Pamela Price, recalled by voters in 2024, says she’ll run again for district attorney

“We need to show Donald Trump and his billionaire friends — whether they’re in Washington or Piedmont — that justice is not for sale in Alameda County,” Price said at the press conference at the Blessings of Faith Worship Center. The reference to Piedmont appeared to be a swipe at Philip Dreyfuss, the man who almost single-handedly bankrolled the recall campaign against Price.

Price accused the current DA, Ursula Jones Dickson, who was appointed by the Board of Supervisors after the recall, of refusing to hold local police officers and federal agents accountable for crimes committed in the county.

As an example, Price cited an Oct. 23 incident in which a Customs and Border Protection agent shot an Oakland pastor in the face with a chemical irritant during a protest at the entrance to Coast Guard Island. The pastor was rallying with dozens of other community members against an immigration and crime crackdown announced by Trump — an operation the president later paused. The Oakland Police Department and the DA have refused to say whether they would investigate or prosecute the federal agent who shot the pastor. Price told The Oaklandside she believes OPD should investigate the incident, and that the DA should charge the agent with criminal assault.

“I will say to ICE and any other federal agents who violate state law, ‘Eff around and find out,’” Price said at her campaign announcement.

Walter Riley, a longtime civil rights attorney and activist, said the recall effort was funded by wealthy elites whose interests don’t serve working-class people, immigrants, and others from marginalized communities.

“The working people in this country have to not allow the political and economic elite to determine who’s in office, how much money’s being spent on campaigns, and who’s going to win,” he said at the press conference.

Since being ousted from office, Price has been outspoken in her criticisms of Jones Dickson.

Jones Dickson has reversed many of her predecessor’s policies, including a special directive for prosecutors not to file sentencing enhancements in most cases, and a rollback of reviews of death penalty cases tainted by prosecutorial misconduct.

“When our DA refuses to look at cases we know were infected with racism and antisemitism, she is holding hands with racists and antisemites,” Price said.

In a statement responding to Price’s campaign, Jones Dickson said she “inherited a demoralized office and a charging backlog of more than 2,000 cases” from her predecessor.

“Former District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled by 63% of Alameda County voters. She’s welcome to make the case, less than a year after that recall, that they were wrong. I trust the judgment of Alameda County voters,” Jones Dickson said.

“We cannot afford to have a DA who acts just like Donald Trump in her administration of justice, who hesitates to protect us from Donald Trump’s gestapo, who is complicit in discrimination based on race or religion, and who is beholden to billionaires and wealthy interests in this county,” said Price.

During Price’s tenure as DA, a federal judge ordered her office to review over two dozen death penalty cases, some dating as far back as the 1970s, in which Alameda County prosecutors were found to have systematically excluded Black and Jewish people from juries. Since then, some of the people sentenced in those cases have been removed from death row, and one man’s conviction was overturned.

However, shortly after taking office, Jones Dickson announced her office was withdrawing a number of outstanding resentencing requests. Prosecutors appointed by Jones Dickson accused Price’s administration of failing to thoroughly review the cases prior to seeking resentencing.

“When our DA refuses to look at cases we know were infected with racism and antisemitism, she is literally holding hands with racists and antisemites,” Price said.

Price also appeared to censure Jones Dickson’s decision to throw out a lawsuit against Radius Recycling, a West Oakland scrap metal recycling plant. Last year, Price announced she was pursuing a 10-count criminal indictment against Radius and two of its employees, accusing them of starting an August 2023 fire that sent toxic smoke over Oakland. In May of this year, Jones Dickson said she was dismissing the case due to “insufficient evidence.”

“We cannot afford to have a DA who stands with corporate polluters,” said Price at the press conference.

Elected three years ago during a reform wave, Price faced nearly immediate backlash as crime continued to rise

After George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, many communities, including Alameda County, sought to change the narrative around crime and policing to prioritize restorative justice and more community-oriented solutions to public safety. Price ran for Alameda County DA on a platform of criminal justice reform and police accountability, winning the November 2022 election with 53% of the vote.

But the narrative started to shift shortly after Price took office. Activists, victims’ advocates, and some elected officials accused Price of being too lenient on crime, particularly after she instructed her deputies not to charge minors as adults and not to seek sentencing enhancements, which are used to add time to a person’s sentence, barring special circumstances. Some residents believed Price’s prosecutorial philosophy incentivized people to commit crimes and sought to connect Oakland’s public safety woes to Price.

Price also came under fire for hiring her boyfriend in her office without properly disclosing it. Some of the prosecutors in her office, according to the Berkeley Scanner, also accused her of creating a toxic workplace that resulted in multiple seasoned lawyers leaving. Jones Dickson has also made personnel changes that have resulted in attorneys leaving the office.

The recall campaign began almost immediately after Price began her tenure, with crime victims’ advocates, homicide victims’ family members, and others supporting her ouster. The effort was successful — indicating a continued backlash against progressive prosecutors and policies.

This story was originally published by The Oaklandside and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.