A war of words between Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price’s campaign and the group pushing for her ouster has raised questions about the ethics of exploiting violence in Oakland for political purposes, and the increasingly tense recall effort.
On Tuesday, Price’s “Protect the Win” campaign group put out a statement decrying the recall group’s “reprehensible” efforts to fundraise in the aftermath of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le’s killing. In the statement, they condemned a thread on X, formerly Twitter, in which the Recall Pamela Price account said that Officer Tuan Le’s death underscored the need for “rescinding failed policies.”
In a second post, the recall account shared a link to the group’s website, which highlights a $100,000 donation drive.
Le, 36, was shot and killed near Oakland’s waterfront last Friday while working a plainclothes burglary suppression detail.
William Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the Protect the Win campaign, said the X post was “shameful” and accused the recall group of using Le’s death “to bolster their dwindling campaign funds.”
“They’re weaponizing a really tragic killing that a lot of people in the community are grieving to advance a political agenda,” Fitzgerald said in an interview with this news organization. “That’s the cheap way of going about your business.”
The recall effort began soon after Price took over the District Attorney’s office in 2023, in response to her reform-minded policies. The group aims to gather enough signatures to initiate a recall election in March 2024.
Brenda Grisham, the mother of a son killed by gun violence and a lead organizer for SAFE, the group behind the recall effort, said the post was simply meant to highlight the ways in which Price’s policies, such as reducing sentencing enhancements, will fail to provide justice for Le’s family. The fundraising page, she said, is simply the first thing that shows up on the front page of their website – not a deliberate attempt to solicit donations.
“We need to save lives in any way we can,” Grisham said. “It didn’t say anything about donating, it just said her policies.”
The disagreement is perhaps minor in comparison to the tragedy of Officer Le’s killing and the significance of the broader recall effort. But it does highlight a perception among Price’s backers that opposition groups have continually leveraged crime issues in Oakland to push their agenda.
In 2023, homicide numbers in Oakland were flat. Motor vehicle theft was up 45 percent, robbery was up 37 percent, and burglary was up 24 percent.
Fitzgerald says the recall group is merely stoking fear in the community.
“From burglaries to carjackings to murders, every day we see the recall campaign weaponizing crime and violence and blaming DA Pamela Price,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s completely nonsensical, there was crime long before DA Pamela Price, and there will be after.”
As the county moves to a likely expensive recall election, it remains to be seen which argument will resonate with the public. From the perspective of recall campaigners, the success of their signature gathering and fundraising is proof that their mode of communication has been effective. To date, the recall campaign has raised over $740,000.