The campaign to recall Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is being bankrolled almost single-handedly by one wealthy East Bay resident: Philip Dreyfuss. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Dreyfuss is also one of the biggest contributors to the recall campaign targeting District Attorney Pamela Price.
Dreyfuss’ involvement in the Thao recall was revealed in a campaign disclosure filed Wednesday by a political committee called Foundational Oakland Unites. Between January and June, Foundational Oakland Unites raised over $605,000. Every single dollar came from Dreyfuss, who is a partner at the San Francisco Farallon Capital Management hedge fund. Dreyfuss owns a home in Piedmont, which is listed as his primary residence, according to county voter registration data. In Foundational’s campaign finance disclosure Dreyfuss lists his residence as Oakland.
Foundational Oakland Unites gave $480,000 to the recall campaign’s official coordinating committee, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao. The money was provided in the form of $130,000 cash contribution, $13,000 in loans, and $337,000 in what are called “nonmonetary contributions.” The nonmonetary contributions involved Foundational Oakland Unites paying the bills for the professional signature-gathering company that helped qualify the recall question for the November ballot.
The recall campaign’s official coordinating committee, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, disclosed yesterday that it has raised about $573,000, including the $480,000 from Foundational Oakland Unites. This means Dreyfuss is personally responsible for about 80% of the recall campaign’s funding.
Dreyfuss’ spending dwarfs the money Thao has raised through a committee to defend herself from the recall. As of June 30, Oaklanders Defending Democracy, Oppose the Recall of Mayor Thao had brought in $1,845. Most of those contributions were made after June 20, when the FBI raided Thao’s home and properties linked to California Waste Solutions and the Duong family. Prior to the raids, there was speculation that Thao would receive support against the recall from the city’s unions, from whom she received significant financial support during the 2022 election.
Dreyfuss also gave Foundational Oakland Unites $124,500 to support an initiative to eliminate ranked-choice voting in Oakland elections. Foundational gave this money to a different committee called Coalition to Reclaim Oakland, which was established earlier this year by Pamela Ferran, the former chief of staff for Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor. Taylor has blamed ranked choice voting for his narrow loss in the 2022 mayoral election, and he’s linked to an effort to overturn this form of election through a proposed ballot measure.
Dreyfuss, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has not publicly said why he supports the Thao recall.
The recall campaign’s public face is Brenda Harbin-Forte, a former Alameda County Superior Court judge and police commissioner. Harbin-Forte and other recall supporters claim that Thao created a public safety crisis in Oakland and fault her for firing LeRonne Armstrong, the former police chief, among other things. Harbin-Forte recently announced she’s running for City Attorney.
The Oakland Public Ethics Commission is investigating both committees involved in the recall campaign for potentially violating the city’s campaign finance rules that require disclosing funding sources. The recall’s organizers refused to comply with a subpoena and turn over records to the commission, prompting the agency to file a lawsuit to compel their cooperation. An Alameda County Superior Court judge tentatively denied the commission’s request but suddenly recused herself from the case and vacated her order last week.
Foundational Oakland Unites is a “social welfare” organization set up under provisions of the federal tax code that allow it to spend money on political campaigns, but political advocacy can’t be their primary activity, according to the IRS.
Big bucks in District Attorney recall campaign
Dreyfuss is also one of the deepest pockets funding the recall against DA Pamela Price. In 2023, Dreyfuss helped set up a committee called “Supporters of Recall Pamela Price.” Dreyfuss gave this committee nearly $400,000 to help pay for signature gathering. As of June 30, Dreyfuss has loaned the campaign another $200,000. Dreyfuss has experience in successful efforts to remove elected officials from office; he was a top donor in the effort to oust San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin in 2022.
As of June 30, the Supporters of Recall Pamela Price committee has raised over $1.2 million this year for the recall, which qualified for the ballot in May. The committee’s only significant donor from April through June was Holland Residential, a Washington-based real estate company that is invested in several properties in downtown Oakland.
A separate committee called Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE) has not submitted its disclosures as of Thursday. This committee is the public face of the recall and is led by Brenda Grisham, a community organizer and public safety advocate, and Carl Chan, an Alameda real estate agent and advocate for Oakland Chinatown.
Last September, Price set up a committee to fight the recall, and after the recall qualified for the ballot in April, Price’s committee saw an influx of funding. From January through June, the committee “Protect the Win for Public Safety, Oppose the Recall of DA Price” raised over $162,000.
Here are some of Price’s biggest supporters.
Mary Chlan: $25,000
Chlan is a retiree from Phoenix, Arizona. According to her LinkedIn, Chlan works part-time as a treasurer for an organization called the Men’s Health Network.
Kenneth Chapman II: $10,000
Chapman lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is the director of the Democratizing Justice Initiative, an organization focused on police accountability.
John Bauer: $6,000
Bauer is a Pleasanton resident whose son Jacob was killed by police while experiencing a mental health crisis. Bauer’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pleasanton, which settled for $5.9 million in 2021.
Simona Farrise: $5,000
Farrise lives in Concord and works for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
National Union of Healthcare Workers Issues Committee for Quality Patient Care and Union Democracy: $5,000
This committee is the political spending arm of a union that represents healthcare workers.
