OAKLAND — Breaking with other prominent East Bay Democrats, retired Alameda County Prosecutor Nancy O’Malley became the second former leader in the past week to call for their successor to be removed from office in elections of November 5.
O’Malley’s endorsement of the recall campaign targeting current District Attorney Pamela Price came just days after former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf threw her support behind the impeachment attempt the mayor for his first term, Sheng Thao, from office.
Political observers said Wednesday that the moderate Democrats’ two announcements appeared to signal unusual rancor within the local party, as well as a potential failure by Price and Thao to consolidate their power and support after taking office. Today, the contentious recall elections have transcended ordinary political disagreements to become a deeper, more personal fight, said Dan Schnur, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.
“It’s pretty rare,” Schnur said of O’Malley and Schaaf’s statements. “In more conventional circumstances, these types of differences would remain behind closed doors. But a recall tends to make them public.”
On Wednesday, O’Malley called Price’s handling of the job “heartbreaking,” while accusing Price of intimidating his political opponents and lying about O’Malley’s administration. It’s a marked departure for the 12-year former district attorney, who has largely avoided speaking publicly after supporting Price’s opponent in the 2022 election.
“She is not qualified or competent to serve in this position,” said O’Malley, who served as the county’s top prosecutor from 2010 to 2022. She added that Price “has brought the prosecutor’s office to a place where it cannot function under his leadership.” .”
O’Malley’s sudden entry into the crosshairs of a messy election cycle came just days after the elder Schaaf similarly waded into the recall battle against her successor, Thao. In an interview with KQED, she said Thao was “not capable of growing into this position.”
“I am voting to remove Mayor Thao because Oakland cannot afford two more years of continued damage to our fiscal solvency and public safety,” Schaaf told the outlet.
Until last week, statements from other longtime local Democrats, including Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, were largely more moderate, while taking aim at the recall process itself and calling such campaigns “undemocratic, costly and chaotic”.
“Now is the time for us to come together and work to solve the real and serious problems facing our communities,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, while adding that the recalls are “stopping our public servants from governing.” and deplete the resources we sorely need. our communities.
“I oppose them on principle,” added Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, in an article on X. “Except in rare circumstances of serious misconduct, recalls are undemocratic and a waste of public funds.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, has proven to be a notable exception in recent months, having approved the recall against Price while chastising her on X for “tweeting less.” Continue further.
Hours after O’Malley’s statements, Price responded by chastising the former prosecutor for the “harm” she caused to the DA’s office while she was in office.
Price suggested that O’Malley timed his announcement to anticipate Price’s own news conference Wednesday afternoon, during which Price claimed that a former prosecutor, now a judge, appeared to cover up an alleged practice by county prosecutors of Alameda consisting of attempting to remove Jewish and black residents. juries in death penalty cases. The alleged cover-up took place in 2004, when O’Malley was a top prosecutor under former District Attorney Tom Orloff.
“Nancy O’Malley represents the last desperate attempt to return to a time when police officers and police unions controlled this office,” Price said.
Price regularly denounced O’Malley at press conferences and public meetings, saying she inherited a “hot mess” when she took office. Recently, she faulted O’Malley’s for an allegedly outdated data management system and a backlog of misdemeanor cases that has jeopardized more than 1,000 prosecutions.
Thao’s campaign, meanwhile, has criticized the wealthy backers of the recall effort targeting her. They also highlighted a $21,000 settlement this month between Schaaf and the city’s Public Ethics Commission over allegations that she privately controlled a political committee that targeted her opponents.
“If she was willing to do this, it is not surprising that she would also be involved in the toxic product recall campaign,” Thao’s campaign said in a statement.
The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday released excerpts of a poll conducted by Oakland-based FM3 Research that indicated 64 percent of local voters leaned toward removing Thao, while only 31 percent leaned toward removing him. other meaning.
The poll, which surveyed 720 voters with a margin of error of 3.7 percent, reflects a slight improvement for the mayor compared to an August poll by David Binder Research that showed 69 percent of likely voters d Oakland considered it unfavorable.
Both endorsements portend an uphill struggle for Price and Thao to stay in office, especially for the Oakland mayor, who won office in 2022 in a ranked-choice election, said Jason McDaniel, associate professor of political science. at San Francisco State University. In these contests, voters rank their preferred candidates, meaning a candidate can win even if they did not receive a majority of votes in the first round of vote counting.
“It’s a sign that these politicians have not unified the city’s political leaders behind them,” McDaniel said.
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