For the first time, Oakland, California Mayor Sheng Thao took questions from the media about the recent raid by the FBI on her home and the attempt to recall her.
She once again reiterated that she is not the target of the investigation, but she declined to say much more about that. Nor would she say if she has spoken to the FBI since that raid on June 20 saying she cannot talk about an ongoing investigation.
She also denied that her partner of 10 years, Andre Jones, is involved in her administration as claimed by her former chief of staff, Renia Webb.
“Oh, absolutely not. I mean, he is my partner. He is his own person, she told Fox2. “She was my chief of staff on the city council. And so, with that being said, it’s an ongoing investigation. And, we can’t give out further information.”
When pressed on the matter by CBS5, she said “I think that’s a really funny question. I think I heard that question for the first time yesterday, and absolutely not. I’ve been on the city council. He’s never been on any payroll,” she said. “That’s really easy to confirm. He’s hardly even been in my office. There’s no truth to that at all. It’s just rumors.”
KRON-TV asked her about her association with the Duongs who own California Waste Solutions which has a recycling contract with the city and whose homes were also raided on June 20. She said her association with them is no greater than the family has with other politicians.
“Well, as mayor, I meet with a lot of community members and business owners. As you know, the Duong family owns a business that operates here in the City of Oakland. And so, as like with any other elected official, you know, we take pictures with them and we explore ways that we can work together to help the city move forward.”
About the recall, she accused organizers of not being fully transparent about who is funding their effort. She also says recall proponents have not answered questions from authorities.
“The Public Ethics Commission has sued the recall organizers because they are refusing to follow a subpoena that orders them to be transparent about who their top donors are. I believe that Oaklanders deserve to know the truth about who is funding this recall. It is extremely troubling that recall organizers are refusing to cooperate with law enforcement,” she told KRON4.
Thao says she is determined to move on with the business of the city.
“What we’ve been doing is making sure that we’re effective in a results-driven way. You know, what we’ve seen is that, for many, many decades, politicians have come and gone,” she said to Fox2 And in areas that need investment, like Deep East Oakland, with the Coliseum, like West Oakland, you know where we know that there’s a ton of air pollution and inequities that we’ve already built out. [Also, let’s look at] Raimondi Park. You know, we have that for the Oakland Ballers. These are all the successes that we have been able to have, and they’re huge successes that my administration have been able to deliver for the city of Oakland. And this is how we generate new money so that we can actually fulfill our duty of serving the city of Oakland and its residents.
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