Seneca Scott Derangement Syndrome

Sheng Thao has been obsessed with the leader of her recall; Is the FBI raid about an infamous 2022 hit piece against Loren Taylor? Run, Nancy, Run! Some want Nancy Skinner to run for Berkeley mayor

Sheng Thao made a reference to Seneca Scott, right, during her statement on Monday. Scott has been living rent-free in her head since the 2022 mayoral election.

—GREAT SCOTT—When Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao made an oblique reference to a person with “assault weapons violations,” she was talking about perhaps her fiercest opponent.

—Seneca Scott is a leader of the recall against Thao, a former labor organizer, and opponent of Thao in the 2022 mayoral race. He’s also the bane of Oakland progressives.

—Few have gotten under the skin of Thao than Scott over the past two years. Since the 2022 campaign Thao and her partner, Andre Jones, have been equally obsessed and paranoid about Scott.

—Following last week’s raid, Jones has received increased scrutiny in the absence of any inkling about who and what the FBI is investigating.

—Prior to the start of a late fall candidate forum held at the Jack London Theater in 2022, Thao plopped onto a chair next to me. We talked about the contours of the mayoral race, but like other interactions with her and Jones on the campaign trail, the conversation switched to Scott.

—Days before Scott crashed a campaign event in a park that featured union members. Jones, upset, approached Scott, as did, Thao’s campaign consultant, Julie Caskey.

—Thao was unnerved by the incident, coupled with Scott’s consistent attacks on social media.

—Inside the theater, Thao indicated she wanted to file a restraining order against Scott, although she never communicated a specific reason.

—Jones, a typically polite and genial former city hall hand who had once worked with Thao in Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan’s office, however, often expressed paranoia when it came to Scott.

—On numerous occasion, Jones also expressed fears about Scott. He also often asserted the intent of Scott’s mayoral campaign was to help then-Councilmember Loren Taylor win the election.

—At Monday morning’s press conference, Thao said billionaires from Piemont and San Francisco had “succeeded in buying the recall election.”

—“And in doing so, they empowered a dangerous man with a history of assault weapons violations to further attack me, in my opinion,” Thao said.

—Scott responded, telling the East Bay Insiders, “From the mayor to [Oakland Councilmember] Carroll Fife, all these people do is lie and smear my name. These people are crazy and in time all Oaklanders will come to understand.”

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