Attack ads raising temperature of Alameda County Democratic committee race
As the California primary approaches, a little known but important race in the East Bay is heating up with negative ads.
East Oakland mom Pamela Ferran says she's running in the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee for Assembly District 18 race so her kids and other families can feel safe in Oakland.
"I'm tired of the conditions of the city. And things don't seem to be getting better. And so it's time for regular Oaklanders and it's time for people to step up," said Ferran, who is the mother of three young girls.
But when the political newcomer saw an attack ad that targeted her and her moderate allies, a group known as the Empower Oakland Slate, she was disappointed.
"Our features are altered. Our faces are altered to look sinister and aggressive. These things are very troubling," said Ferran.
An opponent in the race allegedly set up a website and sent the ad via text messages to some voters calling Ferran and her group criminals.
Ferran and fellow candidate Loren Taylor said the attack crossed the line.
"What we shouldn't stand for is racist trolls, which is what this was. This was absolute racist. This was lies, this was libel, accusing us of being criminals with no proof," said Ferran.
The attack ad was reportedly launched by candidate Mario Juarez, a real estate broker who years ago unsuccessfully ran for an Oakland City Council seat.
"The Empower Oakland slate has issued a cease and desist order to Mario," said Taylor, a former Oakland City Councilman who lost in the most recent mayoral race to Sheng Thao.
"I think the significance of this is important," said political analyst Joe Tuman, a retired San Francisco State University political science professor.
Tuman said the winners of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee District 18 race will have huge power. The Democratic committee hands out endorsements. He said endorsements lead to name recognition and donations.
"And if you didn't have that endorsement, you'd have to do this all on your own. You'd have to go door to door, knocking for endorsements and/or asking people for money," said Tuman.
"85% of the people endorsed by this group end up winning their elections on the county and city levels," added Taylor.
Many candidates in the race have openly demanded Juarez to pull the ad and apologize, including candidate Adrien Abuyen.
"How do we build bridges and how do we make sure that there's also the ability to collaborate with one another? An ad like that doesn't do that," said Abuyen, who is with the United Voices for Democracy slate. "We denounced attacks like that. We don't even want to give it attention."
Ferran hopes voters will ignore the attack ad and focus on the issues she's fighting for, which are a safer, cleaner Oakland and better education system for the children.
"I want to be able to bring my kids to a park that's clean, that's not full of trash and filth," said Ferran.
Only registered Democrats in District 18 can vote on the committee race. There are 29 candidates going after 10 seats on March 5th.
CBS News Bay Area reached out to Juarez repeatedly on Sunday to get his side of the story, but did not hear back by press time.