More Allies Of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Resign Amidst Growing Problems For Mayor

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s standing in the city continued to falter this week as more key allies have cut ties with her amidst her sending mass e-mails to donors asking for emergency donations to fight the upcoming recall election.

Over the last nine days, Mayor Thao’s political career in Oakland has been rocked by a series of negative events and scandals. On Tuesday of last week, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced that enough signatures have been approved to officially put the recall vote against Mayor Sheng Thao on the ballot, with Thao becoming the first Mayor in Oakland history to ever face a recall election. The recall effort, headed by the Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST) group, had gained a record number of signatures for the recall election, citing a raise in crime, erosion of public safety, the controversial firing of a police chief, her inability to keep the Oakland Athletics in the city, and her failure to get a major crime grant as reasons for her to be recalled.

Only two days later, her home in Oakland was raided by the FBI, with agents being seen carrying out boxes of evidence. While the official reason has yet to be announced by the FBI, evidence and other raids conducted by the FBI have shown that it likely has to do with an investigation into alleged illegal campaign contributions.

Thao remained out of the public eye during this time and into the weekend, during which, she faced an increasing number of calls to resign. Finally, on Monday, she gave a press conference. There, Thao spoke to the media for the first time since the incidents, claiming she was innocent of any wrongdoing and that ‘right-wing forces’ were behind the entire incident.

“I want to be crystal clear: I have done nothing wrong,” said Thao at the press conference. “I can tell you with confidence that this investigation is not about me. I have not been charged with a crime, and I am confident that I will not be charged with a crime because I am innocent. I want to know why the day following the qualification of a recall election, funded by some of the richest people in the Bay Area, seemed like the right day to execute a warrant. Right-winged forces are fueling the recall effort.”

More Thao allies resign

Rather than calm down critics and bolster ally support, her remarks were instead viewed  as “unhinged” and “very un-mayoral like.” This caused many close to her to drop out. After her outburst on Monday, her attorney, Tony Brass, quickly resigned as her counsel as her speech had been unplanned.

“I had no idea that Thao was going to have the news conference,” said Brass after resigning. “She contacted me, and she was in a fair amount of crisis over the search warrant. I followed my procedure. I have a certain way of processing cases. Our attorney-client relationship was short-lived. I have an approach, and it appeared as though she had a different approach. I did not feel like I was the right guy to follow hers.”

The very next day her Chief Spokesman, Francis Zamora, also resigned. In a statement, he gave no reason for leaving, saying that “I resigned my position as Chief of Communications. I thank my colleagues for their professionalism and dedication. It was an honor to serve the City of Oakland beside them.”

Renia Webb, Thao’s former Chief of Staff, also called on Thao to resign after the press conference, alleging that Thao was involved with ‘pat-to-play’ schemes.