District Attorney Pamela Price speaks out against critics at anti-recall rally
Less than a month from Election Day, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price spoke at a rally Thursday taking a stand against her upcoming recall.
Less than 10 months after Price took office, her critics started collecting signatures for a recall. At the rally Thursday, Price argued she didn't even have a chance to do the job she was elected to do.
"I was elected. I'm doing the job. I'm committed to doing the job. I'm a volunteer not a victim and I stepped up because I love this community," Price said.
Recall organizers say Price's progressive approach to criminal justice is not the right way to address crime in Alameda County. But Price says the recall is exploiting crime victims for political gain.
"We see people with a political agenda exploiting people's pain, weaponizing people's grievances and hardships they've suffered, and using the people that've been impacted by the criminal justice system," Price said. "And using them to say they are the only voices that should be heard in the midst of reforming this system and that is a lie."
Some high-profile Bay Area Democrats agree that recalls aren't the solution. Earlier this week, Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee joined other politicians including State Senator Nancy Skinner in opposing recalls, calling the process undemocratic.
Corey Cook, a professor of politics at St. Mary's College of California, says terms in offices are designed to give elected officials enough time to weigh the candidate's record.
"There's a reason you have a four year term is so that voters have an opportunity to evaluate your work and then you're accountable the next election," said Cook.
Price has criticized the recall campaign against her as being funded by billionaires. Cook acknowledged that money plays a factor in getting recalls on the ballot.
"If you have enough resources to pay signature gatherers, you will qualify ballot measures and you will qualify recall elections," Cook said. "So unfortunately, the threshold level we have to get these things on the ballot is predominantly financial one."
But there has been a groundswell of support for the recall, including Rep. Eric Swalwell and the Alameda County police unions who are demanding change.
Price's current fight to save her job is another sign that recalls will continue to be a part of California's political landscape.