I’ve long complained about the secrecy and pettifogging that taint so much of politics in Oakland. We’re never told what deals our electeds make with unions to get their financial support. The various agencies—City Council, Police Commission, etc.—often go into “closed” or secret session despite California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, which “ensures the public’s right to attend the meetings of public agencies.” And now, with this mess about Sheng Thao and California Waste Solutions, it’s becoming even clearer that there’s a vast underground labyrinth of money laundering and clandestine activity occurring out of sight and undermining our democracy in Oakland.
What I find particularly interesting is this tussle over the Oakland Army Base. The 422-acre decommissioned property, which is owned by Oakland, has largely been empty for decades. You may recall that in 2022, Carroll Fife proposed to construct, at city expense, a gigantic refugee-style camp there for at least 1,000 homeless people in our city. It was an idea I strongly supported, but it went nowhere due to concerns that the soil was contaminated, and also because the $20 million in annual operating expenses seemed unaffordable.
Now, we’re learning that the Duong family, at the center of the Thao scandal, wanted to establish a recycling center there. Since the area couldn’t be both things at the same time, that created major tension between Fife and the Duongs. I’m hoping that the precise nature of the relationship between Fife and the Duongs can be discovered by the FBI, and that we’ll learn all about it.
The Chronicle reports that “Fife said the Duongs have never donated to her campaign and that she has never spoken to them about the Army base.” That may well be the case, but it may not. Everyone, including Thao, is averring that he or she is as innocent as Caesar’s wife, but it usually takes an indictment or two, and a criminal trial, to get to the truth. If nothing else, this Thao-Duong scandal tears the dirty bandage off the festering sore of corruption that taints so many city dealings, which our local media have been unable or unwilling to investigate despite their resources to do so.
But now that the media has tasted blood, they may revert to their traditional practice of rooting out wrongdoing. I expect there to be many more sensational revelations. Our media outlets, such as the S.F. Chronicle and Oaklandside, are finding themselves caught between two opposing forces: one, their admiration for and support of progressive politicians, and two, their drive to do real reporting and not just be water-carrying toadies. But it’s never too late to change. Let the media dig, dig, dig, and then report, report, report. The more We, the People, learn about the true state of affairs in Oakland, the more we’ll turn against those who created, and profit by, this cycle of corruption. The People are slow to wrath, but when their sense of what’s right is violated, they are a force that cannot be constrained.
Steve Heimoff