Price’s Anti-Asian Discrimination Cost Taxpayers $800K

On May 14, Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors approved an $800,000 settlement to resolve a wrongful termination and anti-Asian discrimination lawsuit filed against former District Attorney Pamela Price’s office. The money comes entirely from county taxpayers. Price pays nothing personally.

The worst part? Despite being recalled for her disastrous policies, Price is currently running to get the job back.

The Case Against Price

Patti Lee, a former TV reporter, was hired as Price’s public information officer in 2023. According to the East Bay Times, Lee was fired after refusing to withhold public records from journalists, a direct violation of California’s public records law.

The allegations go beyond retaliation. Lee’s lawsuit claimed Price called “the media and the Asians” her enemies. Anti-Asian comments allegedly came from supervisory employees, including Price herself. Lee originally sought $1.5 million. The county settled for $800,000. Price denied everything. The county admitted no wrongdoing.

$800,000 is not a nuisance settlement. That’s real liability money. And Lee isn’t the only accuser. Craig Chew, a former chief inspector with more than 20 years in law enforcement, filed an 85-page complaint in October 2024 alleging he was fired because he is Asian American. His lawsuit claims a campaign member told him he would “have to gain her trust” and warned that Price “did not trust Asians,” stereotyping Asian Americans as “sneaky, cunning, untrustworthy.” Price’s own former top deputy, Otis Bruce Jr., was also cited in connection with anti-Asian remarks inside the office — meaning the alleged bias extended into Price’s inner circle, not just to aggrieved former employees.

Former prosecutors Rebecca Warren and Butch Ford made separate public allegations that Price “discounted cases based on race” and was “condescending and disrespectful” toward AAPI communities. That makes four named accusers.

Both Lee’s and Chew’s legal teams alleged that Alameda County engaged in “gamesmanship” and “bad faith discovery abuse,” stonewalling document production for nearly a year, including withholding text messages. Lee’s attorneys sought approximately $11,000 in sanctions for “rampant stonewalling.”

The quiet settlement is its own form of burial. Pay up, admit nothing, move on. The institution that allegedly suppressed the evidence is the same one writing the check. That’s a far cry from accountability.

A History of Injustice

Delonzo Logwood was charged in connection with three murders. He faced 75 years in prison. Then his prosecutor resigned — in protest of Price’s policies — and the case fell apart. Logwood pled no contest to a single count of voluntary manslaughter. He now faces 12 years. Three victims’ families walked into that courtroom expecting accountability for 75 years’ worth of violence. They walked out with a fraction.

Former prosecutor Charly Weissenbach was one of 22 experienced prosecutors who left Price’s office out of 135 total attorneys. Price made no secret of the purge. At an “Anti Police-Terror Project” rally, she said on video: “Yes, it’s a new day. Them other folks is gone. Most of ‘em. I’m working on the rest. Okay?”

The writing was on the wall by mid-2023, when plea deals were collapsing because prosecutors were fleeing. Weissenbach, who is not Asian, went on record calling Price’s policies “dangerous.” She wasn’t alone. The exodus from Price’s office wasn’t limited to Asian employees pushed out by discrimination — it was veteran prosecutors of all backgrounds who couldn’t live with the directives they were being given. The discrimination drove out Asian employees. The policies drove out everyone else.

The result was the same: a hollowed-out office, collapsed cases, and victims left without justice. Ursula Jones Dickson inherited a charging backlog of more than 2,000 cases. That backlog isn’t bureaucratic. It’s real people — survivors, families, witnesses — waiting for accountability that may never come.

In Her Own Words

The lawsuits tell one story. Price’s own public statements tell another. After 23-month-old Jasper Wu was fatally shot on a freeway in 2021, Price addressed her response email “to the Chinese communities” — implying local Chinese community members and media were spreading misinformation about the case. The backlash was immediate and sharp.

Then, during AAPI Heritage Month in spring 2024, Price planned a press conference to announce her “Chinese name.” She abruptly canceled it without explanation.

And in a recorded interview with the Berkeley Democratic Club, Price stated that “having an Asian background is not a stigma in this country, nor has it been.” Critics called the remark “astonishing” and “wildly misguided.”

These aren’t second-hand accounts. These are Price’s own words.

Recalled by 63%

Voters recalled Price by roughly 63% in November 2024, one of the most lopsided recall results for a major Bay Area elected official. In December 2025, she announced she’s running again for DA in June 2026. She told the Davis Vanguard the recall was “manipulated” by misinformation and wealthy interests.

No mention of the discrimination lawsuits. No mention of the $800,000 taxpayers just covered. Her successor, Jones Dickson, inherited a “demoralized office” with a charging backlog of more than 2,000 cases. And the same Board meeting that approved the Lee settlement also approved a separate $36 million settlement for the Tran family in a deputy double-murder case. Two massive taxpayer payouts.

A DA who built her entire brand on racial justice is now the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging racial discrimination against Asian Americans. As an Asian American, I find the irony gutting. The system is structured so she faces zero personal financial consequences. Taxpayers absorb the cost. And she has the gall to ask for the office back.

This story has gotten almost no coverage. But Alameda County voters go to the polls in June 2026. The $800K Lee settlement, Chew’s pending lawsuit, and the allegations from Warren and Ford should be front and center before anyone casts a ballot. Voters paid $800,000 — and witnessed countless crimes go unpunished — as a consequence of Price’s last tenure. They should know the price tag before they cast their vote.