I try so hard not to constantly dump on Oakland politicians. I really do. But that exercise constantly tests my goodwill attitude and sunny nature.

Recently, even more so. I look at the way things are headed with the Raiders and A’s and their stadium pursuits. And I fail to see how any public official connected to the situation can escape ridicule. The politicos keep hurling themselves into quicksand, then claim they were pushed into the muck.

Not that the Raiders and A’s owners are perfect human beings, understand. But I totally grasp why Mark Davis and Lew Wolff must resist an urge to rip out their hair after engaging with East Bay legislators.

For example: My reliable information is that one Alameda County supervisor has been telling friends that the county has internally conceded it cannot satisfy the Raiders. As a result, the county’s focus has switched primarily to keeping the A’s in Oakland, figuring the NFL team is definitely going to Los Angeles.

But that’s not what the Raiders say — or have been told. And new Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is floating a plan, partially on the NFL’s recommendation, to buy out the county’s share of the Coliseum property in hopes of making it simpler to cut a Raiders deal … except, wait! Wolff, the A’s co-owner, is on record as not endorsing that buyout idea. That’s because the county has more resources to tap in assembling a ballpark package for his baseball team. Wolff wants the county in, not out.

And, of course, the strange saga of Floyd Kephart continues. The San Diego businessman has until Aug. 21 to present the final version of his blueprint to transform the Oakland Coliseum area into a massive mixed-use development that includes stadiums for both the A’s and Raiders. Even though both teams have rejected Kephart’s overtures.

Yeesh. Got all that? I know, I know. The whole thing gives me a headache, too. But let me make an effort to sort out the mess.

Let’s start with this opinion: Oakland must bid farewell to the comic stylings of Kephart and his pie-by-the-freeway Coliseum City plan. The sooner, the better. The quickest that can happen is when Kephart’s exclusive negotiating agreement expires in September.

And after that? My stance has not changed: Oakland must decide which of the two teams it wishes to keep — the Raiders or the A’s? And then the politicians must work like crazy to put together a fair stadium agreement with that lone franchise while making sure the terms do not fleece East Bay citizens.

Good luck with that. To understand why, I will offer a primer.

Here is how other cities conduct stadium negotiations with professional sports teams:

The city talks to the team owners. The team owners talk to the city. The two parties reach a deal. Or they don’t.

Here is how Oakland conducts stadium negotiations with its professional teams:

First, Oakland brings to the table a problematic setup where the city and county share ownership of the preferred property on which the stadiums can be built. Then the city green lights an improbable potential project headed by a third party (Kephart) who is authorized to be a middle man in getting the teams on board.

And then, in the middle of all this, the city suddenly talks about a plan to buy out the county — even though no one knows exactly how the city can come up with the dough to pay for the county’s portion of the land as well as the roughly $60 million in debt that the county still owes as part of the disastrous 1995 Raiders deal.

Yeah, it’ll be a snap getting deals done with both teams under those conditions. (Pause here for laughter.) If anything is going to happen, though, giving a big farewell wave to Kephart would be a good first step. Certain details of his plan, first reported by this newspaper’s Matthew Artz, were preposterous. Among other things, Kephart wants to force Davis to sell part of his team to an investor — and then force Davis to use $100 million of that new money to help pay for the stadium.

Huh? If Davis really wanted to contribute an extra $100 million in addition to the $500 million he’s already pledged to the project, then why wouldn’t he just borrow the extra $100 million and retain that share of the team for himself? And if Davis wants a new investor, why shouldn’t he pick the person he’d prefer rather than have Kephart dictate the investor to him?

There might still be a path to getting a new Raiders stadium built in Oakland. But Kephart isn’t part of that path. He needs to go.

Meanwhile, with the Raiders investigating a Southern California option when their lease expires after this season, the Athletics are sitting on their 10-year lease and waiting to see what happens. Some angry A’s fans want to know why Wolff hasn’t stepped up to present his own ballpark proposal. The other day on the phone, I asked him.

“The Raiders deserve a period of time to see what they can get done,” Wolff said. “We are pursuing our analysis of a ballpark in Oakland as required by MLB. Both the city and county have been helpful with that.”

One popular narrative is that the Raiders are seeking to push the A’s out of Oakland, and vice versa. After talking to Davis and Wolff several times about this topic, I disagree. The Raiders don’t want the A’s to leave. The A’s don’t want the Raiders to leave. But this much is true: Both teams are finding it harder to believe that Oakland can come up with a strategy to retain both franchises.

Given the bureaucratic mud pit the officials have created for themselves, I’m beginning to wonder if Oakland can even retain one.

Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Contact him at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.