Editorial: Vote for Terry Wiley, best choice for new Alameda County DA

Civil rights attorney Pamela Price and veteran prosecutor Terry Wiley are vying to succeed retiring Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. The race is on the November ballot because none of the candidates received the majority of votes to win outright in the June primary.

Wiley is the candidate with the requisite experience and knowledge to fill the role of the county’s top prosecutor and lead a $100 million government agency with approximately 425 lawyers, investigators and administrative staff members.

Wiley has positioned himself as a “public safety” candidate, and has the record to back that up.

With more than 32 years in the county’s DA office, Wiley was promoted to Assistant II District Attorney in 2020. He has vast criminal law experience, has had many different assignments over the years and has prosecuted everything from misdemeanors to murders. He has shown he will stand up for justice regardless of the person committing the crime, including prosecuting rouge police officers like the Oakland “Riders” in the early 2000s.

He has earned the endorsement of O’Malley, who tweeted she is “firmly behind the election of Terry Wiley” to succeed her.

A strong advocate for criminal justice reform and fighting inequalities in the adult and juvenile justice systems, Wiley is the director of the DA office’s new Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which is focused on prosecuting crimes while making sure everything is carried out fairly and with integrity.

Wiley’s managerial background includes his current role as the director of human resources at the DA’s office and his previous position leading the felony trial team, which boasted a 93% conviction rate.

Wiley’s opponent, Price, has never prosecuted a case.

Price has run her own civil rights litigation practice for roughly 30 years and advocates criminal justice reform by creating a “collaborative” criminal justice system that offers solutions to reducing crime other than incarceration, such as jail diversion and restorative justice programs for young offenders.

While Price says she wants to decrease incarceration of young people, a laudable goal, she has no record of executing programs that produce results. On the other hand, Wiley led a nationally recognized juvenile division, where he addressed ethnic disparities of juveniles in custody and worked with the probation department to cut incarceration rates by two thirds.

We agree with Price that the grievous concerns at the county’s Santa Rita Jail, such as in-custody deaths and alleged abuse by guards, must be addressed immediately.

She has tried to blame Wiley for the issues at the jail, but the accusation doesn’t hold up to scrutiny; implying he is guilty simply by being part of the DA’s office is absurd. In fact, Wiley is the best person to address the problems at the sheriff-operated jail because he has a track record of taking action as opposed to lamenting problems and pointing fingers.

Price has also tried to distance herself from “progressive” DAs like San Francisco’s recently recalled Chesa Boudin. She has said “I am not Chesa Boudin,” but many of her ideas mirror Boudin’s, like prohibiting the use of the “three strikes” law and “gang enhancements” to increase sentences.

There is no doubt that change will be a welcome sight, but it will be more effective and timely when implemented by someone who knows the office and the job.

Alameda County needs and deserves a DA with prosecutorial experience who has also initiated programs addressing ethnic disparities and has actually led programs that have reduced incarceration rates without affecting public safety. That candidate is Wiley.

Vote for Terry Wiley for DA.