Letters to the Editor for October 11, 2024

AUSD Board election support for Heather Little and Jennifer Williams

In Alameda, we have three critical seats that are open this year on our School Board . I am enthusiastically voting for Heather Little and Jennifer Williams.

Last year, I worked on the campaign for Measure E, which renewed Alameda’s local school funding. Working on the campaign gave me a front-row seat to observe our school board in action. Heather Little and Jennifer Williams worked tirelessly to protect school funding. They carefully and thoughtfully evaluated many different options, listened to the community in deciding what to put on the ballot, and then worked hard to make sure the measure passed. I am deeply grateful for the passion, time, and energy that they put into this important work.

Measure E passed by 76% — a virtual landslide in the tough political landscape of Alameda school politics. This is a huge victory for our kids, our teachers, and most of all, our community, because strong schools make a strong Alameda.

In addition to Measure E, I also have seen both of them lead the school board through complicated, thorny issues with a constant focus on equity and excellence for our students. They are prepared and do the work to understand the issues. We are lucky to have board members who are so engaged in this work and so student-centered. I endorse them wholeheartedly.

Gretchen Hoff Varner,
Alameda

In response to: Charges Against Two Officers Involved in Mario Gonzalez Death Dismissed

Alameda Superior Court Judge Scott Patton’s ruling to drop charges against APD Officers James Fisher and Cameron Leahy is much more than a technical or procedural matter pertaining to these cases.

It underscores how Fifth Amendment “due process” rights, are an underpinning of numerous competence lapses plaguing District Attorney Price’s controversial first term.

Her eleventh hour filing in the APD cases, mere hours before the statute of limitations was set to expire, created the problem in the first place.

The belated move was hardly on game, given that she ran for office promising to re-open the case after her predecessor found insufficient grounds to prosecute.

Once sworn in, she let three months pass before her hand picked, supposedly independent Public Accountability Unit formally announced the decision to charge.

Price feigned not to have final say in the matter in a rambling press conference on April 18, one day before the one year anniversary of the tragic, APD in-custody death of Mario Gonzalez.

Implausibly, Price claimed she could not reveal “details as to how the PAU came to this decision… It is a decision that I made. It is a technical matter.”

Making matters worse, the clumsy timing of the announcement, two days after approval of a recall petition, fed the narrative that she used the cases for political, not due process, purposes.

That fumble was not the first time competence, and character shortfalls stood out.

Two other police officer misconduct cases were dismissed after Alameda County Superior Court Judges found that Price’s office lacked impartiality.

In one messy case , Alameda Judge Thomas Reardon ordered that Price’s office recuse itself from prosecuting a manslaughter case where a San Leandro officer, Jason Fletcher, shot and killed a baseball bat wielding Steven Taylor.

The judge found numerous instances of prosecutorial bias, including a photo of DA Price posing arm in arm before a courthouse with people wearing “Justice For Steven Taylor” t-shirts.

The DA even saw fit to post the photo on her office’s Facebook page.

That might thrill her fan base and political endorsers, but it doesn’t jibe with competence and impartiality in “due process” matters.

Ironically, Judge Reardon forewarned, just weeks before the Alameda decision that, “ in light of this ruling, the district attorney’s office, will have that question of due process before them.”

Somehow, Price didn’t get the memo, and now the two officers and The Gonzalez family won’t have their day in court.

The one case pending, that of Eric McKinley, may yet have the merits of her charges tested before a jury.

But before that takes place—if ever—DA Price will have to survive another due process hurdle: a preliminary hearing to see if the facts even warrant a trial.

So far, her track record does not portend the outcome she and many others seek.

Competence is clearly not Price’s strong suit, and voters should consider that in November to render their own verdict.

Larry Freeman,
Alameda

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