(Headline USA) Pamela Price, the George Soros-backed district attorney for California’s Alameda County (including Oakland), is under fire for reportedly hiring her boyfriend, who was once investigated by the FBI for shaking down local businesses.
Price hired Antwon Cloird as a “senior program specialist” in her office this year, awarding him a $115,502 per year salary. She brought him on without disclosing her relationship with him, even though the relationship has been an “open secret” in the office, according to the Mercury News.
Price’s failure to disclose her relationship with Cloird could be a violation of California’s employment nepotism policies, which prohibit an “employee’s use of influence or power to hire, transfer, or promote an applicant or employee because of a personal relationship,” according to Will Swaim, the president of the California Policy Center.
It is unclear whether the law was in effect when current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris first got her start in San Francisco politics as a consort for then-Mayor Willie Brown during the mid-1990s.
Nepotism notwithstanding, Cloird’s new gig also raised questions about his past. The former political activist came under investigation after city officials discovered he sought money from local businesses to “facilitate” and “expedite” permits.
In 2015, for example, Cloird allegedly told a local meat packer to pay him $5,000 to “expedite” permits.
Later that year, he allegedly demanded $20,000 from a restaurant owner for his help securing a liquor license for the business. The restaurant owner told city officials he felt he had to pay Cloird the sum, because “otherwise [Cloird] will bring a bunch of people to speak against [the restaurant].”
Price’s office defended the hiring of Cloird, calling him a “valued member of the team” in a statement.
“Antwon Cloird is a valued member of the team whose distinguished work and accomplishments in communities throughout the Bay Area are well documented,” Price spokeswoman Patti Lee said.
Price is currently facing a recall effort over her failure to sufficiently prosecute criminals.
In Oakland alone, robberies have increased by 14% since last year, prompting residents to speak out at a contentious town-hall meeting last month.
“Two kids beat the s*** [out] of me in front of my house last Monday night,” said one North Oakland resident in her 50s during the meeting. “Down on the pavement. Punching me, kicking me, dragging me through the street.”
