Barbara Lee says the U.S. Senate is for me
DA Pamela Price removes special circumstances charge in an infamous East Bay child murder case
ELECTION 2024
U.S. SENATE
—BLEE FOR SENATE—A day after Rep. Katie Porter joined the 2024 U.S. Senate race, the East Bay’s venerable progressive Rep. Barbara Lee announced her own bid for the seat expected to be left open by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
—Lee reportedly told members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday morning that she intends to run for the seat, according to a tweet from a congressional reporters at Politico.
—“I’m not really doing anything except letting colleagues know that there’ll be a time to talk about the Senate race,” Lee later told Politico.
—The 89-year-old Feinstein is expected to retire, but no official announcement has been made. Lee, 76, has served the East Bay since 1998. Her lone vote in 2001 against authorizing military action in the aftermath of 9/11 is legendary for its courage and forethought.
—Lee is easily the most popular elected official not only in the East Bay, but perhaps the entire Bay Area, and that alone makes her a formidable challenger if the Senate race is largely dominated by Southern California candidates.
—Lee, however, has some weaknesses. In the past, she has not been a prolific fundraiser. This senate race is expected to be the most expensive in state history. Aside from Lee’s famous vote in 2001, she is largely without a signature piece of legislation to hang her hat on.
—Because of her fame and dominance in East Bay politics, she has not run a full-time campaign in more than two decades, which could put her at a disadvantage against challengers that are far younger and who have built up callouses from recent campaigns.
—In addition, to Porter and Lee, Rep. Adam Schiff and Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna have shown interest in mounting senate campaigns. Following Porter’s early announcement on Tuesday, both Schiff and Khanna criticized its timing as the state is ravaged by rain and flooding.
Also, never count out East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell having interest, although he hasn’t shown any signals to any local officials and insiders that I know of.
—WHO WANTS TO REPLACE A LEGEND?—I broke down some of the possible names that could be interested in replacing Rep. Barbara Lee in the new 12th Congressional District. Here’s a larger list of people who could be eyeing a run for Congress:
Buffy Wicks, 14th District assemblymember
Nancy Skinner, 9th District state senator
Mia Bonta, 18th District assemblymember
Libby Schaaf, former Oakland mayor
Loren Taylor, former Oakland councilmember
Dan Kalb, Oakland councilmember
Keith Carson, Alameda County supervisor
Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley mayor
Tony Daysog, Alameda councilmember
Victor Aguilar, Jr., San Leandro councilmember
COUNTY NEWS
ALAMEDA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
—SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES REMOVED—Well before Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price won last November’s election, her opponents repeatedly warned of an impending recall against her. Granted, the comments were often sour grapes.
—A report from KTVU on Tuesday could easily give fodder for a recall if it were ever to happen. Crime reporter Henry Lee reported that Price removed special circumstances from the case of the accused killer of Michaela Garecht, the nine-year-old girl who was kidnapped in 1988 at a market on Mission Boulevard in Hayward.
—The murder mystery and search of Michaela’s body is one of the most infamous in Bay Area history.
—Price’s decision to remove the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty angered critics who say the move gives the accused killer little reason to divulge the location of Michaela’s body.
—Former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley had charged the killer, David Misch, with special circumstances in December 2020. Misch is alleged to have also killed two women in Fremont.
—So what’s going on here? The story last month in the San Francisco Chronicle detailing O’Malley’s attempt to ask county supervisors to shift $20 million in county dollars to fund programs she previously started could have been planted by a Price loyalist in the DA’s office. Perhaps, someone currying favor with the new boss, who in the past threatened to clean house, if elected DA?
—Something similar is likely going down here. So much effort has been done over the decades to solve the Garecht case. There’s no doubt those involved in the case have much skin in the game and sough to notify the press of Price’s action.
ALAMEDA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—NEW BOARD PREZ—Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley is back as president of the Board of Supervisors. His colleagues gave Miley the gavel at Tuesday’s meeting. He replaces Supervisor Keith Carson as board president.
—MORE FROM TUESDAY’S MEETING—Supervisor Nate Miley reiterated on Tuesday his intention to bring an automatic recount ordinance back to the Board of Supervisors some time in the future. Miley has not fleshed out his proposal, but several races in last November’s election would have kickstarted a recount if the threshold was set at a margin of less than one percent between the candidates.
—TENANT PROTECTIONS—Although the Alameda County Board of Supervisors decided on Tuesday to continue a second reading of three tenant protection ordinances for unincorporated Alameda County to Jan. 24, it was another continued item that received a barrage of public speakers that forced the meeting into the late evening.
—An item placed by Supervisor David Haubert to revisit the county’s eviction moratorium was roundly supported by a large number of speakers who described themselves as mom and pop landlords. The county’s eviction moratorium is scheduled to end in late April and has been in effect since the early months of the pandemic in 2020.
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—HT GRANT DENIED—The tweet below from my former colleague at the East Bay Express pretty much sums up the entire Howard Terminal ballpark saga to the point.
—The news that Oakland’s request from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a $180 million grant to be used for infrastructure costs around the ballpark area was denied is a bad start to the year for supporters of the A’s and the project.
—But all hope is not lost. The federal government is still awash in money for infrastructure projects and a number of grants are still out there… for now.
—Perhaps Oakland officials were readying us for this latest development? For months, Oakland’s city administrator raised the possibility they might not receive the entire $180 million grant. Turns out they got none.
—COUNCIL PREZ RE-ELECTED—It’s a job apparently nobody on the Oakland City Council wants. Oakland councilmember reappointed Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas to another term as council president on Tuesday. Councilmember Dan Kalb was appointed council pro tem.