Predictions for Alameda County DA, sheriff primary races
Curious Oakland Project Homekey exchange; Janani is back; Khanna wrote a book
—A new episode of the East Bay Insiders podcast is now available. Subscribe to the podcast FREE on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download podcasts. Listen HERE.
—Here’s a preview of Episode 41: “Bryan vs. the Tsunami”:
—East Bay Insiders co-host and veteran East Bay political consultant Shawn Wilson and I discussed a recent forum featuring candidates in the open Alameda County District Attorney race. The candidates includes civil rights leader Pamela Price, two prosecutors from the DA’s office—Terry Wiley and Jimmie Wilson—and Seth Steward, chief of staff for Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb. Later in the conversation, we examined the Alameda County Sheriff’s race between Sheriff Gregory Ahern, Yesenia Sanchez, and JoAnn Walker.
STEVE TAVARES: Pamela Price has an experience problem. I could tell that she was fluffing up her resume. She actually said that she is one of the premier civil rights attorneys in all of America. She doesn’t have experience—let’s be real—winning elections. That’s just facts. And two, she has no experience running an office.
SHAWN WILSON: Look. Two things: Obviously, it goes without saying. The bottom line is Joe Six-Pack doesn’t know that she doesn’t have any experience running an office. What they do know is that they’ve seen her name on the ballot three times and what they also know is that Terry Wiley and Jimmie Wilson is coming out of the same office that people want to get rid of. Then you got this new guy (Seth Steward).
You’ve got three African American males against an African American female. Who the f—k are you going to vote for, if you don’t know? You’re going to vote for the one whose been on the ballot three or four f—king times because you don’t understand that she’s incapable of holding that office.
No one knows Jimmie Wilson. No one knows Terry Wiley. No one knows Seth [Steward]. No one knows these guys and that’s the biggest hurdle they all have. And the fact that all three want to continue to run is absolutely f—king ridiculous. Two of them are running out of the same house and the other one is cannibalizing the Oakland vote.
STEVE: Cannibalize. I was going to use that word. And then what happens in the end?
SHAWN: F—king Pamela [Price] wins…
STEVE: Did you watch the sheriff’s forum? I liked that Sheriff Ahern kept cool. He was getting attacked left and right and he stayed cool. I think that’s a good look for him. That’s good advice or, as far as we know, the volume on his computer wasn’t up and he didn’t hear what they said.
SHAWN: I can tell you what’s going to happen in this race before it even happens.
STEVE: That’s why we’re East Bay Insiders!
SHAWN: JoAnn Walker is not going to file. She ain’t paying the $25,000 f—king dollars to file. She has no money. There’s no way she files. It’s going to be over in June. It’s going to be a two-person race—Yesenia [Sanchez] and the sheriff, and the sheriff wipes her ass clean. Done deal. It’s over.
ELECTION 2022 UPDATE
—JANANI IS BACK—Although she pulled papers to run for the Oakland City Council back in November, former Assembly candidate Janani Ramachandran announced her campaign for the council’s District 4 seat.
“I am ready to fight for bold changes that Oaklanders deserve,” Ramachandran tweeted on Thursday. “It’s time to challenge dysfunctional politics that’s blocking equity and progress for the people.”
Based on the tweet, Ramachandran is likely to employ the same Bernie Sanders-like progressive message that suited her so well in last year’s 18th Assembly District special election against Mia Bonta.
No other candidate in District 4 has pulled papers. Oakland Councilmember Sheng Thao currently represents the district, and would have been up for re-election next fall, but Thao announced last November that she is running for mayor.
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—CITY ADMIN GETS CRICKETS—Oakland Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Rebecca Kaplan raised the ire of Oakland City Administrator Ed Reiskin on Tuesday. The issue followed a proposed application for a share of Project Homekey Round 2 state funding for housing for the homeless. Discussions like these are currently being held all over Alameda County following a $1.4 billion tranche of new state funding. Fremont, for example, is seeking $40 million to convert an existing hotel into up to 156 units for the chronically homeless. Oakland is seeking a total of $120 million.
But controversy erupted on Tuesday evening after a late-arriving proposal was wedged in by Kaplan that includes a total of 206 units to be constructed by the Housing Consortium of the East Bay. The “Foothill and Edes/Clara Senior Housing Project,” is two properties proposed to be used for senior housing.
Reiskin appeared blindsided by the move. “I just want to manage expectations,” he told councilmembers. The application has have yet to be vetted by the city administrator’s office and a large amount of information must be evaluated and later verified before a Jan. 31 deadline, he added.
Reiskin also questioned the source for $10.3 million in local funds that was included in the city council packet. He also questioned how the document containing the dollar figure got into the packet.
Kaplan sidestepped the question twice. “Mr. City Administrator, I like you. I respect you. I don’t want to have a silly argument with you for no reason,” Kaplan said. “I feel we have to act with the fierce urgency of now.”
—Watch a clip of the exchange between Fife and Reiskin HERE on the new East Bay Insiders YouTube channel.
Prior to a vote, which was ultimately unanimous, Fife said, “I just hope that the comments we just received from the city administrator are not the foreshadowing of a less than lackluster application being forwarded to the state. I’m really concerned that with all of the comments just made, it sounds like the effort may not get put into this application that it might need in order to pass muster.”
Reiskin calmly shot back, “I hope there wasn’t a suggestion that we would somehow sabotage the effort at advancing this should the council direct so. I’m going to assume that was not what was being suggested because that would be, I think, offensive professionally to the folks on our staff.”
Fife said her comments were not intended to offend, and added, “I’m new at this. I’m coming with fresh eyes about how business is done in this city.”
Reiskin again asked for answer about the $10.3 million in local funds, but received no answer from Kaplan. He added the process by which the Housing Consortium of the East Bay is arriving to the city is “different than others.”
A Request for Proposals (RFP) was also waived in this case. Keep an eye on this application and who may be behind it.
—Oakland councilmembers postponed a vote this week on a proposal by Kaplan and Fife to shift $493,000 in funding set aside for public relation and reallocate it to additional police patrols in East Oakland.
D.C. DISH
—NEW BOOK—Rep. Ro Khanna is heading out on a book tour to support his new book, Dignity in a Digital Age, scheduled to be published on Jan. 31. Khanna will also make the rounds on the talk show circuit in coming weeks, including appearances on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Real Time with Bill Maher.
The book examines the digital divide that has allowed places like Khanna's Silicon Valley district to greatly prosper while leaving other places struggling to economically keep up. The subject is likely informed by Khanna’s focus over the years on the digital divide in places like Appalachia.
This is Khanna’s second book. In 2012, he published Entrepreneurial Nation, a look at manufacturing in the U.S., which for its dry subject matter, was surprisingly engaging. He ran for Congress two years later. Is this new book a high-profile step in the direction of another move up the political ladder? House Speaker? U.S. Senate?
—JAN. 6 HOLIDAY—During a discussion with an East Bay Democratic club this week, Khanna said he would support making the Jan. 6 insurrection a national day of remembrance. “I love that idea. I think it’s a brilliant idea.” he said in response to a question. “We should push for it. Make it a federal holiday.”
NEWS BRIEFING
LAW & ORDER
—BLOCKBUSTER—Three corrections officers and the warden of the Federal Corrections Institution women’s prison in Dublin, have been charged with a number of sexual abuse crimes, KTVU reports. Among the allegations made the U.S. Department of Justice is that officers engaged in sexual activity with female inmates inside a shipping container.
—SECOND AG INVESTIGATION—A day after State Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation into the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office for several allegations of misconduct, Bonta announced his office will initiate an independent review of officers who fatally shot an armed man at San Francisco International Airport, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The shooting at SFO occurred on Thursday morning.
ALAMEDA
—PLAN FOR COMBATING RACISM—Alameda will pay a consultant $250,000 to create a “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Plan,” the East Bay Times reports. The Alameda City Council recently declared racism a public health crisis.
FREMONT
—TESLA DEATH—A worker on a Tesla production line in Fremont died on Wednesday, Business Insider reports. The death comes a month after a Tesla employee was shot and killed by another employee following a scuffle.
—Enjoy the weekend. I’ll be back on Monday with another issue of the East Bay Insiders newsletter. Remember next week is the last of the free preview period. Subscribe today for $5 a month or $30 a year. I apologize for the pricing discrepancy. Both figures are the lowest Substack allows me to charge. —steve