Recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's former chief of staff to run in race to replace her
Renia Webb, the former chief of staffer for ousted Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao who made pay-to-play allegations about Thao's administration, has announced her intention to run for the office.
Webb filed the paperwork in November and Monday released a statement announcing her candidacy.
"My Oakland roots run deep, with family ties in this area for more than 100 years. I love my hometown and am driven to serve our community," Webb said. "I've raised four amazing children here and their safety, well-being, and overall quality of life fuels me everyday. Like my children's potential, the potential of Oakland is limitless. And I look forward to making our city a top destination for families, businesses, tourists, and more."
Webb served as Thao's chief of staff while Thao was a member of the city council and volunteered countless hours during Thao's mayoral campaign in 2022. Webb said she also led Thao's transition team after she won the election.
She currently works as an educator at Crocker Highlands Elementary School, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A gun safety advocate, Webb works with the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America at the state level to push for gun safety legislation.
She says her priorities include public health, safety, affordable housing, education, economic revitalization and fiscal responsibility.
Following the FBI raid at Thao's home in June, Webb spoke to CBS News Bay Area about pay-to-play allegations involving Thao's partner boyfriend Andre Jones. She made those accusations as far back as February of 2023 and said she was also interviewed by FBI agents.
While the FBI still hasn't linked Thao to any kind of wrongdoing -- she denied that she had done anything illegal in comments after the raid -- Webb said Jones was the mastermind and running pay-to-play schemes during Thao's campaign for mayor and after she won.
"I had found out that Andre, her boyfriend, was promising people jobs in our administration, promising people appointments on different commissions and boards." said Webb. "I definitely believe that, out of the mouth of the people that told me, they were promised positions, they were promised board positions. And [they would always say] Andre, you know? That's who they would say, 'Andre promised me this.'"
Webb claimed Jones was controlling and calling the shots. She said Thao went along with him.
"When I first mentioned to Sheng, at that house that got raided [on Thursday], that people were coming to me on what Andre had promised them," explained Webb. "And her response to me was, 'Just ignore Andre. You're going to be making close to $200,000. Just ignore it.' And it just hurt my heart. I just looked at her and told her 'I don't care about the money.'"
After resigning from her job with Thao on New Year's Eve of 2022, Webb complained to the city council and the Public Ethics Commission about the pay-to-play allegation.
She said the council ignored her complaint. The ethics commission sent a follow-up email requesting evidence, but Webb could not produce physical evidence, so that complaint went nowhere.
Webb told CBS News Bay Area the FBI contacted her for an interview that happened on February 3, 2023. She said agents asked a lot of questions about Thao's campaign funding.
"It was about campaign contributions, about some of the appointments, like to the [Port of Oakland]," recalled Webb.
The election to replace Thao is expected to be held on April 15. Thao was on the losing end of a Nov. 5 recall election, with over 60% of voters marking ballots in favor of her removal.
In addition to Webb, six other people have thrown their hat into the mayoral election ring so far, according to the city's election website, including former Oakland city councilmember Loren Taylor, Tyron Jordan, Mindy Pechenuk, Fabian Robinson, Elizabeth Swaney and Larry Lionel Young Jr.
Da Lin contributed to this story.
