Oakland interim mayor fires most of staff hired under previous administration

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins announced Monday he will be firing most of his staff that were hired under previous Mayor Sheng Thao.

Jenkins says that the staff will be released on Friday, but will be on paid administrative leave until then.

"I want to thank everyone who is leaving the office for their service," Jenkins said in a statement. "It has always been our intention to allow our next Mayor to choose their own staff after the April 15 special election. In the meantime, my team and I are laser-focused on preparing the Mayor's draft budget for on-time release on May 1."

MORE: Oakland mayoral election: Top candidates share vision for city, crime and more with ABC7

A special election for Oakland mayor is set for April 15, after Thao was recalled in November of last year.

Aside from Mayor Jenkins, those remaining in the Mayor's Office are Deputy Burt Jones, Deputy Mayor LaNiece Jones, and the office's executive assistant and scheduler.

Oakland Chief of Staff Fired

The announcement comes just after Jenkins fired his Chief of Staff Leigh Hanson, who also previously worked for Thao. Deputy Mayor Burt Jones will serve as Chief of Staff in her place.

Hanson confirmed to ABC7 that she was fired over a note she wrote last year that appeared to refer to Black people as "tokens."

However, Hanson said the comments were being taken out of context. She said it was written during an anti-recall meeting, where they discussed plans to recruit Black people and she wrote down comments made by then-mayor Thao.

She sent this statement:

"These handwritten meeting notes record a group discussion that included proposed messaging points that the anti-recall campaign wanted to provide to potential surrogates. They are a specific reference to Seneca Scott, a paid African American political operative, who was hired by the wealthy white funders of the recall campaign to obscure the public's understanding of the recall's political origins. It was Mayor Thao and her political team's belief that this operative's paid involvement constituted tokenization by the recall's financier, and Oakland voters had a right to understand this connection. I regret that my short-hand note-taking has been taken out of context on social media and inadvertently harmed close friends, colleagues and members of my community who have been marginalized by our political system. "

On Monday afternoon, Hanson gave an additional statement writing:

"This was not Thao's political strategy, it was her observation of her opponent's tactics. And I was taking notes. This is clear to anyone seeking the truth and is convenient political fodder for others who are using this to their political advantage. Sadly, this is the state of our democratic ecosystem right now."

In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Jenkins said in part, "I thank Ms. Hanson for her service. Deputy Mayor Burt Jones will be serving as the Mayor's Office chief of staff until further notice, and I thank him for stepping up to the role."