— Campaign Team – Pamela Price for DA (@PPrice_Cares) December 16, 2023
Special to the Vanguard
Oakland, CA – at the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Oakland, community and local leaders gathered to rally behind DA Pamela Price and to fight back against what they called the undemocratic recall process.
The rally included political leaders from across Alameda County who spoke against what they called “the undemocratic nature of the recall effort and their confidence in DA Pamela Price as an accomplished civil rights attorney with over 40 years experience who’s cleaning up an office that was badly mismanaged before she arrived.”
The event was organized by the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and the Wellstone Democratic club.
DA Pamela Price highlighted some of her accomplishments since taking office:
“We want to support the safety of people to be able to walk in whatever neighborhoods they are in. To shop in whatever neighborhood. That’s the mission of the District Attorney. We have embraced that mission. We’ve spent the last year improving our services. Our team has done an amazing job reducing time for people to receive 
psychological service, We had a backlog of 600 families that were not receiving services, we’ve cleared that. We have paid our bills (when she arrived in office the office had not been managed well). Basic things that required my attention from the day I got here.”
Speaking in response to the revelations this week that the recall are focused on fundraising from folks concerned with a decrease in their portfolio valuations:
“We know this recall isn’t about public safety, we have their campaign plan. It says they are concerned about the value of their real estate portfolios. We are responsible for the lives of real people, and the impact the system has not just on people who’ve suffered from crime, but their families.”
DA Price addressed the values the people of Alameda County have voted for again and again over the past decade:
“I appreciate the vote of confidence of the Democratic Party. I stand with progressives inside the party and outside the party. We brought so many people together in our community to get this win. It was a grassroots, corporate free movement. We continue to stand on those principles, on the values of our 10-point platform, on the values of Alameda County, the policies and the laws you elected me to implement. I didn’t create those laws. Since 2012, our County has been committed to criminal justice reform. We passed Prop 57 in 2016 with 77% of the vote which said Prosecutors should not charge juveniles as adults. We passed Prop 47 overwhelmingly because we don’t want to incarcerate people for low level, minor crimes. At the same time we are holding people accountable. And at the same time we understand that in 2021 Sen Nancy Skinner passed SB81 which gives Prosecutors and Judges the directive that we need to stop relying on enhancements. That is the law. We are following the law. We are lawyers, and I have given the directive to every lawyer in my office. You are a minister of Justice. That is what the State Bar of California says. That’s what you elected me to do.”
On gun violence:
“My message to those who are using guns and hurting people is that you are not just hurting people trying to shoot, you are hurting your mother, you are hurting our community. When you commit a violent crime, it has a ripple effect across this community. That is the lens I am looking at how to hold people accountable. How to heal people and how to provide services . How to ensure my deputies are committed to justice. That’s what you elected to do. That’s the job I’ve been doing since Jan 3rd, and that’s the job I will continue to do for the next 5 years!”
Shocking I tell you. No kidding!