without calling it out by name, the National Alliance on Mental Illness took a swipe at the Richmond firefighters union for its recent news conference attacking the city's mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, "based on a past episode of depression that left her unable to work."
The mayor had cited that in court papers in 2003 as one reason for declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on more than $100,000 in student loans.
"Adding insult to injury," the alliance said, "the attack occurred during national observations of Mental Illness Awareness Week."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/18/BA121FT9IV.DTL#ixzz12iM0yMmS
From Contra Costa Times Lisa Vorderbrueggen, October 17:

Pre-election theatrics, in three acts

By Lisa Vorderbrueggen
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 10/16/2010 06:00:00 PM PDT

Contra Costa County's election season produced enough drama last week to populate a full-scale opera.
ACT III: Power and money emerged in Richmond, where new campaign finance reports revealed high-dollar firefighter and police union investments in defeating incumbent Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.
Richmond First, a police and firefighters coalition, spent $10,000 on opposition research, $5,000 on billboards and $1,675 on signs, all of it targeting McLaughlin.
The group recently launched a major anti-McLaughlin campaign, releasing documents showing that she twice attempted in court to dissolve $100,000 in student loans on the grounds that she has had serious psychiatric disabilities and could not hold a down a full-time job.
Sources said McLaughlin can expect hits this week on her Green Party views.
Contact Lisa Vorderbrueggen at 925-945-4773, lvorderbrueggen@bayareanewsgroup.com, www.ibabuzz.com/politics or at Twitter.com/lvorderbrueggen.