Sunday Afternoon at the Marin County Fair
By Magaly Muñoz
The group advocating for the recall of Mayor Sheng Thao held a press conference Thursday morning defending themselves on why they will not hand over documents the Public Ethics Commission (PEC) requested for an investigation on the group.
Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST) is the focus of an investigation by the PEC for allegations that the group violated campaign finance laws.
Simon Russell, the enforcement chief for the PEC, filed a complaint in May that suggests that OUST used Foundational Oakland Unites (FOU), a newly founded nonprofit and alleged political action committee (PAC), to hide the origins of certain donations which would be in violation of finance reporting laws.
The complaint Russell submitted explained that there were a few discrepancies that prompted the investigation. OUST sent an email to potential donors saying they could contact FOU about “private” donations; the timing of FOUs creation to the quick $215,000 donation made to OUST for signature-gathering; and OUST and FOU having overlapping staff, such as Seneca Scott.
OUST refused to hand over documents that the PEC requested in order to conduct their investigation, which has now led to a lawsuit from the watchdog group for OUST’S failure to comply with their subpoena.
Brenda Harbin-Forte, former judge and leader of OUST, explained that while the group has nothing to hide, she believes the PEC is using this investigation for political purposes.
“The Public Ethics Commission is abusing its investigatory authorities. I don’t like bullies,” Harbin-Forte said.
The former judge clarified that FOU is not a PAC or an independent expenditures committee, but a multipurpose nonprofit. FOU is filed under a 501(c)(4).
In the documents attached to the PECs complaint, a screenshot of Scott’s X (formerly Twitter) account was posted with a tweet that FOU was going to be formed as a PAC in order to support candidates in 2024.
LeAnna Powell, a former City Council aide for Thao, also spoke at the press conference, explaining that she currently has the only open PEC case against Thao. Several complaints have been made against the mayor for various reasons, but none have been taken on by the PEC yet.
Powell alleges that Thao and her staff forced her to work concurrently as a council aide and on the mayoral campaign on city time, which is illegal.
Powell said it’s been almost two years since filing her complaint with the PEC, but no investigation has been initiated. She disclosed that she is battling cancer and would like results before her “time is up.”
Speakers accused Thao of using her political power to influence the PEC because, allegedly, union members who are in her pocket and have donated to her campaign are working at the commission, and therefore using this as a tactic to negatively impact the recall group.
“This [accusation] is completely false and baseless. The Mayor is focused on doing the work that Oakland voters elected her to do,” the office of the mayor said in an email to the Post.
Russell wrote in a 2023 report that the PEC’s staff is too small to handle the massive amounts of complaints they receive at any given time so some cases were put on an indefinite hold.
Investigations are chosen based on greater public interest involving high-ranked officials, larger sums of money, and public safety issues. The PEC may also look at how much evidence is readily available for a case and how much staff has already invested in their investigation.
Harbin-Forte told the Post that despite her current issues with the PEC, their group is “incredibly important” but the investigations should be fair.
“The PEC should not be used to give someone an unfair advantage in this recall, which is what they’ve done,” she said.
