Alameda County's next DA will be Judge Ursula Jones Dickson
The vote to fill the vacant DA position following the decisive recall of Pamela Price in November came after hours of public comment.
Judge Ursula Jones Dickson will be Alameda County's next district attorney following a long-anticipated vote by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening.
The vote to fill the vacant position following the decisive recall of Pamela Price in November came after hours of public comment and deliberation by the five-member board.
Fifteen people submitted completed applications and, last week, supervisors interviewed seven finalists in a public meeting that spanned more than six hours.
Emilie Raguso
As Tuesday's meeting wore on, finalist Venus Johnson appeared to have broad support from Oakland activist groups while the Price recall campaign and law enforcement groups said their picks were Judge Ursula Jones Dickson and Annie Esposito.
Numerous advocates for mental health said their choice was LD Louis while many DA's office insiders and victim families spoke vocally for 28-year veteran prosecutor Elgin Lowe.
President David Haubert called the vote "one of the toughest decisions" of his long career and said his focus was public safety, electability and appointing an "effective leader who can build our team."
"Both will exercise balance"
Supervisor Nate Miley echoed those comments calling the vote "one of the most difficult and challenging decisions" of his career.
He said he had zeroed in on "two female candidates who I think are superior," while acknowledging that all seven finalists were "worthy" of the DA job.
Without naming names, Miley said both of his top picks would "move the county forward in an equitable and just matter."
"Both are seasoned, experienced prosecutors. Both will exercise balance in their prosecutorial judgment," Miley said.
"I'm humbled by the fact that one would give up her pension. To me that shows a lot of dedication and commitment," he said, in reference to Judge Jones Dickson.
Miley and other officials said they also appreciated that Esposito had committed to working alongside Jones Dickson if the opportunity arose.
" My decision is not being based on politics," Miley continued. "It's based on who I think can win [in future elections], who I think can bring balance to the office, who will have prosecutorial judgment. Who I think will restore prominence to the office, who will exercise the role of a prosecutor in the manner that I expect a prosecutor to exercise it."
Miley then strayed into territory the other board members and most county officials have avoided, saying that, while he had respect for Pamela Price, he had not supported her.
"I didn't weigh in on the recall. I kept my mouth shut," Miley said. "I'm not looking for a public defender to be the prosecutor. I don't think any of these folks would be another Pam Price."
Tam urges colleagues to help break "the bamboo ceiling"
Supervisor Lena Tam, the board's vice president, put her support largely behind Annie Esposito, saying her life and work experience both made her the finalist best suited for the top job.
"She immigrated from Taiwan at the age of 5. Her mother suffered from mental illness and was the victim of domestic violence," Tam said. "Her father was unemployed, she was forced to drop out of high school and provide for her family. But she got her GED, graduated from Cal, and worked and went to law school at night."
Tam also urged her colleagues on the dais not to let Esposito's willingness to be Jones Dickson's top deputy be used against her.
Tam asked her colleagues to help break "the bamboo ceiling" that too often prevents Asian Americans "and especially Asian American females" from being viewed as leaders.
"That is a stereotype we need to break," Tam said, while noting that Jones Dickson also had her support.
Nikki Fortunato Bas, the newest supervisor, emphatically supported Venus Johnson for the DA job, speaking at length and calling Johnson a "proven bridge builder" who would bring exceptional management experience with her from the state Department of Justice.
She said Johnson, as a daughter of Oakland, was committed to the job and would not use it as a stepping stone.
Johnson, Fortunato Bas said, was someone who "hears the community and partners with the community, adding: " I am really focused on choosing someone who I believe is the best candidate to move us forward and to explicitly make sure that we are advancing justice and safety, and I believe she is that person."
How did the board vote on Alameda County's next DA?
When it came time to vote, the supervisors did so in three rounds, although the process seemed convoluted at times.
Essentially, each supervisor was allowed to select their top two choices in the first two rounds.
In Round One, Jones Dickson got four votes (from Haubert, Tam, Elisa Márquez and Miley); Johnson got three votes (from Tam, Márquez and Fortunato Bas); and Esposito got two votes (from Haubert and Tam).
In Round Two, Jones Dickson again came out on top, with three votes (from Haubert, Márquez and Miley); while Johnson (supported by Miley and Fortunato Bas) and Esposito (backed by Haubert and Tam) each got two votes.
Finally, in the elimination round, Jones Dickson got four votes (from Haubert, Tam, Márquez and Miley) while Fortunato Bas cast the lone vote for Johnson.
Ultimately, the DA decision was unanimous, however, as the whole board supported a motion from Supervisor Miley for Judge Ursula Jones Dickson to become Alameda County's next district attorney.
Fortunato Bas also made it clear that she would support Jones Dickson and Esposito in their new roles, noting, "I think it's really important that we are all aligned as we move forward."
Márquez told the finalists they were all "truly remarkable."
"I wish we could appoint all of you and all of you could come back to the office," she said.
Márquez also affirmed her commitment to board policies such as "Care First, Jails Last" and the plan to Reimagine Adult Justice.
" That is the goal to get to that," Márquez said. "But before we can do that, we have to stabilize our office and address the needs of everyone in our community, especially the victims and the backlog of cases."
The board had planned to appoint the new DA on Feb. 4 but it's possible the schedule will change depending on availability.
Ursula Jones Dickson: In her own words
After public comment but before the vote, each finalist had up to 2 minutes to summarize their qualifications. Ursula Jones Dickson's remarks appear below.
It is a judge's job to be fair and impartial and it makes me sad to kind of listen to all the political stuff. Because this job as DA needs to be outside of that. That's why you cannot belong to any organization or any boss or, any of us, we can't be beholden to anybody.
Because I'm a judge, I'm not involved in political things. I can't be. That's why this process has been difficult for me to walk a fine line, to the extent that I even had to ask for an ethics opinion to be able to do it. I didn't know the people from SAFE or any of these other folks here, unless you've seen me in the courtroom — and I've seen some people in the courtroom.
But what the people in the courtroom will tell you is that I lift up the community at all times. That I have to be fair and impartial. That, as much as I know that this is difficult for people and they really want their candidate, the DA has a specific job to do.
That job, at the beginning and at the end, alpha and omega, is to do what's right for the community, protect the public, public safety, and lift up the victims.
That is what I've always done. Always lifted up the people. I will continue to do that in this job that I have now or in the job that I'm asking you to appoint me for. So as much as we're all talking politics, I'm not.
What I'm talking about is doing the right thing for the DA's office, making sure we have the right attorneys to serve the victims who came here to talk to you today. And to make sure that we tamp down all of this political rhetoric about this office. This office was never this political. It should never be.
So I'm here for the community. That's it.
Editor's Note: This story was updated in the immediate hours after publication to include additional detail and photographs from the meeting, which we covered live on X.
