Recall campaign has outraised District Attorney Pamela Price by millions

New campaign finance reports show that the supporters of the recall campaign against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price raised over $1.1 million during the first three months of 2024. Added to last year’s totals, the campaign has raised well over $3 million since launching last summer.

So far, the recall’s supporters have outraised Price by huge amounts. However, Price may be gearing up to fundraise and she’s got the support of groups like the ACLU of Northern California, which has set up its own political committee to fundraise for her defense.

Most of the money raised by the recall campaign in 2024 was paid to PCI Consultants, a Calabasas-based company hired to gather signatures to qualify the recall for an election—a goal the campaign achieved last month. The county Board of Supervisors will decide soon whether to hold a special election this summer or schedule it to take place during the November General Election. 

The recall campaign is actually being financed by two separate political action committees. The official committee leading the recall, “Save Alameda For Everyone,” has raised a fraction of the money powering the campaign. The other committee, named “Supporters of Recall Pamela Price,” has raised the lion’s share of the money. This committee has received significant contributions from wealthy individuals and big companies, many of whom are connected to real estate, construction, finance, and tech. The campaign will likely require more money from this committee as it prepares to mobilize voters to get out for the election. 

The recall campaign’s war chest dwarfs what Price and her allies have raised so far to defend the DA: According to the latest disclosures, a pro-Price committee called “Protect the Win for Public Safety” raised $36,284 this year. Many of Price’s contributors are attorneys, retired East Bay residents, and other individuals, and their checks are for much smaller amounts, on average, than what supporters of the recall are contributing.

The recall effort is a historic moment in Alameda County. It’s the first recall targeting a DA to make it on the ballot in the county’s 174 year-history. If successful, the county will be without a permanent DA until 2028. It would also mark the second successful recall of a progressive DA in the Bay Area, following San Francisco voters’ decision to remove Chesa Boudin in 2022.

The recall’s biggest financial supporters generally haven’t talked in the press about why they are throwing tens of thousands of dollars into this campaign, so we reached out to 20 of them and asked. Only a handful responded, and even fewer wished to talk.  

The biggest recent donors to the campaign to recall District Attorney Pamela Price

Philip Dreyfuss: $200,000 loan

Dreyfuss is the managing partner of the San Francisco hedge fund Farallon Capital Management. He and Isaac Abid, a real estate investor for HP Investors, which owns numerous properties in downtown Oakland, established the “Supporters of Recall Pamela Price” committee, which has raised most of the big dollar contributions for the campaign. Their committee has also paid the signature-gathering bills for the Save Alameda for Everyone committee, which is the public face of the campaign. Abid said in a podcast last year that Price’s reform agenda has caused a “hollowing out of the administration of justice.” 

Dreyfuss, who did not respond to a request for comment, was a top donor to the campaign that recalled SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022.

Holland Residential and John Wayland: $134,900

Holland Residential, a Washington-based real estate company invested in properties across California, including several in downtown Oakland, gave $100,000. Wayland, an executive managing director for Holland, contributed $34,900. The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Kenneth Lin and Ryan Graciano: $150,000

Lin and Graciano are the CEO and CTO of Credit Karma, an online credit score monitoring service. Credit Karma has its headquarters in Oakland. Lin provided $100,000 and Graciano provided $50,000. In response to an interview request, a representative for Intuit, which owns Credit Karma, told The Oaklandside, “Intuit encourages its employees to participate in civic and political processes in their community and country, which is an important part of democracy. Their participation represents their personal views.”

David Friedkin: $50,000

Friedkin is an Oakland resident and the president of Friedkin Property Group, which owns and operates commercial real estate in the Bay Area. Friedkin did not respond to requests for comment.

California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee: $50,000

The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee is the political spending arm of the California Association of Realtors. 

The decision to contribute to the recall was made by two East Bay realtor associations: Bridge Association of Realtors and the Bay East Association of Realtors. Kiran Shenoy, the government affairs director for Bridge, told The Oaklandside both associations are concerned about crime in the county. 

“We have actually had some of our members attacked while conducting business over the course of the past couple years or year,” Shenoy said. Some of the groups’ members have also had their properties damaged and burglarized. 

Shenoy declined to name any specific policies or actions that Price has taken that the associations object to. 

“I think there’s a general sense that some of the policies have led to a sentiment that people can get away with committing crime in the county without repercussions,” Shenoy said.   

Riaz Taplin: $45,000

Taplin is an Oakland resident and the founder of Riaz Capital, a real estate developer. In 2022, Taplin told media outlets that his company was looking outside Oakland for business because of public safety concerns. A representative for Taplin said the company did not want to comment on the recall.

James Ellis: $35,000

Ellis is a Piedmont resident and the managing principal of Ellis Partners, a commercial real estate investment and development company. Ellis Partners 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. Ellis called us back for this story but we missed his call. We’ll update this post if we get in touch with him.

Operating Engineers Local 3: $25,000

Local 3 represents heavy-equipment operators, maintenance workers, and police officers in California and several other states. The union did not respond to requests for comment.

Behring Capital: $15,000

Colin Behring is the CEO of Behring Companies, a real estate development and private equity firm based in Danville. Behring did not respond to a request for comment.

Monarq, Inc.: $15,000

Monarq is an Oakland-based real estate company that owns industrial and office properties, including the Franklin Building downtown.

Monarq’s CEO and president, Mollie Westphal, told The Oaklandside she loves Oakland, but has grown increasingly concerned about public safety over the last few years. As an example, she said there have been several shootings over the past two years near her company’s property on Franklin Street, including one where a man was wounded. Westphal said she’s lost about 30,000 square feet of tenancy and that she thinks it’s because people don’t feel safe downtown. 

Westphal couldn’t immediately recall specific examples of Price’s policies or actions that she objected to, but emphasized that the DA isn’t doing enough to hold people to account. “Your eyes and ears don’t lie,” Westphal said. 

People who work in real estate are tied to permanent assets that can’t be easily sold or moved, she said. “We have stakes in the city and we want to be here,” Westphal said.

Bigge Crane and Rigging Co.: $10,000

Bigge is a San Leandro-based company that rents construction cranes. The firm did not respond to requests for comment.

Ed Conlon: $10,000

Conlon is a San Francisco resident and the senior vice president of Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company. Conlon did not respond to requests for comment.

JDW Enterprises Inc.: $10,000

JDW is an Oakland-based property management company with buildings in Oakland, Berkeley, and Emeryville. The CEO Justin Wallway did not respond to requests for comment.  

Moses Libitzky: $10,000

Libitzky is the chairman of Libitzky Property Companies, a commercial real estate firm invested in the Dogtown Center, Nestle’s Campus in Rockridge, the Stanford Life Science building in Emeryville, and the Temescal Business Park in Berkeley. Libitzky is also the president of the Libitzky Family Foundation, which supports the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco and has given grants to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Libitzky told The Oaklandside he supports the recall because, “Pamela Price seems to be more interested in protecting criminals than protecting the public.” Libitzky said he hasn’t been personally affected by crime. When asked about policies or actions Price has taken that he has problems with he did not point to anything specific.

Libitzky also expressed concern about how Price was elected, citing problems with ranked-choice voting—a method where voters rank multiple candidates for an office in order of preference. Oakland and several other East Bay cities use ranked-choice voting for municipal elections, but Alameda County does not.

Plant Construction Company: $10,000

Plant is a San Francisco-based construction and contracting firm. Plant has done work on the Kaiser Center, the Berkeley Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, and the Emeryville Public Market, among others. The company’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

Seagate Properties, Inc.: $10,000

Seagate is a San Rafael-based real estate investment company. Seagate is invested in an industrial office park in Fremont and a retail space in downtown Berkeley. The company did not respond to requests for comment. 

Shahan Soghikian: $10,000

Soghikian is a Piedmont resident and founder of Panorama Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on life sciences and technology companies. We were unable to reach Soghikian.

Tom Sullivan: $10,000

Sullivan is a retired Oakland resident. We were unable to contact Sullivan.

Amy Settlemier: $9,990

Settlemier is a Piedmont resident and a furniture seller with a company called 8×8 Office Furniture. Settlemier appears to be related to Weston Settlemier, the president and CEO of Bigge Crane, which has also donated to the recall. We were unable to reach Amy Settlemeir.

Nextmotors Corporation: $9,000

Nextmotors is an Oakland-based auto dealership group. The founder, Chris Kwei, is on the board of directors for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. He also founded an Oakland-based real estate development firm and has been quoted by the media expressing concern about vehicle thefts in Oakland. Kwei did not respond to a request for comment.  

Justin Osler: $9,000

Osler is an Oakland resident and a principal with The Martin Group of Companies, a real estate investment firm. Osler’s firm has been involved with several downtown properties, including The Broadway, Webster Eleven, Allison House, Edson House, and Ambrose. Osler did not respond to a request for comment.

Price supporters aren’t raising much cash

There are two committees raising money to oppose the recall. 

Price set up a committee last September called “Protect the Win for Public Safety, Oppose the Recall of DA Price.” Between January and March, this committee raised $36,284 and spent $81,655 on campaign consultants, campaign literature and mailings, and legal services, among other things. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California announced last November that it was opposed to the recall, decrying it as a “dishonest” attempt to blame Price for crime problems that have been brewing for decades. In December, the ACLU set up a committee to campaign against the recall. 

According to the latest disclosure, the ACLU Northern California committee did not raise any money between January and March, although it did receive nonmonetary support in the form of legal and reporting services from the ACLU. The committee spent $3,559 on email outreach and professional services. 

Most of the recent contributions to Price’s “Protect the Win” committee were under $500, but she has received a few sizable donations. 

Raymond Landry: $10,000

Landry is a Richmond resident and pastor who works in Price’s office helping with reentry programs. Landry did not respond to an interview request.

Je Yon Jung: $5,000

Jung is an attorney who lives in the city of Orange, California. According to her website, Jung is a civil rights attorney who previously worked for the Department of Justice prosecuting civil rights cases.