Sheng Thao considered using Oakland’s funds to cover her campaign debt, new documents suggest

OAKLAND Nearly six months after Sheng Thao took office she still owed tens of thousands of dollars to the campaign manager who had helped deliver her a preeminence Long-established state law prohibits politicians from using citizens funds to finance poll campaigns but in newly issued records Thao s top staffer revealed her boss had considered the idea In a text message sent in June former chief of staff Leigh Hanson indicated the mayor craved to use from her office s budget to make good on the campaign debt Julie Caskey the campaign manager whom Thao owed money eventually became a city employee but in a announcement this week she denied having any knowledge of a plan to funnel general dollars toward paying off the debt which she revealed is still owed to her The revelation by Hanson an offhand mention during a private conversation is included in thousands of pages of city records seized last year by federal prosecutors and publicly circulated this week Thao whom voters removed from office last November has been accused along with her romantic partner Andre Jones of being bribed with political favors and money by father-and-son business partners David and Andy Duong in exchange for access to lucrative city contracts The newly circulated documents help piece together the work of Thao s early administration including conversations Thao directed between her alleged bribers and top city administrators All four defendants have pleaded not guilty and face federal prison time if convicted Thao s debt to Caskey is not directly related to the federal corruption incident in which prosecutors accuse Thao and Jones of accepting money from co-conspirators in the late stages before the vote But Hanson s reference to Thao s debt further sheds light on how the new mayor appeared to be struggling to tie up loose ends from a hard-fought electoral win the year before when she beat Loren Taylor by votes in a ranked-choice vote And it reflects Thao s apparent willingness to blur the line between her political alliances and her governance of Oakland In text messages sent on June Hanson and a political advisor Andrea Batista Schlesinger discussed how to pay for an executive coach for Mayor Thao When Schlesinger suggested using city money Hanson noted that the mayor s office had a tight budget and that Thao desired to use much of it to pay off a campaign debt according to records of their text exchange We have for the whole year Hanson replied And she Thao wants to give thousand of it to her campaign manager who she never paid to be a consultant Caskey was Thao s campaign manager in the electoral process Not long after Hanson s text exchange Caskey was hired as the director of setting partnerships in the mayor s office a role that she served from October to December The the bulk in recent times available campaign finance records from the electoral contest show Thao still owed Caskey for consulting work what is left from an obligation that initially was closer to In a message responding to written questions Caskey certified that amount but denied having any awareness of Hanson s texts to Batista Schlesinger This is news to me Caskey declared I have no knowledge of anyone suggesting that I be paid money from the mayor s office budget to resolve her campaign debt and I would never have accepted that that is not legal or ethical The law in question a regulation of the Fair Political Practices Commission prohibits the payment of society moneys in the form of matching funds or cash subsidies for the general financing of elections I am still owed almost K for running her campaign Caskey added in her announcement and I have continuously sought payment from the former Mayor for what I am owed Piedmont school board candidate Julie Caskey is photographed in Piedmont Calif on Tuesday Sept Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group Thao s attorney Jeff Tsai declined to comment on the newly distributed records Hanson who did not respond to an interview request remains employed by the city as the chief of staff to Councilmember Kevin Jenkins who is serving as the interim mayor until Oakland voters select a permanent replacement to Thao in a special April polling Thao s tenure was tense from the start as Oakland struggled to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic and the mayor bitterly feuded with her political enemies Hanson arrived to Oakland in early from Pittsburgh Pa where she had worked for the mayor of Pittsburgh She fast came to assume a large share of the office s day-to-day responsibilities helping manage Thao s population profile and City Hall dealings She sat at the bargaining table in an unsuccessful effort to keep the A s baseball franchise in town and held a lead role in selling Oakland s share of the Coliseum to save the city s two-year budget a fraught deal for which the mayor received widespread criticism The records turned over to federal prosecutors and published this week indicate that Hanson and Batista Schlesinger appeared to share a close bond in with the chief of staff offering up numerous unvarnished appraisals of her City Hall colleagues In November weeks after Caskey was hired as a staffer Hanson updated Batista Schlesinger that the useless campaign manager in the end snuck into payroll adding that she is irritating me to no end Hanson claimed Thao went around me to the finance director and explained her to do it or there would be consequences Hanson added that Thao owed to the campaign manager who she mentioned f up all the finances and still hasn t resolved it The liabilities abound Hanson texted Send her clips about Eric Adams replied Batista Schlesinger noting the New York City mayor who became the target of a headline-grabbing corruption probe All catches up eventually