Soros-backed Alameda County district attorney faces tough recall called ‘inept’ and ‘dangerous’

They were about to leave for their home church on 73rd Ave. and Fresno St. when two rival gangs began to fight nearby. One opened fire, then the other.

Grisham’s daughter was shot first. Her son, Christopher LeVell Jones, ran to the car to get his niece, but was fatally struck by a bullet. He was 17 years old.

Since then, Grisham has become one of the most vocal voices in Oakland, speaking out against violence and corruption as she seeks justice not only in her son’s memory, but for the hundreds of families who have lost loved ones on the crime-ridden streets of Oakland. She became an advocate for victims and their family members and turned into a major thorn Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price side.

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“My interaction with District Attorney Price, even back in March, regarding the way he spoke to some families was appalling,” Grisham told Washington Examiner. Grisham said Price waved family members away and said she was too busy to listen to their concerns.

“He chose to disrespect those families in my presence and then attacked me and never apologized,” Grisham added. “I was expecting him to change course and come and apologize to the mothers, but that never happened. It just went on and on and the disrespect continued.”

In fact, there is so much bad blood between Grisham and Price that Grisham’s name is first on the recall petition against the new prosecutor.

Like Grisham, business owners, residents and visitors in Oakland and elsewhere in Alameda County say they don’t feel safe in their community and blame Price. Most want her out of the office.

Alameda County voters will have the power to do just that on Tuesday when they vote on whether to recall Price.

The result is a pivotal moment for the future of how criminal cases are prosecuted in the liberal California county, which was described to Washington Examiner as “a country of lawlessness” and “the new Detroit of the 80s” by resident Javier Jones.

“There is more dysfunction and corruption here,” Jones said. “It’s just like it used to be in Detroit. Price doesn’t know what he’s doing and he’s gone from inept to dangerous.”

Price is a former defense and civil rights attorney. She never prosecuted a single case when she was elected to the prestigious position. On the campaign trail, she promised criminal justice reforms and a “new era in the DA’s office” if elected. He got a big financial boost from the billionaire Democrat mega-donor George Soros and Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, when she first ran for the job in 2018. She lost the race, but ran again in 2022 and edged out Terry Wiley, the chief deputy county attorney .

Soros, who has funneled more than $5 million into his fundraising PAC, the California Justice and Public Safetyfrom 2018 to 2020, turned off the money spigot for Price and the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon this election cycle. Both are deeply unpopular, facing a recall and in danger of being thrown out of office.

It would be a tough fall for Price, the first black woman to serve as Alameda County’s top prosecutor. When she was sworn in, she was very clear about her liberal agenda and excitement began to build.

She promised to overhaul the way the DA’s office conducted business, which included banning the use of sentencing enhancements, a tool prosecutors use to increase the punishment for a crime by adding time to the base sentence. She also sought to convict criminals facing long prison terms, end the practice of charging minors as adults, and crack down on police misconduct.

Price said her leadership will ensure progressive justice for diverse and often disenfranchised communities. But less than a year after she was sworn in, residents (fed up with her handling of crime) began the recall process.

Price’s challenge marks the second recall effort in two years by a liberal Bay Area prosecutor. The first took place in 2022, with the recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

If Price’s recall is successful, it would be a blow to the kind of criminal justice reform advocated by Price, Boudin and Soros. If Price succeeds in defeating the recall, it would send a strong message that voters in Alameda County are still on board with the progressive agenda despite all the problems.

“I’m not in favor of retirements in general because I think they cost too much money and time, but Price has to go,” George Latvilla told Washington Examiner. Latvilla has lived in Oakland for four decades and said leadership, city services and crime have all collapsed under Price.

Edward Escobar of the Coalition for Community Engagement/Citizens United supports the recall. He said Price prioritized the rights of criminals over victims and ignored her promise to fight for minorities, particularly Oakland’s Asian-American population, which has seen an increase in hate crimes.

“She talks about reforming the criminal justice system, but her version is dysfunctional; is flawed,” he told the Washington Examiner. “She says, ‘Oh, perpetrators are victims too.’ I’m sorry, but you don’t tell real crime victims that. I agree with her that the criminals are the victims of the socio-economic injustice that has occurred, but it is none of her business. She puts humans as guinea pigs as a social experiment.”

Escobar said he takes issue with Price’s willingness to waive gun enhancement fees.

“Remember the phrase, ‘Get a gun, go to jail’? Now it’s ‘Use a gun and hey — you might be more successful and there are no consequences,’” Escobar said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) threw its weight behind the recall effort.

“Pamela Price has failed the people of the East Bay and we are coming together to call for her recall,” said the California Democrat, who accused Price of being too lenient. “Cops catch and Price frees.”

Price’s office has also been blamed for missing filing deadlines on more than 1,000 misdemeanor cases that have been gathering dust on her desk. The San Francisco Chronicle, in his approval of the recall, called her inaction a “staggering miscarriage of justice” that “left victims hanging and eliminated rehabilitation and accountability for criminals.”

In Price’s short time in office, she has been accused of punishing opponents, hiring allies with dubious credentials, including her own boyfriend, ignoring public disclosure laws, and demonstrating a level of incompetence that is in league of its own, according to those on the receiving end of her wrath, Grisham said. Most recently, Price was accused of trying to hoard money from a political rival.

Before being sworn in, Price had never prosecuted a case. She promised voters she would be ready to go on day one and boasted she would hire a crack team with a “proven track record in leading justice reforms” to back her up.

Her team included Royl Roberts, a man who had passed the California bar just six months before being hired by Price. The other assistant chief he hired was Otis Bruce Jr., who was recruited from the Marin County Prosecutor’s Office while he was under investigation There. The results of that investigation revealed that he displayed gender bias, made derogatory remarks and often intimidated young women. Then there was Eric Lewis, a former deputy chief of the Oakland Police Department who was given the option to retire or be fired in 2021. Then Price hired her boyfriend, Antwon Cloirdas a senior program specialist, earning him a six-figure salary for a job that was never publicly advertised.

Price rejected claims she was unfit for office and blamed outside special interest groups and billionaires for her ouster.

“Alameda County is not for sale,” she said, noting her progressive roots. “This is the home of Earl Warren and the Black Panther Party. We are the Democratic Party of Barbara Lee.”

Last week, she and about 100 supporters held a rally outside the Alameda County Courthouse.

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“We are in the midst of a resistance that is more noisy than massive,” she said, adding that the recall against her “puts pain and hurt on people” and seeks to silence the voice of criminal justice reform advocates.

Emeryville City Council member Kalimah Priforce acknowledged that Price “does not use a one-size-fits-all maximum sentence for every case approach,” but instead “seeks to address the root causes of crime.”