DA applicants endure 'longest job interview of all-time'

How did each DA applicant do? Who joined forces in an effort to edge out the perceived frontrunner? Who is O'Malley backing? Plus, San Leandrans don't care their elected official was raided by FBI

Three of the seven remaining applicants for the Alameda County DA appointment on Tuesday—Ursula Jones Dickson, Annie Esposito, and Venus Johnson.

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—Seven applicants for the vacant Alameda County District Attorney position endured five hours of interviews by county supervisors, in addition to slogging through another 90 minutes of public comment. One speaker called it the “longest job interview of all-time.”

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will take the information they gleaned from a highly qualified field of applicants hoping to replace recalled DA Pamela Price, and make an appointment at a special meeting on Jan. 28.

The top three candidates in the field—Annie Esposito, Venus Johnson, and Ursula Jones Dickson distinguished themselves.

The four other applicants interviewed on Tuesday—Yibin Shen, Elgin Lowe, L.D. Louis, and Jimmie Wilson—also did not disappoint, highlighting a deep roster of candidates seeking the appointment.

Hinting that Johnson may be the frontrunner, Esposito and Jones Dickson joined forces on Tuesday in an effort to edge out Johnson, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s pick for DA.

Former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley also weighed in on who should succeed Price, her long-time rival.

There was one notable thread that ran through all seven candidates: the office left behind by Price is badly damaged and divided.

“This office is struggling. It’s almost broken,” Jones Dickson said. “This is going to be a huge undertaking and I don’t know that anybody really understands how decimated and down this office is.”

“There are no Pam people. There are no Nancy people,” Jimmie Wilson said. “We are all in this together.”

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