Former Alameda County DA backs Price recall

Former Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley announced her support for the recall of her successor, Pamela Price, ahead of next month’s election.

O’Malley, who served two terms as the county’s top prosecutor, held a rare press conference, where she declared that Price is not qualified or competent to serve as DA.

The former prosecutor also claimed that Price – who won election two years ago – ignores victim’s rights, has created a hostile working environment, and blames problems in the DA’s office on others, including her predecessors.

This was the first time O’Malley had spoken out publicly against Price, although she and her predecessor, Thomas Orloff, had contributed $5,000 each to the spring campaign – which is backed by wealthy business leaders – to gather signatures for the recall.

Price’s tenure has been beset by a series of controversies, including public feuds with Governor Gavin Newsom, and recent criticism of her office by an Alameda County Superior Court judge.

Earlier this month, a figure in an ongoing federal probe into Oakland government corruption accused the DA of soliciting a $25,000 donation to her anti-recall campaign. Price denied the charges.

Price, a former civil rights attorney, who campaigned on a restorative justice platform, held a press conference this afternoon to respond to her critics.

In the past, she has claimed that her opponents are attempting to “weaponize people’s grief and pain.”Recall supporters have raised more than two-and-a-half million dollars – far more than the $340,000 raised by their anti-recall opponents, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.