Critics of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price have spent approximately $2.2 million since launching a campaign seeking her recall six months ago. New campaign finance reports filed by the recall organizers on Wednesday reveal for the first time where Price’s opponents have raised most of that money.
Recalls of public officials—special elections where voters can remove elected leaders from office before the completion of their term—can be expensive. To get a recall on the ballot and in front of voters, organizers must first gather tens of thousands of signatures from registered voters who support the effort. Campaigns typically employ professional signature-gathering companies, polling firms, and consultants to do this. Big bills can rack up fast.
The effort to unseat Price, who took office one year ago after earning 53% of the vote, will need to gather at least 73,195 signatures by mid-March to get the recall on the ballot for an upcoming special election or the November General Election. On social media, organizers have stated that they want to gather 110,000 signatures. That’s to ensure that even if some people’s signatures are thrown out because they can’t be verified as registered voters, the organizers will still have enough.
Recall proponents have received contributions from some notable sources, including former Alameda County District Attorneys Nancy O’Malley and Thomas Orloff, who each contributed $5,000 to the campaign. Hundreds of other individuals have contributed to the recall effort. Most of the money is from a handful of wealthy individuals and big companies, many of them connected to the real estate industry.
Price’s defense efforts, meanwhile, have raised much less, about $85,000 through the end of December. Her fundraising efforts have relied more on small donations from individuals.
Main recall committee has raised about $400,000
To pay for the Price recall effort, organizers have set up two different committees that can raise and spend money.
The official recall committee, called “Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE): Recall DA Price,” was established in July by Oakland resident Brenda Grisham, whose son was killed by gun violence in 2010, and Carl Chan, a longstanding advocate for Chinatown businesses.
Grisham and Chan have accused Price of being soft on crime based on her philosophy as a prosecutor, which emphasizes not always seeking the maximum possible punishment for defendants. Price has also been criticized for not aggressively using “enhancements,” extra charges that can lengthen prison sentences for people convicted of crimes, and for not charging juveniles as adults. Her emphasis on investigating and prosecuting police officers and jail guards accused of serious crimes has also rankled some. A number of longtime deputy DAs left the prosecutor’s office after Price took office over disagreements with her agenda.
Grisham wouldn’t tell The Oaklandside how many signatures the recall campaign has gathered, but she said things are “positively on track.” Grisham said her committee is raising money to continue signature gathering and to fund mailers and other marketing to get people to vote on the recall initiative should it make it to the ballot in an upcoming special election.
“That’s definitely not free; this is very expensive,” Grisham said.
According to campaign records made public yesterday, the SAFE committee raised $407,000 in cash through Dec. 31. It spent $348,000, mainly in payments to PCI Consultants, a Calabasas-based company hired to gather petition signatures. SAFE also has over half a million dollars in outstanding debts, money it owes to PCI and a law firm.
An alleged leak from the recall campaign last December revealed that the campaign team includes Richard Schlackman, the head of a consulting firm called RMS Associates; Angelo Paparella, president of the signature-gathering firm PCI Consultants; Annie Eagan, a board member of Emerge California who has worked extensively with high-profile Democratic politicians across the state; and Kate Maeder, a partner with the firm KMM Strategies.
New campaign finance data filed with election officials on Wednesday confirm that Eagan is a consultant for the recall effort and is owed $29,000 for work in 2023. PCI Consultants have been paid just over $1 million for signature-gathering.
A second committee has raised the bulk of the recall money
While SAFE is the official committee leading the recall, the majority of money raised and spent has come through a second committee, which was created in September and first disclosed its contributors this week.
Oakland resident Philip Dreyfuss originally joined Grisham and Chan in setting up the SAFE committee. He later left this group and teamed up with Oakland-based real estate investor Isaac Abid to launch another committee, called “Supporters of Recall of Pamela Price.”
Dreyfuss, a financier who works at Farallon Capital, a San Francisco hedge fund, has contributed the lion’s share to the recall campaign—$390,000, which he gave directly to the committee he founded. There are no limits to how much a person can contribute to a committee that’s seeking to recall an elected official. Other major supporters who’ve given to the Supporters of Recall of Pamela Price committee include people who work in real estate, tech, and finance in the Bay Area.
Abid is a partner at HP Investors, a real estate company that owns multiple properties in downtown Oakland. In a real estate industry podcast last year, he explained his views on public safety in downtown Oakland. He said Price’s reform agenda has caused a “hollowing out of the administration of justice” as the DA placed several prosecutors on leave while they were under investigation for potential misconduct.
Dreyfuss and Abid declined to be interviewed for this report, and the reasons for forming the second committee are not clear. However, much of the money raised by Dreyfuss’s committee has gone toward paying for work done by Grisham and Chan’s original committee.
For example, the committee run by Dreyfuss and Abid has spent $693,000 on signature gathering. That money went to paying for PCI’s signature-gathering efforts that are being led by the SAFE committee. SAFE counts this money as a “non-monetary contribution” on its campaign finance disclosure forms.
Overall, Dreyfuss and Abid’s committee received $760,000 in contributions between September and the end of December. It appears to have received more money in 2024, although these updated tallies aren’t yet available. The committee reports spending about $1.3 million on the recall through January 2024.
Combined, the total spent so far on the attempt to recall Price between the two committees appears to be around $2.2 million, including the yet-to-be-paid bills of the committees.
The committee run by Dreyfuss has also contributed $25,000 to a campaign in Nevada called “Schools Over Stadiums.” The Nevada State Education Association established this campaign to prevent public funds from being used to pay for a stadium to re-house the Oakland Athletics.
Price and her supporters are raising money to campaign against the recall
Price set up her own committee in September called “Protect the Win for Public Safety, Oppose the Recall of DA Price.” Through the end of December, it raised $82,000 from 105 individuals.
“It is disconcerting that individuals with significant financial resources believe they can manipulate the democratic system to suit their preferences,” a representative from the Protect the Win committee said in a statement to The Oaklandside. “Being rich should not grant one the authority to override the collective decision of the electorate.”
Price’s committee spent $38,000 through the end of December, mostly on legal services provided by The Sutton Law Firm and campaign consultants, who include Courtney Hinton and The Worker Agency.
A committee to defend Price established by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California spent $14,774 last year on email outreach and professional services. According to its disclosure filings, this committee’s funding is entirely provided by internal ACLU Northern California funds.
ACLU Northern California has long criticized the role district attorneys can play in disparities seen in the criminal justice system. On its website, the group says it “works to end mass incarceration by building community capacity to hold DAs accountable and reduce DAs’ power to incarcerate and criminalize people.”
Contributors who’ve given $5,000 and up to Price’s defense
Pamela Price for District Attorney 2028: $16,000
This is Pamela Price’s reelection campaign committee. If she serves her full term, she would have to run for reelection in 2028.
Maria Luisa Flores: $10,000
Flores is a lawyer and partner at the Hendler Flores Law firm in Austin, Texas. According to her website, in law school, she was chief of staff for the first Mexican American woman ever elected to the Texas House of Representatives, Irma Rangel, and was involved in drafting Texas’ first domestic violence legislation. She was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2022.
Pastor Raymond Landry: $7,500
Landry is a Richmond resident who works in Price’s office helping with reentry programs.
John Bauer: $5,000
Bauer is the father of Jacob Bauer, a 38-year-old who was killed by Pleasanton police in 2018. He was in a state of mental distress. Bauer’s family brought a wrongful death suit against the city, which settled for $5.9 million in 2021.
Individuals and companies who’ve given $5,000 and up to the “Supporters of Recall Pamela Price” committee
Philip Dreyfuss: $390,000
Dreyfuss works at the San Francisco hedge fund Farallon Capital Management. He and Isaac Abid, a real estate investor for HP Partners, which owns buildings in downtown Oakland, established what is now known as the “Supporters of Recall Pamela Price” committee. Dreyfuss was also a top donor to the campaign that succeeded in recalling San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022.
Holland Residential: $49,000
Holland Residential is a Washington-based real estate company invested in properties across California, including several downtown Oakland buildings.
The Martin Group of Companies, Justin Osler: $40,000
Justin Osler is Piedmont resident and the co-managing principal of the Martin Group of Companies, a real estate investment firm. The company has been involved in several downtown Oakland properties, including The Broadway, Webster Eleven, Alison House, Edson House, and Ambrose. The firm’s website says, “We buy misunderstood assets.”
Carl Bass/Flying Moose: $30,000
Bass, a Berkeley resident, is the former president and CEO of Autodesk, a company that makes 3D design software. He has founded several other software companies, including Flying Moose, Ithaca Software, and Buzzsaw.
HP Investors: $25,000
HP Investors is a real estate investment and management company that owns at least 14 buildings in Oakland, mostly downtown, making them one of the area’s biggest property owners. Isaac Abid, a partner at the firm, helped launch one of the recall campaign committees.
Kent Putnam: $10,500
Putnam is the owner of Putnam Auto, a Burlingame-based auto dealer.
Ellis Partners: $10,000
Ellis Partners is a commercial real estate investment and development company that has been involved in developing Jack London Square, The Key System building on 12th and Broadway, a 15-story building on Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt, and the Coliseum Industrial Center.
Build Jobs PAC Issues Committee: $10,000
The Build Jobs PAC is the political spending arm of the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area, a nonprofit organization that advocates for development.
Moses Libitzky: $10,000
Libitzky is the chairman of Libitzky Property Companies, a firm that specializes in acquiring and operating commercial real estate projects. The company is invested in the Dogtown Center and Nestle’s Campus in Rockridge, the Stanford Life Science building in Emeryville, and the Temescal Business Park in Berkeley. Libitzky’s family created the Libitzky Family Foundation.
Byong Joo Yu: $10,000
Yu is the CEO of KP Asian Mart in Oakland. He owns about 10 other commercial and residential properties around Koreana Plaza and a shopping center in the Sacramento Area. Last November, tenants at one of Yu’s residential properties on Valley Street accused their landlord of failing to address freezing temperatures, mold, cockroaches, and leaks.
Melissa Ellis: $9,900
Ellis is a Piedmont resident.
Marty Glick: $9,900
Glick is a Piedmont resident and special advisor to the Golden State Warriors. He also contributed to Terry Wiley’s campaign for Alameda County District Attorney in 2022.
Eileen Kwei: $9,900
Kwei is an Oakland resident and managing director for Artisan Partners, a global investment management firm.
Nextmotors Corporation: $9,900
Chris Kwei is the founder and president of this Oakland-based auto dealership group. Kwei is on the board of directors for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. He also founded an Oakland-based real estate development firm, according to his bio on the hospital board’s website. Last year, Kwei told the San Francisco Chronicle that vehicle thefts were making it challenging to do business in Oakland.
Signature Development Group: $9,900
This Oakland-based developer has several projects in Oakland, including properties on Webster Street, Brooklyn Basin, and residential buildings in Uptown like The Hive.
Judy Zollman: $9,900
Zollman lives in Piedmont.
William Duhamel: $9,800
Duhamel is a San Francisco resident and managing member of the hedge fund Route One Investment Company. He was a major financial supporter of the recall campaign against San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and a former member of Farallon Capital, where the top spender in the Price recall campaign, Philip Dreyfuss, works.
Duhamel contributed to South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott in 2022. Duhamel and his wife, Kate, also donated $11,600 to Republican George Santos’ 2022 campaign for Congress in New York. They later complained they felt “cheated” by Santos, who was exposed as having lied about various aspects of his background. Santos was expelled from Congress last December after the Department of Justice charged him with conspiracy, wire fraud, credit card fraud, among other allegations.
TMG Partners Real Estate, Michael Covarrubias: $9,500
Covarrubias is the chairman and co-CEO of TMG Partners, a San Francisco-based real estate development firm. TMG has been involved in several projects in downtown Oakland, including the Breuner Building and Telegraph Tower. In a 2018 interview, Covarrubias credited then-Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf with reducing crime and making downtown Oakland more attractive to businesses and artists.
Cesare Alessandrini: $5,000
Alessandrini is a Lafayette-based resident and CEO of FileRight.com, a website that offers software services to people seeking help with immigration paperwork.
Michael Bradley: $5,000
Bradley is an Oakland resident and insurance broker with American Insurance Wholesalers.
Dave Cannon: $5,000
Cannon is an Oakland resident.
Brad Dickason: $5,000
Dickason is a Piedmont resident and principal at Maracor Development, a real estate development company.
Andrew Fremder: $5,000
Fremder was the CFO of Farallon Capital Management, an investment firm. He is also the co-founder of Oakland Promise, a nonprofit organization that supports Oakland public school students from low-income communities.
[Editor’s note: Fremder formerly served on the board of directors for Cityside Journalism Initiative, the parent nonprofit organization that operates The Oaklandside.]
John Carlo Heywood: $5,000
Heywood is an investor who lives in Piedmont.
John Protopappas: $5,000
Protopappas is the founder and President/CEO of Madison Park Financial Corporation, which owns rental properties throughout Oakland. Protopappas created an organization called Housing Providers of America that co-filed a lawsuit against Oakland to overturn the city and county’s eviction bans during the pandemic.
Scott Ruegg: $5,000
Ruegg is a principal at Skyline Pacific Properties, a real estate investment firm specializing in commercial properties, including gas stations in Berkeley and Oakland, a Church’s Chicken in Oakland, and the Walgreens and Trader Joe’s on Lakeshore. Ruegg’s family is associated with Rue-Ell Enterprises, which also contributed money to the recall.
Valdez Painting: $5,000
This is a Sacramento-based contractor.
Andrew Waterman: $5,000
Waterman founded Waterway Data, an Oakland-based consulting company specializing in AI, machine learning, and data science.
WCI-General Contractors, Inc.: $5,000
WCI-GC is a Walnut Creek-based commercial construction company that is employee-owned.
Individuals and companies who’ve given $5,000 and up to the “Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE)”
Eric Sullivan: $10,000
Sullivan is a retired Piedmont resident.
WCI-GC, Inc.: $9,999
WCI-GC is a Walnut Creek-based commercial construction company that is employee-owned.
James Ellis: $9,999
Ellis is a Piedmont resident and a co-founder of Ellis Partners, a commercial real estate investment and development company. Ellis Partners has also contributed money to the recall committee set up by Philip Dreyfuss.
David Scott Ruegg: $9,950
This appears to be the same person as Scott Ruegg, who contributed $5,000 to the other pro-recall committee. Ruegg co-founded Skyline Pacific Properties, a real estate investment firm specializing in commercial properties, including gas stations in Berkeley and Oakland, a Church’s Chicken in Oakland, and the Walgreens and Trader Joe’s on Lakeshore in Oakland. Ruegg’s family is associated with Rue-Ell Enterprises, which also contributed money to the recall.
Courtney Sukhar: $9,000
Sukhar is the owner of Quality Scales Unlimited, a maker of truck scales in Byron, CA. She appears to be married to Ilya Sukhar, an investor who has previously contributed to the recall campaign.
John Carlo Heywood: $5,250
Heywood is a Piedmont resident and private investor.
Indo-American Builders: $5,000
This is a construction firm based in El Sobrante.
Nancy O’Malley: $5,000
O’Malley is the former DA of Alameda County. Price and her former boss, whom she tried to oust in a bitter 2018 election campaign, have plenty of bad blood. Price also accused members of O’Malley’s office of violating state law by coordinating with a police union-backed independent expenditure committee.
Thomas J. Orloff: $5,000
Orloff was Alameda County District Attorney from 1994 until his retirement in 2009.
Rue-Ell Enterprises, Inc.: $5,000
This is a Berkeley-based real estate firm.
Bally Singh: $5,000
Singh is in property management with SMC East Bay. SMC is the property manager for roughly 300 rental properties in West Oakland that are owned by a collection of LLCs run by Neill Sullivan.
Correction: Andrew Fremder retired from Farallon Capital in 2001 and is no longer an employee of the company. We also incorrectly stated that Maria Luisa Flores was the first Mexican American woman elected to the Texas House. Irma Rangel holds that distinction. And we incorrectly stated that Brenda Grisham said the recall campaign is raising funds for the November election; the campaign is raising funds for a special election.
