Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is raising $28,000 to fight the recall

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who faces a possible recall in the November election, has stepped up efforts to raise money for her defense.

A political committee founded by Thao in May called Oaklanders Defending Democracy reported raising about $27,000 in donations since July 1, according to campaign statements filed with election officials Thursday.

Just over a third of that money comes from Quinn Delaney, a Piedmont resident and philanthropist who runs the Akonadi Foundation. Delaney, whose philanthropic giving focuses on combating racial inequality and reforming the criminal justice system, donated $10,000. She is married to Wayne Jordan, a real estate investor who owns commercial and residential properties in Oakland, Los Angeles, New York and other cities.

Thao's anti-recall committee also received $5,000 from Ty Mitchell, a San Francisco resident and CEO of Akash Systems, a satellite company that has plans to expand to West Oakland.

Thao also loaned the committee $3,000.

The anti-recall committee spent $9,800, mostly on professional and legal services and IT.

Thao also recently formed a committee that raised $2,500 for her legal defense. The mayor formed this committee after the FBI raided her home in June. Federal authorities have not publicly said what they are looking for nor have they accused the mayor of wrongdoing. It is legal for politicians to use political committees to pay attorney fees and other legal costs.

The only contribution to the committee so far has come from Michael Yim, an Orinda-based executive who runs a company called Kingsum Inc., which apparently sells pavilions.

The committee paid over $30,000 to DLA Piper, an international law firm. Thao's personal attorney, Jeffrey Tsai, is a partner at DLA Piper.

The recall cost over half a million dollars

The recall's official fundraising committee, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, has raised $581,222 and spent $599,000 this year.

The lion's share of the money, $350,000, was “nonmonetary contributions” from another committee called Foundational Oakland Unites. These non-monetary donations came in the form of bills taken on by Oakland United and paid by Foundational Oakland – debts accumulated largely through the employment of professional signature collectors who qualified the recall for the ballot.

According to Foundational Oakland Unites' most recent campaign activity filings with election officials, the committee is fully funded by Philip Dreyfuss, a Piedmont resident and hedge fund manager at Farallon Capital.

The recall most recently raised $8,265 between July and September. A significant portion of that money came from Marty Glick, a Piedmont resident and special adviser to the Golden State Warriors, and Chris Moore, a landlord who also works as a campaign manager for the district attorney's recall effort.

The official recall committee, Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao, is led by West Oakland resident Gail Harbin. Harbin took over the reins of the campaign after her sister Brenda Harbin-Forte resigned to focus on her run for district attorney.

The committee spent about $24,000 between July and September, including $6,000 on legal services from the Greenberg Traurig law firm. The campaign hired that firm to defend itself against a lawsuit from the Public Ethics Commission seeking to obtain records from the organizers behind the recall to determine whether they violated campaign finance laws.

Shortly after the deadline for reporting donations between July 1 and September 21, the Thao Recall Committee received $20,000 from Foundational Oakland Unites. The source of this post will not be publicly disclosed until the next submission deadline on October 24th.