LOS ANGELES — A Democratic candidate for district attorney in one of California's most politically liberal counties has accused a former opponent of illegal coordination with a super PAC.
Pamela Price, who lost a nonpartisan 2018 race to lead the prosecutor’s office in Alameda County, filed a complaint with the state Wednesday. It cites emails between employees of the office, under District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, discussing ways to assist her reelection bid against Price.
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“We would like as many of you as possible to attend this candidates forum,” Assistant District Attorney Terry Wiley wrote in a May 2018 email, a month before the primary, urging colleagues to show up to an event with Price and O’Malley “to show the people of Oakland the diversity of our office.”
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O’Malley is retiring after 12 years as district attorney for Alameda County, which contains the cities of Oakland and Berkeley. Wiley is one of several candidates seeking to replace her, as is Price, who is running as a criminal justice reformer who would tackle police misconduct. Like-minded prosecutors in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Chesa Boudin and George Gascón, are facing recall attempts from critics who say they are too permissive toward criminals.
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O’Malley’s office said it had no comment on the complaint. Wiley did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for the political action committee could not be reached.
The 2018 race was one of several clashes between incumbent district attorneys and criminal justice reformers, with national liberal PACs helping the challengers. Most of them, like Price, were defeated. The California Justice and Public Safety PAC, funded largely by George Soros, spent six figures to help Price.
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The PAC cited in the complaint, Californians United for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools, ran advertising claiming that if Price won, she would cease prosecuting crimes such as child molestation. The PAC was funded by local police associations.
In one email cited in the complaint, an exchange with the PAC’s ad consultant about the anti-Price ads is forwarded to an employee of the DA’s office, from a sender whose address is redacted.
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“I was aghast when I saw this,” Price said in an interview before filing the complaint. “You don’t use government resources to campaign. You just don’t do it.”
The filing claims that 31 employees of O’Malley’s office sent 35 campaign-related emails in 2018 and that 12 had sent a total of nine campaign-related emails this year. Price announced her filing with the Fair Political Practices Commission on Wednesday morning.
The complaint asked the FPPC to investigate whether the emails revealed “in-kind donations” to O’Malley that should have been reported, and a separate letter sent by Price to the DA’s office asks for an “immediate investigation into illegal campaign activities.”