BLOG: Can I be real with you for a moment?
A mentor of mine once said that when you have so much to say and you want to be politically accurate… you can get stuck. They said in those moments, the best way to go is to just say what you have to say. So, I wanna be real with you for a moment. I’ve been stuck on what to say for weeks. So today, I want to say what may be the realest analysis that I can offer at this moment. Bare with me… this is a longer than normal analysis.
Why we took a position against the recalls
Since 2023, Oakland Rising Action has advanced an honest, bold position to prevent the abuse of recalls being used to attack progressives and halt progress towards Oakland and Alameda County’s recovery. In 2024, Ballotpedia recorded 248 attempted recalls and of them 77 recalls were successful, representing a 20% success rate for recalls. Most, if not all of these recalls were against progressive candidates.
ORA advanced a campaign against the recalls of District Attorney Pamela Price and Mayor Sheng Thao because we recognized the significant threat corporate and dark money had in advancing those recalls. Over $10 million dollars were spent to advance these recalls, with the majority of the funding coming from less than 30 millionaires, of which 0 live in Oakland. Most importantly, we cautioned that the recalls were having an immediate impact on our county’s and city’s ability to focus on the real threats to our democracy, economic recovery and public safety.
Additionally, despite our strong warning that the recalls were an unnecessary electoral action, millions of our taxpayer resources were wasted on special elections at a time when the City of Oakland’s tax revenue is unstable. This is troubling because corporations and millionaires are reporting record profits (including those based right here in Oakland and overall in California) while we know that they do not pay their fair share in taxes. And, now, no real solutions to our problems have been advanced by our electeds, corporations or millionaires in time to stop the most drastic cuts to services and our safety net.
Ultimately, the fact is that voters did remove two electeds from office. Voters also passed Measure NN to advance violence prevention and increase the response times of Oakland’s Police Department. They passed Measure OO to strengthen the public ethics commission. And, they also passed Measure MM to tax themselves to improve wildfire safety. Yet, we still have to address Oakland’s economic recovery. We still have to create real solutions to public safety. We still have to address the clear signs of corruption in our city government. And, we will have to contend with real opposition from conservative forces who want to re-shape Oakland and the larger Bay Area away from the progress that bold, progressive leadership has advanced over the last decade. Conservative forces will continue to use their money, their connections in the media and their agents to amplify false solutions, harmful narratives and sow confusion within voters to achieve elected leaders that favor their harmful agenda. Are we really going to sit at home and watch them re-shape our city, our county and our state to be more MAGA aligned? We hope that as an Oakland Rising Action supporter, you stand with us in shouting a loud “Hands off Oakland!”
New Leaders for now, more special elections in the future
Given the general election results, we have new leaders now in Alameda County and the City of Oakland.
Our Alameda County Board of Supervisors have voted to appoint Judge Ursula Jones-Dickson as the next District Attorney. They were sworn into office on February 18th and will serve until 2026. In the 2026 general election, voters will have an opportunity to elect a District Attorney that will serve until 2028. Then, in 2028, voters will have the opportunity to vote again for a District Attorney. That’s a lot of change at a time when the District Attorney needs to be defending our residents from corporate abuse and ensuring that our diverse strategies to advance public safety are sound and achieving the outcomes we all desire.
Our Oakland City Council has elected Kevin Jenkins to be President of City Council, which per charter, allowed them to choose to become the Interim Mayor. Interim Mayor Jenkins is the second mayor for Oakland, after Interim Mayor Nikki Forunato Bas stepped down from City Council in January to become Supervisor of District 5 on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Per our city charter, voters will now have to elect a Mayor on April 15 to complete the term of former Mayor Sheng Thao. Then, in the 2026 general election, voters will have an opportunity to elect a mayor that will serve the next full term. Additionally, voters will now have to elect an Interim City Councilmember for District 2 because of the vacancy left by Nikki Fortunato Bas’ election to the Board of Supervisors for District 5.
The grand price tag for these special elections and appointment processes is not fully known right now. However, thus far, voters in Alameda County have spent an estimated extra $4 million for the special election required for the DA recall. Oakland spent an estimated extra $1 million for the special election required for the Mayor recall. And, the upcoming special election for both the mayor and District 2 will be an estimated $4 million to implement. Ultimately, voters have elected to spend over $9 million dollars towards special elections across 2024 and 2025. The upcoming election costs will be important for us to all pay attention to, in addition to the leadership changes ahead. Buckle up, we will be voting a lot more than normal for the foreseeable future and it will feel hard as we also deal with the consequences of the doom loop on Oakland’s economy.
The Consequences of the Doom Loop
In the midst of all of the leadership changes, Oakland is persevering through the consequences of the rampant doom loop created to advance these recalls. Frankly, I wondered if folks understood what they were doing as they did it. I mean, did we not see the challenges of promoting a whole city as highly unsafe? Did we not see that people naturally will reduce their footprint in the city they have been told is unsafe?
We have all watched as media and social media influencers highlighted every possible negative about Oakland and even made things up everyday for over two years. We watched as our favorite restaurants, local mom and pop shops and more closed from being starved by us collectively for our fear of being a victim of crime. Worst, many were victims of crimes that have economic root causes to them. I appreciate a local leader reframing this from a perspective that is important- these acts are clear signals that economic recovery is urgently needed in ways that the government has failed to address since the end of the Shelter-In-Place orders.
Even worse, despite our efforts to pass a progressive business tax, the quick decline of tax revenue from real estate sales transfer, landlords, business closings and diversion of tax revenue to businesses outside of Oakland has slammed our city budget with impossible funding gaps. Added to this is the unchecked overtime spending of the Oakland Police Department, which has yet to be adequately addressed by the mayor or City Council. Instead, the solutions being implemented are the most painful and will cause the most economic harm to BIPOC communities as our cherished programs and organizations suffer from mid-year budget cuts. And, the unintended consequence of not defining fiscal necessity has given the mayor and city administrator the ability to raid many voter approved ballot measure funding to back fill the general fund.
This has meant that the most vulnerable in Oakland are paying the costs for the lack of a real economic recovery plan that should have been developed years ago under former Mayor Libby Scaff’s leadership. The reality is that Oakland never had a plan that City Council could properly monitor. Instead, two electeds were wrongfully accused of being the main reasons for the blight of Oakland. Now that they are gone from the picture, who will be the next to blame? More progressives? We need to all critically think about our shared responsibility for Oakland and do better.
Progressive Electeds and Leaders- Its time to work together
Oakland Rising Action believes that our progressive local leaders and all progressives need to band together and advance hard conversations about 2025 and beyond. Racial justice is needed at the center of our economic recovery planning. Our BIPOC entrepreneurs and small businesses are the cultural life line and economic engine of Oakland. We must stabilize them in this evolving economy and ensure that we move forward our long-term goal that big corporations pay their fair share towards our collective equitable recovery. The way forward does not depend on any single elected official. No one leader is capable of doing anything alone and this is the lens that we must deepen if we want Oakland to have a future that is brighter than our past.
We have to remember that the challenges are right in our face and they are hard realities to lead through. We have to address the influence of dark money. We have to ensure every effort is being made to reduce unethical practices in the Oakland government. The possibility of corruption has to be reduced NOW. Oakland Rising Action advanced Measure W and supported Measure OO because they are voter approved measures that give Oakland a fighting chance at reducing unethical practices and potential corruption in our city government. We are grateful to the hard work of the Public Ethics Commission and the former chief investigator to bring two significant cases involving the former mayors of Oakland to the public’s awareness. These cases revealed that ethical oversight is critical to Oakland’s future success. It is our position that the PEC must be fully funded to continue to advance and protect Oaklanders from unethical actions within our city government.
In addition to addressing unethical practices and corruption, we have to stand with our Labor Unions in demanding answers on how our city budget is being managed. Our Labor Unions have called us to action to protect our workers in city government and our public schools. ORA believes in workers rights and we will stand with our Labor Partners as they advocate for a fair budget process in the City of Oakland and Oakland Unified School District. We stand with IPTFE and Oakland Education Association to demand that the Interim Mayor, City Council, the Superintendent and School Board do better to engage the community in the current budget processes that are deciding the fate of our workers’ jobs, which schools will be open in our neighborhoods and how our children will be best served. It is time for progressives to demonstrate their unwavering commitment to transparency, fairness and equity in their decisions.
ORA stands firmly as a progressive political organization- no matter what
At Oakland Rising Action, we are a political organization that is progressive and that will never change. We will continue to uplift that equity requires us to center the most vulnerable communities in Oakland- the Oakland flatlands. As a flatland resident for my whole existence in Oakland, we deserve investments and we deserve real representation. This is what drove me to organize at Oakland Rising Action. How can you not be inspired to work with other progressives to educate voters and support us all to believe that racial, economic, environmental justice can be a reality in Oakland?
Well, in the coming months, Oakland Rising Action wants to see all city council members and school board members engage with Oakland flatland residents and leaders in real conversations about the present and future of Oakland. We demand that collaborative governance be a real priority of ALL elected officials because we will need to work together to fortify Oakland for whatever lies ahead as our county enters a new era in federal government leadership. ORA is not shaken by what will be a couple of years of defense against conservative forces and their harmful policies, intention to cut critical safety net programs and their drive to advance harmful, negative, and untrue narratives about immigration, diversity, inclusion, equity and more. We will continue to do what is real for many of us- fortify our infrastructure from political attacks by conservative forces and be bold, decisive and strategic in our efforts to educate voters and mobilize them to vote.
Every staff member and partner of Oakland Rising Action loves Oakland from our very core. We are Oakland residents. We are mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons that cherish our ability to do this hard work. We will not waiver in our love of organizing for an Oakland that advances our shared vision of happiness, hope and justice for all. We will continue to advance our work to engage voters in the Oakland flatlands. We will continue to center our values and principles in our organizing because we are progressives who believe in the power of BIPOC Oaklanders to work together to advance racial, economic, environmental, educational justice right here in Oakland.
As we announce our endorsements in the special election and prepare to engage voters to vote in this special election, we are counting on your support to stand with us. We need you to join political education opportunities ahead. We need you to volunteer. We need you to make a contribution to our efforts. Most importantly, we need you to stand as a bold progressive that will not fear what is to come but rather will invest in our collective defense of justice.
Together, we will walk toward a better Oakland… let’s go!
