The effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price took a huge step Monday as organizers submitted more than the required number of signatures to get the recall on the ballot.
The group Save Alameda County For Everyone, or SAFE, says it has collected 123,387 signatures for the petition to recall Price, who critics say is anti-law enforcement and too soft on crime.
"DA Price is jeopardizing the safety of every resident and business in Alameda County by failing to enforce the law, prosecute criminals and keep violent offenders off our streets," the group said.
SAFE submitted the signatures to the county’s Registrar of Voters on Monday morning in Oakland. The county will take 10 days to validate the signatures, and if certified, the county Board of Supervisors will then schedule a special election.
Only 73,000 signatures are required to get the recall on the ballot, but the group collected more in case some of those signatures are invalidated.
“We shouldn’t have to do this but for the safety of our community, the safety of our children, the safety of our businesses this is something that had to be done,” said Brenda Grisham of SAFE.
Recall supporters say Price has failed to hold criminals accountable and argue her policies are jeopardizing safety in the county.
“For the short few months she has already destroyed the integrity of the legal system. We have lost so many of those experienced and good prosecutors and there are many many cases that they are not being fairly treated,” said Carl Chan of SAFE.
Several prosecutors have left the DA’s office since Price was elected.
Families of crime victims like Crystal Creech, whose brother was killed in 2019, say they are fearful of how Price's policies could impact their case.
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While those already going through the process, like Virginia Nishita -- whose husband was shot and killed while protecting a news crew – have been vocal in their calls for new leadership since shortly after Price took office.
“Today, the people speaking loud and clear that they want a district attorney, they don’t want a public defender and in many of these cases, these victims cases, justice was not served,” said Nishita.
“We are not seeing people be held accountable for it and if they are held accountable, they are held accountable to a lower standard than what should be on cases such as homicide,” said Creech.
The county has 10 days to approve the signatures but Price supporters leading the “Protect the Win” campaign claim many of the signatures were not gathered properly, and could be fraudulent.
“It's really important that people are not faking signatures. There is basically a handful of very rich men who have put a couple of million dollars behind this thing and it would not be right if we are living in a democracy if just a few people could basically just kind of put something on the ballot,” said William Fitzgerald of Protect the Win campaign.
The group is asking the secretary of state’s office to review and verify each signature. Price supporters also say the recall is driven by a handful of Price's political opponents whose only goal is to oust the legitimate winner of a fair election.
“What are the solutions? No. 1, who have they put in place to be against DA Price, we have heard no name. What actual policy change would they actually put in place? We have heard nothing,” said Fitzgerald. “All we have seen is a weaponization of people's real, real pain.”
If the registrar of voters validates the required signatures, recall supporters expect a special election would take place in April or May.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
