Pamela Price recall committees have raised $500,000
Free Friday! CA12 candidate announces big-name endorsement; Vinnie Bacon is running for Fremont mayor using a very familiar stump speech; AC Dems respond to fake voter incident
ELECTION 2024
PRICE RECALL
—RAINING MONEY—The effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price may ultimately cost a few million dollars, according to some estimates.
—Here’s some worrisome news for Price and her supporters: the two recall committees have combined to raise $500,000 in just three months.
—Questions about the financial viability of Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE), the recall committee seeking to recall Price, were answered on Thursday following the filing of its first finance reports.
—Since late July, SAFE raised $212,662 in contributions from just under 300 donors who gave between $100 and $250 apiece to the recall campaign.
—The large amount of small donors suggests SAFE has a large pool of possible repeat donors to draw from later and the well could be deep with future donors.
—A separate committee named Reviving the Bay Area has not yet filed a campaign finance statement, but we know through a number of recent public filings that the group has contributed a total of $340,000 to SAFE since Oct. 20.
—As reported here yesterday, Price’s 2028 re-election campaign raised just $41,158 this year, while Protect the Win for Public Safety, the committee opposing the recall, reported $15,283 in contributions.
SAVE ALAMEDA FOR EVERYONE (SAFE): RECALL DA PRICE—Jan. 1-Sept. 30
Cash IN $212,662
Cash OUT $90,320
Loans/Debts $14,434
Cash on Hand $136,775
12TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
—GAVINATOR ENDORSES—Lateefah Simon’s campaign for the 12th Congressional District has acted like a steamroller since announcing her campaign on Feb. 28.
—In short order, Simon has coalesced the entire East Bay political establishment, including a host of local officials, labor unions, and an impressive list of small donors.
—On Thursday, Simon demonstrated her support reaches the highest office in the state after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his endorsement of her congressional campaign to replace Rep. Barbara Lee, who is running in the U.S. Senate primary.
—Simon has served as an adviser to Newsom on police reform. She was also on a short list of possible candidates last month for the appointment to replace the late-Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
OAKLAND CITY ATTORNEY
—MORE ENDORSEMENTS—Oakland city attorney candidate Ryan Richardson received the backing of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21, he announced on Thursday.
—Behind SEIU Local 1021, the union is one of the largest in Oakland, and represents employees in the city attorney’s office.
—Richardson, also Oakland’s chief assistant city attorney, hopes to replace his boss, retiring Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker in November 2024.
FREMONT MAYOR
—BACK INTO THE FRYING PAN—Touting an anti-developer and clean money message that he’s used for over a decade, Vinnie Bacon formally announced his campaign for Fremont mayor this week.
—Bacon, who served on the Fremont City Council from 2012 to 2020, again renewed his vow to never to accept campaign contributions from housing developers.
—“I am Fremont’s original clean money candidate,” Bacon said in the lengthy kickoff video posted last Sunday.
—“As a councilmember, I often stood alone voting against other developments that were a net negative for our city while paying massive profits to absentee landowners and developers,” he continued.
—One of the things to watch in this race is whether Bacon’s anti-developer stump speech, which he has featured in every race since 2010, resonates with Fremont voters in 2024 when a housing shortage continues to plague the city and its neighbors in Alameda County.
—Bacon enters a race for the open mayoral seat that include current Fremont Councilmember Raj Salwan.
5TH/9TH STATE SENATE DISTRICTS
—DARK WATERS—The PFAS problem is potentially countywide, but the worries about the “forever chemical” found in drinking water is acute in Pleasanton and neighboring areas.
—Some wells in Pleasanton were found to be contaminated with high levels of PFAS in recent years.
—Tri-Valley voters newly connected to the 5th State Senate District that runs east to San Joaquin County may not feel comfortable about a nexus between some candidates for the state Legislature and Du Pont, one of the chemical makers being sued for polluting the region’s water supply.
—Assembly Carlos Villapudua has accepted a pair of $2,000 contributions from DuPont since April 2022, according to finance reports.
—His wife, Edith Villapudua, a Democrat and political novice seeking the open 5th District seat, has not accepted any money from DuPont.
—But her campaign is inextricably tied to her husband. A number of large contributions to her campaign have come from members of the state Legislature.
—Tim Grayson, the Contra Costa County assemblymember seeking a promotion to the 9th State Senate District that now includes San Leandro and a large portion of unincorporated Alameda County, also accepted a pair of $2,000 contributions from DuPont since October 2022, according to finance reports. The district, however, does not include the Tri-Valley.
—Each contribution to Villapudua and Grayson is filed under E.I. Dupont De Nemours and Company DBA Corteva Agriscience. The latter being a spinoff of DuPont created in 2019 that focuses on agricultural sciences.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE DATA
—MONEYBALL—Below is Form 497 campaign contributions ($5,000 or more) filed Oct. 31 through Nov. 2.
ALAMEDA COUNTY
PRICE RECALL
—Save Alameda For Everyone: Recall DA Price, Reviving the Bay Area, $15,000 (Nov. 1).
STATE LEGISLATURE
STATE ASSEMBLY
—Buffy Wicks (14th Assembly District), Lisa Koch Design Inc. of Los Angeles, $5,500 (Oct. 30).
—Mia Bonta (18th Assembly District), SEIU Local 2015 State PAC Small Contributor Committee, $10,900 (Oct. 30); John Foster of Pleasant Hill, $3,000, $2,500 (Nov. 1).
STATE SENATE
—Kathryn Lybarger (7th Senate District), SEIU Local 2015 State PAC, $10,900 (Oct. 30).
—Tim Grayson (9th Senate District), Anheuser-Busch Companies, $5,500 (Oct. 31).
—Edith Villapudua (5th Senate District), California Association of Highway Patrolmen, $5,500 (Oct. 30); Construction & General Laborers Local Union No. 304 PAC, $5,500 (Oct. 27).
—Rhodesia Ransom (5th Senate District), SEIU United Healthcare Workers West PAC, $10,900 (Nov. 1 ).
STATEWIDE
—Steve Glazer for Lt. Governor 2026, PG&E Corporation and Affiliated Entities, $2,500 (Sept. 19).
COUNTY NEWS
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—DAY ONE— On Monday evening, the much-anticipated Reparations Commission kicks off its effort to identify recommendations to remedy the historical impacts of racial inequality in Alameda County.
—The inaugural meeting includes input from the Board’s ad-hoc committee, the selection of the commission’s chairperson, and the scope of the body’s work.
—The commission plans to meet on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning on Dec. 13
—The Reparations Commission’s work could be completed sometime in late 2024 or early 2025, Supervisor Nate Miley has previously estimated.
ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMOCRATS
—IT WASN’T ME—A day after someone impersonated a member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and attempted to cast votes, the chair of the local party called the incident a “very serious matter.”
—“It cheapens and undermines the democratic process,” Alameda County Democratic Party Chair Igor Tregub said. “I am taking this extremely serious and will work with the Executive Board to ensure that all of us feel secure knowing that our votes are our votes and were cast as intended.”
—During a roll call vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war on Wednesday night, an unknown individual on Zoom attempted to vote on behalf of central committee member Harris Mojadedi, an alternate for Rep. Eric Swalwell.
—Shortly after, Mojadedi posted on Facebook that he did not attend the meeting nor do he cast any votes.
D.C. NEWS
ISRAEL/GAZA WAR
—EAST BAY CAUCUS VOTES NO—East Bay Reps. Barbara Lee, Eric Swalwell, and Ro Khanna voted no on a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel on Thursday.
—President Biden had previously requested a $106 billion aid package for both Ukraine and Israel.
—The legislation passed 226-196 with 12 Democrats voting with the Republican majority, but its fate in the U.S. Senate is cloudy.
—“As I’ve stated before, I firmly support Israel’s right to defend itself,” Lee said in a statement. But she questioned the bill’s funding source.
—“I could not support a partisan bill that takes the unprecedented action of conditioning aid to address an urgent global crisis on domestic spending cuts to the Internal Revenue Service,” Lee said. “These cuts are not only wholly unrelated to the conflict.”
—East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier did not register a vote on Thursday.
PODCAST
—EPISODE 73—The state of hospitals in Alameda County remains dire.
—St. Rose Hospital in Hayward continues to struggle. Will the county ultimately come to the rescue?
—How does it relate to previous and ongoing threats to San Leandro and Alameda Hospitals and Alta Bates in Berkeley, among others?
—For those answers and insights, Dan and I chat with Doug Jones of SEIU-UHW, the go-to local labor leader when it comes to the intersection of politics and health care.
—Look out for Episode 73 on Monday!
