Barbara Lee’s marketing campaign to be mayor of Oakland does not want its first scandal, so she returned a $5,000 donation from the now-indicted Sheng Thao donors, however those self same scandal-tainted donors have really given her campaigns $66,250 during the last 26 years.
As soon as the seven-month look ahead to the indictment of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao lastly resulted in mid-January, and we had the indictment to evaluate, we discovered that the entire scandal is alleged to be over bribes from executives at Cal Waste Options, who deal with curbside recycling assortment in Oakland.
These executives are the corporate’s founder David Doung and his son Andy Duong, who’re additionally each below indictment within the Thao case, although we must always emphasize that the Duongs usually are not accused of bribing any politicians ever besides Sheng Thao (and her boyfriend).
And now that Sheng Thao is recalled, former US Consultant Barbara Lee is operating for Thao’s previous seat as mayor. And KQED experiences that Lee’s marketing campaign is returning a $5,000 marketing campaign contribution from the Duongs, made in 2023 to her failed Senate marketing campaign for the late Dianne Feinstein’s previous seat. Lee completed that race in a distant fourth place behind Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey.
“Barbara Lee has zero tolerance for any pay to play or special interest influence,” Lee’s mayoral marketing campaign spokesperson Bilen Mesfin instructed KQED final Thursday. And on Friday, Mesfin added, “As for the $5,000 donated to her senate campaign in 2023, Barbara Lee is donating that to Meals on Wheels.”
Yeah, however. Whereas the Duongs gave $5,000 to Lee’s Senate marketing campaign in 2023, KQED factors out they’ve given Lee’s varied Congressional campaigns a complete of $66,250 since 1998, when she first ran for, and gained, what was then Ron Dellums’s seat within the Home of Representatives. (And in a enjoyable little bit of irony, Thao’s prison trial and hearings are going down on the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Constructing and Courthouse in Oakland.)
We should restore belief in our metropolis authorities.
I’m calling on all East Bay elected officers to return cash they’ve acquired from the Duong household and donate these funds to charity. pic.twitter.com/XzuZNNF3eu
— Loren Taylor (@lorenmtaylor) February 6, 2025
Lee’s marketing campaign announcement got here simply at some point after her mayoral opponent Loren Taylor made a selected name for all East Bay politicians to donate their Duong donations to — guess who? — Meals on Wheels. I might wager that somebody in Lee’s marketing campaign noticed the above tweet, because the marketing campaign then took that precise plan of action.
Screenshot: by way of Instagram
Did mayoral candidate Loren Taylor rating any political factors right here? We don’t thoughts declaring that Taylor is seen within the above Instagram put up with the now-indicted Andy Duong. When KQED referred to as him out on this, he instructed that outlet, “So there was a lot of photos being taken with a lot of people that I didn’t know.” And he added, “As far as I know, I have never received any financial contributions from the Duong family.”
Honest sufficient, however there may be some wiggle room in that assertion. And there may be extra hassle for different East Bay politicians, because the US Division of Justice stated on the day they indicted Thao that their investigation was “still ongoing,” and will yield extra indictments.
Associated: No Time to Retire, Barbara Lee Makes Her Bid For Oakland Mayor Official [SFist]
