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The race for Alameda County district attorney is already heating up, seven months before the primary election next June.
In what will be one of the most important elections in 2022, with far-reaching impacts across the county, three candidates have already declared their intent to run: civil rights attorney Pamela Price, chief assistant district attorney Terry Wiley and deputy district attorney Jimmie Wilson.
It will be a totally wide-open DA contest for the first time in recent memory, as 12-year incumbent Nancy O’Malley announced in May that she would not seek re-election and step aside when her current term expires in early 2023.
To help voters in Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and Sunol (and the rest of Alameda County) get to know the candidates so far, we are co-sponsoring a forum next weekend organized by community group Livermore Indivisible.
The online event — with Wilson, Wiley and Price all scheduled to participate — should act as a good primer early on for residents trying to educate themselves about this vital election. After all, the DA’s office makes charging decisions after arrests, prosecutes criminal cases and investigates fatalities and other serious incidents involving law enforcement, among its many functions.
“The idea behind this is to introduce voters to relatively unknown candidates rather informally and encourage support, financially or otherwise, for their choice before the midterm,” Livermore Indivisible’s Helen Machuga, who will serve as moderator, said of the Nov. 14 forum.
Of course, it’s the voter education component that intrigues me and the Weekly about the event (as opposed to drumming up support), but I also understand and accept that the latter is always at play for candidates, often the main motivator for why they take part in public debates.
While Machuga is right that these three candidates are fairly “unknown” to the broader electorate, each appears to be anything but in criminal justice circles in Alameda County.
One of two internal candidates, Wiley has worked for the DA’s office for almost as long as I’ve been alive. Earlier this year he was promoted to chief assistant DA, the first African American person to hold that position in county history — that months after he was named director of the office’s new Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Wilson joined the DA’s office 16 years ago, transitioning to a legal career later in adulthood after working years as a union plumber. His past prosecutorial caseload in Alameda County runs the gamut, and no doubt that, along with his life experiences, influence his long list of goals for the department.
Price, a civil rights attorney in private practice, should be a bit more familiar to voters as she ran an unsuccessful bid to unseat O’Malley four years ago. She has doubled down and expanded on her progressive campaign agenda from the 2018 election, now promoting “Pamela’s 10-Point Platform” if elected next year.
I encourage you to visit each candidate’s website to learn more about their campaign vision and growing endorsement catalog.
It’s worth acknowledging that this might not be the final candidate list in the end. The nomination period in Alameda County for the June 7 primary doesn’t even open until Feb. 14.
Price, Wiley and Wilson are the only prospective candidates to publicly come forward to this point — and the fact each has registered a campaign committee with state regulators is a clear sign they’ll apply for the ballot.
It is refreshing to see such a diverse group of candidates so far. A variety of professional and personal perspectives is key for elections. Any of these three would be the first Black person ever elected as DA in Alameda County. (Heck, O’Malley’s ascension in 2009 marked the first time the county’s top prosecutor was not a white man.)
Remember that all candidates who qualify will appear on the primary ballot, and unless one wins an outright majority of all participating voters at that time (50% plus one), the top two finishers in June will advance to a runoff election in November.
So Tri-Valley voters, consider educating yourself early and often. Check out the online forum, which starts at 1:30 p.m. next Sunday (Nov. 14). Register at trivalley.rocks/ACDA2022.
If you’d like to suggest a question for the candidates, email moderator Machuga by 5 p.m. this Monday at livermoreindivisible@gmail.com.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh has been the editor of the Pleasanton Weekly since February 2017. His “What a Week” column runs on the first and third Fridays of the month.
I participated as viewer for the Zoom candidate forum this afternoon. All three candidates are opposed of the death penalty. Mr. Wiley and Mr. Wilson were available before the event started, Pamela Price was a couple of minutes late. Mr. Wiley and Mr. Wilson are experienced prosecutors.
Pamela Price has no experience as a prosecutor.
Pamela started with a split screens depicting a stupid flow chart indicating flow of police, prosecutors, courts, boring eight grade waste of time. She giggled a lot, asked questions to be repeated. She seemed preoccupied with something off camera. Pamela stated she would model this district attorney office to be like Gascon in LA and San Francisco DA office.
Mr. Wiley stated that he has endorsement of the Hayward and the Oakland police departments. He spoke to the need for transparency, hold people accountable, and addressed gun violence, need for good police policies.
Mr. Wilson spoke to gun violence, and “leveraging”, the practice of over charging to get a plea for a lesser charge. He will change that practice.
I believe Mr. Wiley to be the best Candidate of the three I saw this afternoon, I hope there will be other candidates declaring for the DA office in Alameda County.