Recall campaign heating up against Alameda County DA
If you live in Alameda County, you may have someone knocking on your door asking you to sign a petition for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price in the coming months.
The efforts to oust Price, in the works since July, were in full swing Sunday in Oakland during the first major signature event to get the issue on a ballot.
The group organizing her recall — Save Alameda for Everyone — started deploying its fleet of paid signature-gatherers Tuesday to garner enough support to bring the issue before voters. The signature-gatherers will be knocking on doors and canvassing at shopping centers for four months.
In addition to the paid signature-gatherers, the group was working with about 1,900 volunteers as of Thursday, according to SAFE organizer Brenda Grisham.
Price, elected with 53.1% of the vote, took office at the beginning of the year, and her term lasts until 2027. She has a progressive platform and served as a longtime civil rights attorney.
Oakland has been grappling with surging rates of violence and property crimes that are higher than those of other major cities. Former Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong has reapplied for his old job after being fired by Mayor Sheng Thao in February, leaving the city without a top law officer.
SAFE says Price has been soft on crime and ignores the needs of victims and their families.
“The recall is happening because the families are just dealing with way too much, and they’ve already been traumatized and we do not want them to be retraumatized,” Grisham said. “For that to happen, because she’s really not understanding what the impact that it is having on the families, we just had to step in.”
Grisham has seen the justice system at work firsthand. Her 17-year-old son, Christopher Lavell Jones, was fatally shot in Oakland in 2010, a killing that has yet to be solved. Others at Sunday’s signature drive had also lost loved ones to violence.
SAFE’s recall petition was approved by the county’s Registrar of Voters and must have 73,195 signatures by mid-March 2024 to make the ballot. The signatures must be collected physically and cannot be submitted electronically, Grisham said.
The required total is derived from the number of Alameda County voters who participated in the latest election for governor in 2022 — 73,195 is 15% of the votes cast, according to SAFE’s website.
Those signing the petition must be Alameda County registered voters. If the signatures are collected and certified, the issue will make the ballot in a special election or be consolidated into another election, according to SAFE’s website.
SAFE expects to eventually endorse someone to replace Price, but its current focus is ensuring the recall makes it onto the ballot, according to its website.
Price’s office did not respond to requests for comment Sunday, but the district attorney has previously said the recall’s backers “refuse to accept the results of a legitimate, democratic election to remove the status quo.”
Price’s supporters say rising crime is the result of complex factors and cannot be pinpointed to a single elected official.
During an August town hall, Price emphasized the role of Oakland police and other city services in public safety. She said her policies are working but need time to have a noticeable impact.
“We’ve been very, very busy,” she said. “And we’re working under some challenging circumstances.”