I have to do something distasteful to me today, and that is to criticize the people behind the Pamela Price recall.
No group in Oakland, and no individual more than I, is more committed to removing Madame D.A. from office. I commend the individuals who organized the recall and will help them in any way I can. However, a week after announcing the recall, the website (RecallPamelaPrice.org) remains an obscurity, raising more questions than it answers, and leaving me to wonder why, given the importance of this issue, the Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE) people are so lackadaisical about getting the website up to speed.
We, the Coalition, have been barraged by questions from readers, who naturally want to know a lot more about the recall than they’re being told. The website is hopelessly uninformative. At the very least, it ought to contain—but doesn’t—the following information:
-A menu at the top
-Name and title of the organizers/heads (“About Us”). Who runs SAFE?
-Contact information for SAFE (email/phone)
-What will the money be used for?
-A description of the recall process. How many signatures are required? Timeline?
-A clearer explanation of why a recall is necessary
I can offer no explanation why SAFE launched this website when it’s in such a deplorable state. So here is all the information I have, which is scant enough, but may be useful to readers.
Who runs SAFE? To the best of my knowledge, it’s the local chapter of the NAACP and Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. Carl, who was the recipient of the Coalition’s “Person of the Year” award for 2023, is someone I consider a friend, so it gives me no pleasure to write these words. Both the NAACP and Carl have to be held accountable for this deplorable situation.
As for contact information, it’s disgraceful that the website contains no way to get in touch with the recall’s leaders. Who ever heard of a website without contact information? People legitimately want to know who’s behind this. They also want to know how the money raised by their contributions will be spent. I cannot answer this. I presume much of it will go towards hiring signature gatherers for the recall petition, but I don’t know.
The website also should describe how the recall process works. How many signatures are required throughout Alameda County? What is the timeline for action? The current site is strikingly uninformative. I don’t blame people for being a little suspicious.
I also want to clear up something concerning the relationship between the Coalition for a Better Oakland and the recall. CBO is not a formal part of the recall. We have nothing to do with it, aside from supporting it. We did not design the recall’s website or have any input into it, although from the beginning I’ve shared with Carl Chan my ideas. CBO is not privy to any inside information about the recall. I, personally, know no one at the NAACP. Carl is our sole point of contact with the recall.
I’ve tried to alert Carl to the importance of making the website better, so much so that I fear I may be annoying him. But this is so important. This recall has the potential to be historic, at least as noteworthy as San Francisco’s recall of Chesa Boudin. If we succeed, it’ll be a national headline, and possibly another nail in the coffin of wokeness. But in order to succeed, the people of Alameda County want information, and they’re not getting it. The recall is a black hole, leaving many to wonder why.
So Carl, if you’re reading this, please work with your colleagues at the NAACP and fix this website now! You have got to engage in a serious conversation with the people of Alameda County if you hope to persuade them to recall Price. Right now, there is no conversation, to judge from the website. It’s all very perplexing to me. As I said, I/we will work with you in any capacity you want. The important thing is to not lose the momentum that the recall gathered in its first week. And the single most vital action is to fix the website!
Steve Heimoff