A bitter political war playing out in Oakland between Mayor Sheng Thao and her naysayers could threaten to spill over into a November city race that otherwise has nothing to do with the recall against her.
Brenda Harbin-Forte, who has filed papers to run for city attorney, is a retired Alameda County judge with numerous criticisms of how Oakland deals with litigation. She is also leading the recall effort against Thao that will separately appear on the November ballot.
The race to replace Barbara Parker, who is retiring after 14 years, as Oakland’s top lawyer had been relatively quiet until the arrival this month of Harbin-Forte, who is among the mayor’s most fervent public critics.
It previously featured just one candidate, Ryan Richardson, the chief assistant city attorney in Parker’s office whose long list of endorsers includes Thao, former Mayor Libby Schaaf and the entire sitting City Council.
Oakland is among a small handful of California cities where the top attorney is elected — not appointed — to defend the city government from lawsuits, and sometimes pursue matters of public interest.
Harbin-Forte has led nothing short of a crusade this year to yank Thao from office, most recently holding a news conference last month outside of City Hall where she called on the mayor to resign.
But she said she will not attempt to balance her work in the recall campaign with her new campaign for citywide office.
“When I start campaigning in earnest, someone else will be taking over the recall,” she said in an interview Wednesday, “because I don’t think people should be confused by it.”
OAKLAND, CA – NOVEMBER 07: Newly elected city Councilmember Loren Taylor, right is congratulated by Ryan Richardson, special council to the city attorney, at City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
A day after her campaign announcement, Richardson emailed supporters that his new opponent was “supported by some of the most reactionary voices in Oakland,” warning his base that “we have a real race on our hands.”
With a decade of experience in the city attorney’s office, Richardson said he will likely agree with criticisms that Oakland often drags itself into expensive litigation. But he promised to “rise above the chaos” engulfing the city.
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“The last thing Oaklanders want in 2025 is any more finger-pointing or factionalism,” he said in an interview. “I think what they want now is a group of leaders who are going to focus on policy… and not on politics.”
Still, the campaign season could quickly become fiery — with Harbin-Forte challenging Richardson on the city’s record in recent lawsuits, or Richardson conflating Harbin-Forte’s aggressive recall efforts with her candidacy for the attorney’s office.
Whatever happens, Harbin-Forte — who, after retiring as a judge, served on the civilian Oakland Police Commission before Thao pulled her off of it last year — warned against assuming any public job in Oakland can truly be separated from the hostility of present politics.
“Let’s talk about our merits, let’s compare the two candidates,” she said in an interview Wednesday, “but I don’t know where the idea comes from that an elected citywide office is not political.”