Oakland’s leading liberal newspaper has backed plans to oust the city’s progressive mayor, dealing a crushing blow to her political future.
The East Bay Times published a piece by its editorial board Wednesday titled: ‘Recall Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.’
Readers of the left-leaning publication are urged to recall Thao in the upcoming November 5 election because she ‘failed to responsibly manage the city budget and address unacceptably high crime rates.’
‘It’s hard to ignore how inept she’s been,’ the op-ed added.
Oakland’s embattled mayor Sheng Thao has taken another hit to her hopes of staying in power with a scathing editorial calling for her ouster
The Bay Area city is spending about $100 million a year more than it raises in revenue, a situation that showed no signs of improving.
Oakland has also seen a terrifying spike in violent crime, with roughly one in 30 residents having their car stolen in 2023. The city has been plagued by violent crime and has seen a host of violent murders after Thao and DA Pamela Price backed an ‘equitable’ approach to tackling crime.
They say the current criminal justice victim unfairly penalizes black and Latino people and that it increases the likelihood of petty criminals graduating to more serious crimes, rather than rehabilitating them.
Critics say it prioritizes criminals over victims, with Price also facing the boot in the same election.
Instead of recruiting more police to tackle the problem, Thao plans to delay the start of academy training for rookie cops to save money.
The newspaper’s call for Thao’s removal wasn’t even based on the police raid on her home in July, as it was not clear if the investigation was targeting her.
Oakland Police data showed violent crime was up by more than a fifth over the year to the end of 2023, a year after she was elected.
Even though the homicide rate came down since its height last year, Oakland has more murders than the US average.
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Much of the reduction in some crimes this year is down to California Governor Gavin Newsom sending California Highway Patrol officers to help – a temporary fix a best.
Robberies and car thefts have doubled and tripled respectively when compared to pre-pandemic rates.
Thao’s response to all of this has been to say crime is down when compared to 2023’s early-year crime wave.
But on closer inspection, the statistics she cited amounted to comparing apples to hand grenades in the notoriously crime-plagued city.
Keen observers have noted that her office’s report compared the fully compiled year-end 2023 statistics with the ongoing count for 2024.
A Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice report in February found just 1.5 per cent of serious crimes were solved, including only 6.5 per cent of violent crimes.
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Oakland’s budget only allows for 678 officers, including those off work for disability, the absolute bare minimum required by law.
This is just two-thirds of the 2.4 cops per 1,000 residents national average, and puts only 35 officers on patrol at a time in a city of 435,000.
Emergency response times are the lowest in California, again due to understaffing, leading to victims not bothering to call it at all.
Residents waited an average of 48 minutes for a response to a 911 call in January, compared to 14 minutes at the same time in 2019. In June it was 33 minutes compared to 12 in that month of 2019.
Police even struggle with understaffing in their records department, with obsolete software and a report management system not updated since 2006 leading to woefully inaccurate crime statistics.
Oakland’s crime issues, and more importantly the perception of them, exacerbated an already tenuous financial situation into a full-blown crisis.
‘Crime is dragging down Oakland’s economy, which in turn holds down tax revenues and makes it harder to afford needed officers to fight crime — creating a downward spiral that the Thao administration has failed to confront,’ the editorial argued.
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A big reason for the 2023 budget deficit was a $50 million drop in real estate transfer tax – a percentage tax on property sales.
This is volatile at the best of times, but is further hampered by the perception that Oakland is crime-ridden and in decline, so no one wants to move in.
Instead of using any kind of caution, Thao assumed the tax revenue would rebound, but of course it didn’t – and the city is even deeper in debt.
Thao claimed she balanced the budget anyway, without public sector layoffs that would upset her union allies.
But that was only achieved by counting the one-off $63 million sale of the city’s stake in the Oakland Coliseum with the Oakland Athletics baseball team leaving for Las Vegas.
The newspaper called this ‘a reckless use of capital funds to pay for ongoing expenses’.
‘It’s a move akin to selling your house to pay your monthly bills — a step one should take only in the most desperate of times,’ it added.
The newspaper’s call for Thao’s removal wasn’t even based on the police raid on her home in July, as it was not clear if the investigation was targeting her
Feds who raided Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home last month reportedly left behind a phone belonging to her partner Andre Jones (top left). The couple are seen together at their shared home with Thao’s 17-year-old son and her and Jones’ 11-year-old daughter
The deal has also been mired in delays, and the money may not arrive on time to avoid the city completely running out of cash.
‘To be sure, the worst years of the pandemic, which provide the genesis for many of the business closings, predate Thao’s mayoral term,’ the editorial read.
‘But Thao has failed to face the financial reality that’s been left behind, budget responsibly, make tough decisions that might alienate labor allies, and prioritize police protection.’
Oakland has been hit by a series of humiliating closures, including the city’s only In-N-Out Burger after a tidal wave of burglaries in its parking lot.
The newspaper appeared to never have been convinced of Thao’s competency, writing that she was ‘not prepared for the job’ when it interviewed her in 2022.
‘She demonstrated a stunning lack of knowledge about basics, including details of a tax increase she voted to put on that year’s ballot,’ it argued.
There are no recent polls on the recall, by Thao’s net approval ratings have been in the negative for some time.
Should she lose the recall, an election for a new mayor would be held within 120 days of the city council declaring the office vacant, which would happen after the new council was installed on January 2.
