Price's campaign posted false endorsement
Supervisor Tam names interim chief of staff, and the surprising name attached to the permanent position
ELECTION 2024
18 days to Primary Day
—FALSIFYING THE RECORD—Protect the Win for Public Safety, the campaign opposing the recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, posted a graphic on social media falsely stating that supervisorial candidate John Bauters supports her campaign.
—“Endorsement Alert: Emeryville City Council Member John Bauters has endorsed Protect the Win campaign and opposes the recall petition,” according to the posting on the campaign’s Instagram page.
—“I did not support Pam Price in either of her bids for DA in 2018 or 2022,” Bauters said on Thursday. “I generally disfavor recalls because the process comes at an immense cost to taxpayers. The recall petition hasn’t qualified for the ballot yet, but if the people of Alameda County believe DA Price has violated her oath of office or failed in her duties to keep our communities safe, then that is what a recall process is for.
—“If the recall qualifies, the voters will decide whether she should be retained or removed from office. I have never supported or endorsed DA Price’s ‘Protect the Win’ campaign and any claims otherwise are false.”
—The posting was later deleted by the Price campaign.
—However, the fake endorsement caught the attention of Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE), the committee behind the DA Price recall campaign.
—SAFE’s feed on X reposted Price’s false endorsement on Wednesday with a negative comment about Bauters. SAFE’s post was also deleted.
—A campaign touting an endorsement they have not earned occurs from time to time. The reason, though, is usually due to some type of misunderstanding.
—For example, a candidate merges an endorsement page from a previous campaign to the new race without consulting with the endorser.
—However, creating an endorsement out of thin air is rare.
—MORE INSIDE: Subscribe today to receive all the East Bay political news in your inbox every weekday morning at 6 a.m.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to East Bay Insiders Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.