OAKLAND — An advocacy coalition says that Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has agreed she will no longer accept campaign money from police unions, something she was heavily criticized for doing during her last re-election.
O’Malley met with organizers of the Justice Reinvestment Coalition of Alameda County on June 17 in a virtual meeting, as part of ongoing conversations about her office’s discretion regarding charging decisions, plea bargains and alternatives to incarceration.
“I don’t have anything from the police unions, and I’m not going to take anything from them,” O’Malley said in the virtual meeting, a recording of which was obtained by this news organization.
The coalition presented O’Malley with a list of recommendations it called a “bold statement” to the community following the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matters protests. The recommendations included: no longer accepting funds from police unions; support reinvestment of police budgets to alternatives to incarceration; and to consider supporting the de-militarization of police.
After the coalition sent the district attorney a letter to complete the recommendations following the June 17 meeting, she gave a short reply saying she would review the letter, but was unable to discuss the recommendations, said E.J. Pavia lead organizer at the Urban Peace Movement, which is part of the coalition.
“Prosecutors wield tremendous power in holding police accountable to our families and communities for misconduct, including police brutality and murder,” said Pavia. “We are glad that DA O’Malley has joined district attorneys in the Bay Area and California in pledging to no longer accept campaign financial support from police unions.”
Several state prosecutors sent a letter to the State Bar in June, asking for a ban on allowing prosecutors to accept police union campaign funds, citing possible conflicts of interest. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton was one of those signing the letter.
“How can we trust that district attorneys are holding police to the same level of accountability when they’re accepting this money? This seems like bribe money, like hush money,” said Pavia in an interview.
O’Malley was criticized during her 2018 re-election campaign after she accepted a $10,000 donation from the Fremont Police Association on Nov. 8, 2017, while her office was investigating two separate police shootings within that department. Less than a month later, on Dec. 6, 2017, O’Malley’s office cleared Fremont Officer James Taylor of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting death of Nana Adomako in February of that year.
Then on Feb. 13, 2018, her office cleared Sgt. Jeremy Miskella, president of the Fremont police union, and Fremont Detective Joel Hernandez in the killing of a 16-year-old pregnant Antioch girl, Elena Mondragon, on March 14, 2017.
At the time, O’Malley defended her position in accepting the donation and said she asked for an external review of the confrontation in which Mondragon was killed. She later donated the funds to Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, a Fremont nonprofit that offers services and treatment for domestic abuse victims.
“Under no circumstances was the decision regarding the Fremont police officers influenced in any way by any politics,” she said in an email to this news organization in March 2018. “Nevertheless, I have asked for an independent review of the case from the state attorney general to remove even the slightest appearance of impropriety.”
In an editorial board interview with this news organization in 2018, O’Malley said, “I stand behind the decisions we made.”
She said that money from law enforcement makes up less than 5% of her total campaign donations. In 2018, she spent at least $1.07 million on her campaign, according to campaign finance forms. This was the first time she faced a challenger in her time as DA.
During the June 17 meeting, O’Malley said she is interested in diverting funds into alternative programs. Twice she repeats that she doesn’t have any money from police unions and is “not taking any money from police unions,” and does not have any money to divert to programs.
O’Malley could not be reached for comment.
The coalition, which is made up of at least 15 community organizations, is expected to meet with O’Malley again on Friday.
Besides the $10,000 from Fremont, O’Malley also accepted at least $30,000 in funds from other police unions, including: $9,500 from the Oakland Police Officers Association; $8,500 from the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Alameda County PAC; $2,500 each from the California Association of Highway Patrolmen and the Livermore Police Officers Association; $2,000 from the Newark Police Association; and $1,000 each from Emeryville Police Union, Berkeley Police Officers Association, San Francisco Police Association, the San Leandro Police Officers Association and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Santa Clara County.
O’Malley was appointed by Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2009 and re-elected in 2010, 2014 and 2018. She is up for re-election in 2022.
Staff Writer Joseph Geha contributed to this report.
