Recall of East Bay DA

The big news in “progressive” prosecutor elections is in Los Angeles, but northern California also has a race worth watching. The East Bay Times has this editorial endorsing the recall of Alameda County DA Pamela Price. (Alameda Co. is Oakland and a number of other cities on the east side of San Francisco Bay.)

It’s not surprising that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has tried to shake things up. That’s what she promised in 2022 when she campaigned as a criminal justice reformer.

But her actions have gone far beyond reform. Price has punished opponents, hired allies with questionable credentials including her own boyfriend, insisted on disturbing leniency for violent criminals, undermined public disclosure laws, demonstrated prosecutorial bias about cases and even, it is now alleged, made racist comments and tried to extort money from a political rival.

The EBT is part of the same media group as the San Jose Mercury-News, which is definitely not a conservative paper.

If the recall succeeds, the county board of supervisors will choose a temporary replacement to serve until the next general election in 2026.

Previously in northern California, in June 2022, San Francisco recalled Chesa Boudin, and San Joaquin County (east of Alameda in the Central Valley) dropped Tori Verber Salazar.

If Price is recalled and LA’s Gascón is defeated, who will be left in the [woke] Prosecutors Alliance of California? That organization was formed a few years ago by four DAs who refused to join the generally tough-on-crime California District Attorneys Association. Diana Becton of Contra Costa County will be the only one left, if the election goes as expected. She is not up for re-election until 2028 because of the way the California Legislature moved the DA races to presidential election years. DA terms are normally 4 years, but many of those elected in 2022 got 6-year terms in the shuffle.

And who funds the PAC? Take a wild guess.

The web page says it is “a project of Tides Advocacy.” The Tides Foundation is an arm of George Soros’s public detriment efforts.