Critical June elections for Alameda County sheriff and district attorney | Tim Talk | Tim Hunt | DanvilleSanRamon.com |

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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add...  (More)

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Critical June elections for Alameda County sheriff and district attorney

Uploaded: May 17, 2022
Alameda County voters face two crucial decisions concerning law enforcement in the June 7 primary. You likely already have received your ballot because they were mailed to every registered voter.
For the first time in decades, there will be no incumbent District Attorney on the ballot. Nancy O’Malley, who was appointed to replace her boss Tom Orloff in 2009, won re-election three times and decided not to stand for another four-year term. Orloff held the job for 15 years of his 40 in the district attorney’s office and recommended O’Malley for his replacement.
Two veteran prosecutors, including O’Malley’s top assistant Terry Wiley, are vying to replace her as are progressive Pamela Price and Seth Steward, a former San Francisco prosecutor. Jimmie Wilson is the other current prosecutor in the race. Price challenged O’Malley in 2018 and received 42% of the vote.
She’s running in tandem with San Francisco police officer JoAnn Walker who is challenging Sheriff Greg Ahern. Ahern is facing a re-election campaign for the first time in his 18 years in the top post. Sheriff’s Commander Yesenia Sanchez also is challenging Ahern. Ahern has served 42 years in the department. He took over when the legendary Charlie Plummer retired in 2004 after cleaning up the department and making it a professional agency. Ahern built on Plummer’s important work.
If county voters choose the progressive duo you can expect more chaos on the streets like you see in San Francisco and Los Angeles with their progressive prosecutors who are not charging people for non-violent offenses. Couple that with the bail reform that voters passed at former Gov. Jerry Brown’s bidding and it’s not a pretty picture in areas of California. Alameda County has enough challenges with professionally managed and efficient DA’s and sheriff’s offices, let alone what they could become with newbies with dramatically different philosophies. It’s notable that Walker is still a rank-and-file officer without management experience and has her hat in the ring for a department of more than 1,000 sworn officers and a $550 million budget.
Another normally sleepy June primary race that has drawn attention is for the local seat on the county school board. The incumbent didn’t stand for re-election. Former Pleasanton City Councilwoman and retired teacher Cheryl Cook-Kallio is running against Eric Dillie, principal of the former Livermore Valley charter school, and Kate Dao, who founded Acton Academy, a small, student-centered private school. Dillie had the endorsement of the East Bay Times , but that was withdrawn and tepidly given to Cook-Kallio after a reporter dug out an early news story his no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child abuse.
Dao’s campaign materials are well suited to run for the local school board, not the county seat. Cook-Kallio, who ran for mayor and then the assembly after being termed out in Pleasanton, was an excellent council member. She knows education and has recommendations from labor and the state school chief—given the sway that unions hold in schools that’s not favorable.

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Comments

Posted by Mike Brown, a resident of Pleasanton Village,
on May 18, 2022 at 10:09 am

Mike Brown is a registered user.

Oh Tim, it is obvious you spend no time in SF. (Chaos in the streets!). Really sad commentary. Your bias against Price is quite telling in this piece and lack of research is also glaring. If you looked at any of the information coming for Price you'd see some well-thought out and science-based ideas. It also seems that you think her and Mx. Walker are running together? They launched their campaigns together a year and a half ago but are NOT a duo - they have separate campaigns with different teams and missions. WE DO AGREE THOUGH, I am NOT supporting Mx. Walker. Sanchez is the best option for us to rid ourselves of Ahern and his corrupt culture club. Recently, a whistleblower deputy wrote a tell-all-book about Ahern and his cronies - you should read it before advocating for his win.


Posted by Gina Channell, Publisher, a resident of Downtown,
on May 18, 2022 at 10:49 am

Gina Channell, Publisher is a registered user.

@Mike -- What's the name of the book?


Posted by Michael Austin , a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on May 18, 2022 at 1:17 pm

Michael Austin is a registered user.

Tim has it right!

I participated in two district attorney candidate forums. Price was late for the two forums I participated in. price asked for questions to be repeated. She seemed preoccupied and fidgeting with something during the forums.

Price has absolutely no experience as a prosecutor. If price is elected, she will empty the jails in Alameda County, she said as much during the forums. price will put the criminals back out on the streets where they will repeat their criminal activity.

Sixty-Eight percent of criminals in jail are repeat offenders. Thirty percent of all criminals are chronic offenders. All are adults. there are the juvenile offenders, all are repeat offenders. There are the hundreds probably thousands of criminals under jail supervision outside of jail.

Policing is not an area of science. Policing is a function of government that is of the people. Jury determines guilt or innocence not a computer algorithm. Crime science is the study of crime in order to find ways to prevent it. Crime science focuses on crime rather than the criminal, it is methodology, not relying on social theory.

In the last district attorney candidate forum, I participated in, I asked that the candidates expound on fatherless homes. My question was ignored.


Posted by 125, a resident of Vintage Hills Elementary School,
on May 19, 2022 at 12:31 pm

125 is a registered user.

Re Sheriff Ahern: Both SFGate.com and the TV show This Week Today have covered Sheriff Ahern in a less than favorable light. "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Slams Bay Area Sheriff" is the title of the SFGate.com article that ran on March 9, 2020. I emailed the Sheriff's campaign for their side of the story but they have yet to reply. In 2021, sheriff Ahern made the top 10 lists of worst sheriffs in America, according to Prison Legal News. I encourage all voters can do their homework before voting.


Posted by Michael Austin , a resident of Pleasanton Meadows,
on May 20, 2022 at 3:42 pm

Michael Austin is a registered user.

Media Bias / Fact Check:

"Overall, we rate the SFGATE left center. Biased on story selection that moderately favors the left".


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