Assaults on Measure Y Domestic Violence Programs

Last week, City Auditor Courtney Ruby issued her audit related to the City’s compliance with the violence prevention aspects of Measure Y, the special tax approved by voters in 2004. The deficiencies outlined in the report highlight a pattern of abuse of public funds going all the way back to the City’s initial placement of the proposal on the ballot. Measure Y was meant to provide 63 additional police officers and to provide $8 million annually to fund specific types of violence prevention programs. When the proposal was put to the voters, City officials “guaranteed” that we would get a police force of 802 officers. The City’s own website promised that it wouldn’t collect the tax unless at least 739 officers (the authorized strength at the time) were employed. Measure Y promised accountability in the form of annual audits, and a citizen “oversight committee.”

For the next several years, the size of the police force kept dropping, and the City, betraying its promise, collected the tax anyway, claiming that as long as money was “appropriated” for the officers, it didn’t have to actually hire them. The vast majority of the Measure Y “problem solving officer” positions remained unfilled. The audits never got done. Last year, Ron Dellums, facing political pressure for not doing enough about crime, took $7.7 million from the Measure Y fund to spend on recruitment and training of new officers, none of whom were ever going to be placed into Measure Y positions. I ended up suing the City, for this and numerous other abuses of the Measure Y fund. Last spring I prevailed, and now the City must repay approximately $15 million to the Measure Y fund, and perform the back audits. The City is contemplating an appeal, which would only result in delay, more rapid depletion of the Measure Y fund, and another $3 million debt in interest alone.

Recently, the City Attorney gave props to the Mayor for getting the police force up to 802 officers, neglecting to mention that the only way he got there was by stealing money he never had any right to take in the first place. Now, the police force is under 799 and dropping, with no academies scheduled or even budgeted for to replace officers lost by attrition. In a matter of months, the force will be back to levels prior to Dellums’ illegal grab. With the new City Auditor’s report, we now find out (1) that the City was doling out millions of Measure Y funds to various agencies without the required “Request for Proposals” that are needed to guarantee that the City obtains the best prices and services; and (2) that the City was paying the Measure Y grantees whatever they were charging, without making sure they were doing what they were supposed to do. Worse yet, the City failed to implement safeguards to ensure that the services were being provided only to Oakland residents.

Knowing what I know now about how the City lies to taxpayers, and uses the money for whatever it wants, I could never again support any special tax put before Oakland voters. Oakland residents should demand that their elected officials be held accountable for the abuse and waste, and not allow the Council to pass the problems on to them.