Oakland Mayor Thao addresses FBI raid, ‘billionaires’ behind recall, city budget cuts

(KRON) — The City of Oakland is making big headlines this week. Officials have greenlighted a budget that avoids drastic cuts but relies on the sale of the Coliseum. Meantime, the mayor is facing a recall effort after an FBI raid on her home. KRON4 spoke with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao for the first time since her house was raided by the FBI.

Below are excerpts from that interview. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. Full interview can be viewed in the video player above.

KRON4: All right, Mayor, so let’s get right into it. There are still, of course, a lot of unanswered questions involving the FBI raid of your home. You spoke publicly about this issue about a week ago. You said you’re innocent of any crime. So have you heard from the FBI since then?

Thao: Well, I can’t comment on matters related to the ongoing investigation, but what I can share is that I am not the subject of the investigation, and I have done nothing wrong. I expect that there will be an opportunity to say more. But of course, now is not the time and I’m fully cooperating with the investigation, and I look forward to the opportunity to vindicate myself.

However, you know, any questions in regards to the investigation should be asked to the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office. Again, just like I stated in my statement, I have many questions as well.

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KRON4: What is your relationship with the Duong family? Their homes were also searched by the FBI.

Thao: Well, as mayor, I meet with a lot of community members and business owners. As you know, the Duong family owns a business that operates here in the City of Oakland. And so, as like with any other elected official, you know, we take pictures with them and we explore ways that we can work together to help the city move forward.

But if you have questions in regards to the Duongs and the investigation, again, I would say I would implore you to ask the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

KRON4: Let’s talk a bit about the recall effort as well. You mentioned during your recent public statement that a group of billionaires and right-wing groups, as you describe them, are behind this effort. So who exactly is trying to get you out of office?

Thao: You know, the Public Ethics Commission has sued the recall organizers because they are refusing to follow a subpoena that orders them to be transparent about who their top donors are. I believe that Oaklanders deserve to know the truth about who is funding this recall. It is extremely troubling that recall organizers are refusing to cooperate with law enforcement.

I think we should all be concerned and question the why. Why are they hiding information about who their top donors are?

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KRON4: Do you think that there should have been a public investigation into who the donors are before this was brought, before your city council last night?

Thao: Well, you know, again, the Public Ethics Commission has, you know, sent it’s my understanding they have sent the recall organizers a demand, a subpoena to be transparent. They refuse. So it was a process that started. I believe in April or so. And then again, the recall organizers refuse. Therefore, they’re being sued now since they didn’t follow the subpoena, the order.

And so now they’re being sued by the Public Ethics Commission to demand that these questions, these questions and concerns are to be answered.

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KRON4: I see. So can you be more specific about who these millionaires and billionaires are and Piedmont and San Francisco who are trying to get you out of office?

Thao: You know, as I’ve stated in my speech, obviously this is all very disappointing. And it’s important that we know who these donors are and so that we can understand who’s behind trying to, you know, take away the democracy of Oakland voters. This is a question that we should all be asking. That is a question that I have, is like, who is it that is trying to get me out of office, but at the same time trying to withhold their identity?

KRON4: Okay so it sounds like you can’t name anyone specific at this time.

Thao: Well, you know, I think that that is information that the community can do their research and figure out. We also know that there is a long list of other donors that we do not know who they are because of this, of them failing to actually follow the law and follow the subpoena.

KRON4: Well, your city council just approved the first reading of the recall campaign against you. It still does need to pass a second reading on July 16th. Do you have a message for Oaklanders at this point?

Thao: Well, you know, at this time we must preserve critical city services. We know that we’re already under a challenging budget. The worst that we have seen in probably Oakland’s history. This is due to the pandemic, just like how we see other big cities are in a deficit and the state. With this, those who are behind the recall have chosen politics over the needs of the people.

I’ve been in office for 18 months and we have huge wins like Romandie Park. You know, we have that park that was actually built within about six months. And now we can generate new revenues in regards to that. We have the Coliseum that we’re going to be developing, generating new revenues. So this recall campaign is incredibly a waste of public resources at a time where we are being challenged regarding our budget, you know, to actually spend more millions of dollars for a recall, that, again, is a credible waste of public resources.

KRON4: Okay. Obviously, from an optics perspective, you know, publicly elected official, you just saw your home raided by the FBI. Is there a message to the public right now who are for those who are concerned about your credibility?

Thao: You know, at the end of the day, what I can say in all that I can say is that I am not the target of the investigation. You know, I think that I am concerned about the timing of the recall election and the search warrant execution. I think it has created a suggestion of wrongdoing in the face of an election where I have done nothing wrong.

And we also should be concerned we all should be concerned about, you know, putting that weight on the scale of an election. And so, you know, I’ll say it again, is that if I have questions, I have questions as well about the circumstances around the search warrant, and the media should have the same questions.

KRON4: All right. Let’s talk about the new budget just approved now. It does appear to rely pretty heavily on the sale of the city’s stake in the Coliseum to close that $117 million shortfall. How optimistic are you at this point that the sale of the Coliseum will actually go through?

Thao: You know, at the end of the day, I applaud the council members who are courageous enough to vote for my proposed budget. Again, we’re in dire times right now. And so my budget is the public safety budget. And it delivers not only on public safety, but essential services, despite an extremely challenging fiscal environment. Therefore, you need a leader to be able to think outside of the box.

And that is exactly what we’re doing. This budget will enable us to maintain the steady and significant progress we’ve made in reducing crimes and cleaning our streets. It allows us for economic development. You know, with a development like Romandie Park in the Ballers’ field, development like what we’re going to have at the Coliseum to again generate new monies.

This is and this is not a new issue. It’s an ongoing issue that previous administrations have not actually solved. And so what we’re going to do is as we go into the next budget cycle, we’re starting early in September. We’re really going to take this seriously to really address our structural deficit that has been an ongoing structural deficit for decades.

But make no mistake, this is an extremely difficult budget season. Again, like many cities across California, Oakland is experiencing budget deficits due to the lingering impacts of the pandemic.

KRON4: So this budget does seem to rely pretty heavily on the sale of the Coliseum. So what happens if that sale doesn’t happen?

Thao: You know, we have a contingency plan in the contingency plan. Contingency plan? I wanted to make it very transparent and clear so that all of the Oaklanders can actually see where the trigger points are. And so we actually have deadlines, specific dates of when we should be receiving a certain amount of money or what have you. And if those dates are not met, then it triggers it triggers this contingency plan.

And so that we all know what needs to take place and that that decision is already made at the forefront. Again, this budget that the council the majority of the council, because I want to be very clear, there was three councilmembers who supported having 610 officers. We don’t have enough officers today, and we have 710 officers today.

And so that is actually reckless. And it’s abhorrent in regards to what we know that people will be dying if that’s the case. And so I applaud the five council members who were fiscally responsible and prioritized essential services and public safety to deliver again a clean and safe city.

KRON4: So how much money is Oakland at risk of losing and will there be more delays in emergency response times?

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Thao: Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for asking that question because all of what you just stated, I want to actually dispel that myth because there are actually facts. I know that NBC Bay Area ran a misleading headline that after July 26, Oakland is expected to lose state funding for its emergency communication center.

Cal OES sent a letter to OPD on June 28th that said that it will continue to monitor the answer times for OPD — stating that provided continued improvement is being made. The California 911 branch will take no further action and so my adopted budget sustained investments that we’ve made fully to staff the 911 dispatch and improve response times.

There is no reduction in our 911 (resources). It remains fully staffed in the midcycle budget. I’m excited for this because this is a step in the right direction under my leadership. And so again, that was a really misleading headline, and I hope that we can continue to speak on the facts which is that provided continued improvement being made the California 911 branch will take no further action in regards to a 911 system here in the City of Oakland.

KRON4: So Mayor, just to clarify, you’re saying that the city of Oakland is not at risk of losing funding with regards to the emergency dispatch system, and there will not be any delays in emergency response times. In other words, number one, calls will not be rerouted as a result of all of this.

Thao: That is correct, and that is straight from Cal OES.

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