As Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao bids to keep her place in City Hall amid recall efforts, supporters of the mayor are taking measures to bring to light what they say is a hostile takeover of city politics by wealthy elites bent on influencing local politics in their favor. KPFA’s Teresa Wierzbianska looked into the claims and found an out of town billionaire, Phillip Dreyfuss, has funneled at least half a million dollars in a series of dark money groups to oust Thoa and Alameda County’s progressive District Attorney Pamela Price.
On a leafy, mansion-lined street in Piedmont, a group of activists gathered outside the sprawling home of a billionaire hedge fund manager to put on a play about a nefarious so-called “vulture capitalist” who feasts on the carnage of Oakland democracy.
SOT: His den is a 10 -bedroom mansion, but you can see not big enough for this species. This massive expansion happening of his den. But we’re going to find out what happens to this species. The vulture capitalist. He’s the manager. Invested in Farlon Capital, Major coal investor, profiting and seeking to protect his special interests. Will he succeed? Seed watch to find out.
An actor wearing a suit with pockets overflowing with cash and a full vulture mask lurks past the mansion holding a sign reading “can I buy your democracy?” Another actor is wearing a homemade ballot box costume made out of cardboard. A few others in regular clothes holding signs reading “good jobs,” “affordable housing” and “no coal” suddenly approach the vulture.
SOT: A new species is on the scene. The people of Oakland. Oh, well, will he prevail? Will he be able to prey on them? The people he is spreading his lies, spreading his money. Will the people of Oakland fall for it? What do they want? What are they doing? Oh, the people of Oakland are rallying for affordable housing, for good jobs, • uh, democracy, and against coal. Very interesting. What a resilient species. What is going to happen next?
The voice you’re hearing is that of Jane Martin, the organizing director of a group called Bay Rising, a regional local organizing group. They are staging this play to protest the recall effort of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and, specifically, against the efforts of the owner of the Piedmont mansion, Farallon Capital Management hedge fund billionaire Philip Dreyfus, who, according to campaign disclosures, has almost single handedly financed the recall effort. Dreyfuss’ committee, Foundational Oakland Unites poured about half a million dollars into the recall, and more into the recall effort of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, and other political committees in the East Bay that seek to influence this election. Pecolia Manico from the Oakland chapter of Bay Rising says this political bankrolling stinks of corruption.
SOT: We have been looking at the financing of who is paying for recalls. We have found that there is a significant investment, being made by people who basically don’t live in Oakland. Billionaires who are using their wealth to buy what we believe are elections and really use dark money to unseat democratically elected officials. Our mayor, the district attorney, um, all of these recalls are really being driven by a small group of wealthy individuals. And we want to bring people’s attention to that because we do believe that Oakland is not for sale.
Oakland voters and Mayor Thao herself are left wondering why, exactly, a billionaire who doesn’t live in the city of Oakland, would go to such lengths to unseat the mayor and influence other measures. What we do know is that Dreyfuss’ firm has invested over 2 billion dollars in coal according to industry reports. Dreyfuss has never answered a press inquiry from any outlet since the recall initiative started. We also know the city of Oakland has been in a long battle with the coal industry. Last year, a developer of a proposed coal export terminal took the city to court claiming lost profits into the hundreds of millions. This week, Mayor Thao released an open letter to Dreyfuss making the connection that his interests are coal profits. She wrote “For years Oakland has stood tall against coal money threatening the health of West Oakland, Chinatown, Jack London and Downtown… instead of investing in coal you could have invested in our young people.”
Dreyfuss’ group Foundational Oakland Unites trickles funding into a web of other groups and campaigns that seek to change Oakland’s political landscape. According to the Oakland Observer, there is significant overlap between FOU and other political expenditure committees including Families for a Vibrant Oakland and Revitalize the East Bay. Individuals associated with these groups are also linked to a political mobilizing group called Empower Oakland, which was founded by Loren Taylor, the former Oakland District 6 city councilmember and mayoral candidate who narrowly lost to Thao in 2022. Piedmont resident and Alameda County board of supervisors District 5 candidate, Chris Moore has served as treasurer for FOU and currently sits on the endorsement committee for Empower Oakland as a proxy for Oakland based real estate entrepreneur Isac Abid, who incidentally is also the principal officer of Revitalize the East Bay.
Empower Oakland is essentially a voter guide with colorful mailers that promotes a slate of candidates and measures. Among them, Empower Oakland encourages voters to vote yes on the recall initiatives of mayor Thao and District Attorney Price. The group also supports the city attorney bid by Brenda Harbin-Forte who spearheaded the mayoral recall campaign for a time and the city council bid of Leronne Armstrong, the Oakland police chief who was ousted by Thao early in her tenure for mishandling an officer misconduct charge. Empower Oakland’s endorsement committee and endorsement list is in many ways a who’s who of mayor Thao’s enemies.
Trishala Vinnakota sits on the group’s endorsement committee. She was the campaign manager for Loren Taylor’s failed mayoral bid against Thao in 2022. She says the endorsement committee didn’t weigh in on the recall until recently, but says the group decided on a yes vote in the interest of Oakland solvency.
SOT: The handling of the city budget has been the most inadequate in my, you know, opinion. And she has not shown a commitment to addressing Oakland structural deficit. And this has a lot of ramifications for Oakland down the road, and it could really impact our bond rating and could make the city really fiscally insolvent. And I think that’s one of the most alarming ones.
Empower Oakland also supports the city council district 3 candidate Warren Logan who opposes housing activist council member Carol Fife, who some real estate interests seek to depose. When asked about Empower Oakland’s relationship to Dreyfuss’ FOU political funding committee and related funding committees within the expenditure web, Vinnakota says there’s no relationship.
SOT: We’re not even related. Our median contribution for empower Oakland is $100. And, uh, I think there’s been a lot of misinformation, disinformation that has been put out about even our top funders. And we’re, we’re really, we’re really open about who is funding us. You can actually go online and see that on our About Us page and you can check our disclosures and our filings. we’ve received donations from hundreds of Oaklanders who are really care and are willing to step up and support a vision for a thriving, safer, vibrant Oakland.
Ryan Graciano, co-founder of Credit Karma is listed on the website as one of Empower Oakland’s principal funders at $150,000. And according to the Oakland Observer, three main expenditure groups, Dreyfuss’ Foundation for Oakland Unites, Families for a Vibrant Oakland and Revitalize the East Bay have in turn each funded several other expenditure groups that back Empower Oakland candidates.
To the Oakland residents protesting the recall, though, it all looks suspect. Efforts made to reform police violence, promote affordable housing and limit coal, among other progressive measures, seem to be facing a fierce battle this election. Pecolia Manigo from Oakland Rising
SOT: I think it’s very concerning that Empower Oakland’s main support is coming from again, candidates and organizations that are aligned with interests, corporate interests, billionaires interests, wealth, that is not within Oakland, but also not pushing an agenda that is truly about creating real solutions for Oaklanders.
Manigo says they are promoting what she calls a “doom loop” scenario of the city to tell voters they need a total transformation of city leadership instead of working with the city to create stability that will help move Oakland forward.