By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
Oakland, CA – This week, the Pamela Price Recall campaign put out an announcement that they are now seeking at least 225,000 signatures. This was in response to charges from the Price campaign that the Recall Campaign was using signature gatherers from out of county which would not represent valid signatures.
In a statement, they announced that this was, “in order to guarantee the 73,000 legally required to recall Price. This is up from the 100,000 originally sought, and is because Price is throwing every obstacle she can to stop the Recall.”
They added, “I don’t know if the Alameda County Registrar of Voters is actually allied with Price, but we can’t discount the possibility, nor can we ignore the fact that Price is a vengeful but clever lawyer, with a strong motivation to kill the Recall. She knows how to use the courts, so we have to take very seriously the threat of her derailing our train.”
(Update) Brenda Grisham emailed the Vanguard clarifying that the group “have not increased the number of signature” but rather that the 225,000 “is a personal amount” and that shew as speaking for herself, rather than the group.”
The campaign to Protect The Win spokesperson William Fitzgerald (who aims to keep DA Price in Office) responded, noting, “We understand they’ve raised close to $600,000 to pay for signatures they’ve currently collected. Earlier this week, they announced their 
plan to collect 225,000 signatures.”
He explained, “They’re doing this in response to a question recall leader Carl Chan asked to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors recently, he asked the BoS if the recall campaign can sue based on the fact that they didn’t understand the requirement for signature gatherers to live in Alameda county.”
The Board of Supervisors responded, “Who would we sue if we tried to file an action in court? We don’t have anyone to sue.”
Fitzgerald charged, “The only reason that this is happening is because wealthy landlords and investors are spending what could be millions to force Alameda to embark on a recall election that would cost taxpayers an estimated $20 million dollars.”
He added, “And even if it’s successful, Alameda County will see no decrease in crime (as we’ve clearly seen in San Francisco where crime increased after DA Jenkins took office).”
However, he charged that “spending this amount of money on an election does mean some critical programs such as additional mental health services, funding for drug rehab programs, diversion programs for youth, and many more, may lose already limited funding. All because very wealthy people who don’t live in Alameda County want to control a local election.”
He concluded, “The funders behind this are landlords and technology investors, the majority of whom do not live in Alameda County. We shouldn’t let the wealthiest amongst us have an oversized say in our democracy, especially those who don’t live here. We are calling everyone in Alameda County to Decline to Sign!””
