'I'm not a defunder.' I wan't 2,000 police officers, Sheng Thao says
Thao dishes about police chief search, A's, homeless, working from home; List of San Leandro council applicants released; Big money moves in Tri-Valley state senate race; Another bad BLee poll
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—SHENG SHOW—Putting Sheng Thao in the same room with San Francisco Mayor London Breed has proven in the past to be perilous for the beleaguered Oakland mayor.
—At a similar event across the bay last year, Thao made off-the-cuff comments about charging neighboring cities with impact fees to help dealing with Oakland’s homelessness problem. The comments raised hackles among many East Bay mayors and councilmembers, and she later backtracked the idea.
—On Thursday morning, at another panel discussion with Breed, hosted by San Francisco Business Times, Thao again offered eyebrow-raising improvisation before a group of Bay Area business leaders.
—Thao denied being a supporter of the city’s previous “Defund the Police” movement, despite nobody asking the question; wished Oakland could hire 2,000 police officers; again asserted she, not the city’s Police Commission, should have the power to select a police chief; and all the while punctuating some of her remarks with cursing,
—Here’s some of Thao’s highlights from Thursday morning:
“On rejuvenating Downtown Oakland: “In regards to the city of Oakland, I’m very optimistic. You know, coming in the very first year in office, you know, you kind of got to look under the hood, and then when you open up the hood, you like, oh shit!, right? So, we had a lot of ‘oh shit’ moments.”
“Oakland is open for business,” Thao said, noting Kaiser Permanente is anchoring the downtown, the arrival of PG&E, and the downtown expansion of Merritt College,
Each will bring more foot traffic to downtown, Thao said. “You got to be in-person, there’s none of this bullshit about—sorry, I’m very comfortable—about working from home. People will have to come out and spend their money. We have to support businesses big and small.”
On the inability to hire a new police chief: “I’m so frustrated as well with the process we have in Oakland to find the next chief.”
“I don’t believe the Police Commission should have hiring and firing power of any city staffers because they are not accountable to anybody.
“It’s my chief. I should be the one to choose who I want to hire and if I have that opportunity to do that, we would have already had a chief in the city of Oakland.”
On hiring more police officers: “I get this question a lot: ‘Mayor, in a perfect world where you don’t need any money, how many officers would you want?’ There trying to suss out if I’m a defunder. I’m not a defunder. If that’s the case, 2,000 would be great. Do you know why? Because I could put one on each corner and they could build community in the community. But that’s not the reality of it. It costs money.”
On the homeless: “I used to be homeless. I used to live in my car with my son, escaping a domestic violence relationship, and I guarantee you, promise you, not once during that time was I like, ‘I need a piece of land where I can pitch a tent.’ Never. That is not okay. The people who are deciding to remain on the streets, they are not well.”
On keeping the A’s in Oakland: “Is John [Fisher] in the room? Just kidding. Ha. Ha. I’m going to continue to fight for the A’s. I really, really believe the A’s belong to the city of Oakland. So, we’re going to continue to have those conversations about possible, very viable buyers. We’re hopeful that if they don’t want to stay in Oakland, that they can sell the team.”
On the A’s extending their Coliseum lease: “If the A’s want to extend their lease that we would require some sort of assurances. That’s only fair. And those assurances look like they are leaning to keep the name Oakland A’s in Oakland and not just that, but to have an expansion team from MLB. I think that’s the best of two worlds for MLB. We can drop John Fisher and go to Las Vegas and then we can have the Oakland A’s here through an expansion team.”
TODAY’S EDITION IS FREE TO ALL! Subscribe today to receive all the East Bay political news in your inbox every weekday morning at 6 a.m.
SAN LEANDRO
—DISTRICT 1 HOPEFULS—Here’s the list of applicants seeking appointment to the San Leandro City Council in District 1:
Evan Adams
David Anderson
Stephen Cassidy
Julie Cuellas
Siddhartha Das
Charles Go
Mike Katz-Lacabe
Ellen McCarthy
Ken Pon
Cynthia Prieto-Diaz
Jesse Rubin
Pcyeta Stroud
Sbeydeh Walton
—There’s no surprises here other than the city announced on Tuesday there was 18 applicants. Five of them, though, did not qualify for consideration. according to the city clerk.
—The names to watch are former San Leandro Mayor Stephen Cassidy; two candidates who ran in the 2022 race for District 1—David Anderson and Ken Pon; and former San Leandro school boardmember Mike Katz-Lacabe.
—Two dark house candidates to watch are Evan Adams, an activist who fought against the proposed development at 1388 Bancroft Avenue; and Sbeydheh Viveros-Walton, a former San Leandro public information officer.
—If all goes well, an appointment to replace Celina Reynes, who resigned from the council on Dec. 31, could be made by Feb. 13. The deadline for the council to make a selection is Feb. 29. If no consensus is reached by then, a special election could cost the city $1 million, but don’t expect this scenario to occur.
COUNTY NEWS
EAST BAY MUD
—ANOTHER RESIGNATION—Long-time East Bay Municipal Utilities District Boardmember John Coleman announced his resignation last week after more than three decades representing the Contra Costa County-centered Ward 2.
—Coleman next move will be Manager of Natural Resources for the Calaveras County Water District. Coleman is expected the leave the board later this month.
ELECTION 2024
U.S. SENATE
—NEW POLL—You’ve read this story here before, but this time it’s serious.
—The first poll since last week’s U.S. Senate debate shows little movement by the top four candidates. In particular, Barbara Lee gained no ground, according to the poll, and actually lost a percentage point.
—The poll conducted by USC Dornsife/Price Center for Urban Politics and Policy found Democrat Adam Schiff maintaining his lead, followed by Democrat Katie Porter and Republican Steve Garvey in a tie for the second spot in the November General Election.
—Lee garnered just seven percent of the poll. The last survey conducted prior to the debate had Lee at eight percent.
Adam Schiff-D 25%
Katie Porter-D 15%
Steve Garvey-R 15%
Barbara Lee-D 7%
Undecided 29%
—The poll included 1,416 respondents surveyed Jan. 21 through Jan. 29, with a +/-2.6 percent margin of error.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
—BANK NOTES—Heads up to mobile home park tenants in San Leandro and unincorporated Alameda County. Tim Grayson, the frontrunner to represent these areas in the state Senate received a large contribution from the California Mobilehome Parkowners Alliance PAC on Thursday.
—Grayson’s campaign is also the beneficiary of a $88,235 expenditure by California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC on Thursday. The transaction follows a $45,500 expenditure for a mailer paid by the California Credit Union League PAC in support of Grayson.
—SD5 MOVES—Over in the Tri-Valley’s 5th State Senate District a series of big money moves occurred on Thursday. DaVita Inc., the kidney dialysis giant, made a $300,000 media buy in support of Democrat Carlos Villapudua.
—On the same day, fellow Democrat Jerry McNerney posted a total of $47,900 in contributions. The amount may be the largest one-day reporting haul of any East Bay candidate during this election cycle. In addition, the California Federation of Teachers contributed $25,000 to new independent expenditure committee to support McNerney’s campaign.
—MONEYBALL—Below is Form 497 large campaign contributions filed on Feb. 1.
ALAMEDA COUNTY
—Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, Charles Jones of Pleasanton, $1,000. TOTAL: $1,000.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—David Haubert (District 1), SEIU Local 1021 Candidate PAC, $1,021. TOTAL: $1,021.
—Jennifer Esteen (District 4), California Working Families Party, $5,000. TOTAL: $5,000.
—Nikki Fortunato Bas (District 5), California Working Families Party, $10,000; Andre Des Rochers of Los Angeles, $1,250. TOTAL: $11,250.
—Ben Bartlett (District 5), International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers Local 549 PAC, $5,000. TOTAL: $5,000.
—John Bauters (District 5), David Marwick of San Francisco, $2,000. TOTAL: $2,000.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
—Angela Normand (Area 2), San Leandro Teachers Association, $2,500. TOTAL: $2,500.
SAN LEANDRO
—San Leandrans for Great Schools-Yes on J (Measure J - Bond measure), Mark Kramer of San Jose, $10,000; Vista Environmental Consulting, Inc., $5,000. TOTAL: $15,000.
STATE LEGISLATURE
STATE SENATE
—Kathryn Lybarger (7th Senate District), San Diego Works!, $5,500. TOTAL: $5,500.
—Tim Grayson (9th Senate District), American Beverage Assoc. California PAC, $5,500; Air Methods Corporation, $3,500; ChamberPAC Small Contributor Committee, $2,500; Association of California Life & Health Insurance Companies PAC, $2,500; California Mobilehome Parkowners Alliance PAC, $2,000; Virginia Nga Lampson of Danville, $1,500. TOTAL: $17,500.
—Jerry McNerney (5th Senate District), California Federation of Teachers COPE Small Contributor Committee, $10,900; California Environmental Voters Small Contributor Committee, $5,500; Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP, $5,500; National Union of Healthcare Workers Candidate Committee for Quality Patient Care and Union Democracy, $5,500; Stern for Senate 2024, $5,500; Kathryn Stebner Muir Beach, $5,500; Sandor Straus of Lafayette, $5,500; Altair Law P.C., $1,500; Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, $1,500; Richard Simons Castro Valley, $1,000. TOTAL: $47,900.
—Nurses and Educators Supporting McNerney for Senate 2024 Sponsored by Labor, Consumer and Reproductive Health Organizations, (5th Senate District), California Federation of Teachers COPE, $25,000. TOTAL: $25,000.
—Carlos Villapudua (5th Senate District), Associated General Contractors PAC of CA, $2,000. TOTAL: $2,000.
STATE ASSEMBLY
—Buffy Wicks (14th Assembly District), California Dental Association PAC, $5,500; California State Council of Laborers, $5,300; United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund, $3,000; California American Council of Engineering Companies PAC, $1,500. TOTAL: $15,300.
—Mia Bonta (18th Assembly District), United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund Small Contributor Committee, $3,000; Union of American Physicians and Dentists Small Contributor Committee, $1,500. TOTAL: $4,500.
—Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (16th Assembly District), California Wind Energy Association PAC, $1,000. TOTAL: $1,000.
—Liz Ortega (20th Assembly District), United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund Small Contributor Committee, $5,500. TOTAL: $5,500.
—Alex Lee (24th Assembly District), United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund Small Contributor Committee, $5,500. TOTAL: $5,500.
—IE SPENDING—Below is Form 496 Independent Expenditure Committee (IE) disbursements in support and opposing candidates or ballot measures filed on Feb. 1.
LEGISLATURE
STATE SENATE
—Tim Grayson (9th District), California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC. SUPPORT (Field Program—$84,867.24; Palm Cards—$3,368). TOTAL: $88,235.
—Carlos Villapudua (5th District), DaVita Inc. Including Aggregated Contributions. SUPPORT (Media Buys—$300,000). TOTAL: $300,000.
