OAKLAND — The former spokesperson for Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed a lawsuit Wednesday against her old boss, claiming Price openly spouted racist views, saw the media and Asian Americans as enemies and oversaw an office that flouted open records laws.
Patti Lee’s lawsuit comes six months to the day after she was unceremoniously fired from her job as the face of Price’s administration, which she held throughout the second half of 2023. The suit largely mirrors a legal claim that Lee filed earlier this year accusing the first-term district attorney of creating a workplace that promoted racist views and frowned upon transparency with journalists.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Lee she “had to speak out,” because of her belief “in transparency and the public’s right to know.”
“I have never been subjected to such humiliating and bullying behavior in a workplace,” Lee’s statement said. “It is unacceptable in any professional environment, but when the perpetrator is a public official who claims to be a civil rights advocate, it is unconscionable.”
“This case is about more than just one individual; it’s about maintaining the integrity and transparency of our public institutions,” Lee’s statement added.
Price’s office on Wednesday said it “cannot comment on litigation on personnel matters.”
The lawsuit signals the latest challenge for Price, who is the subject of a recall question that will appear on the November ballot. Her opponents have raised numerous issues with her relatively short time in office, arguing that she’s spent her first 17 months on the job being too lenient on crime.
The lawsuit framed Lee as a whistleblower who was wrongly fired after refusing to break California open records laws amid inquiries by reporters, including from the Bay Area News Group, into a potential blacklist of journalists who were critical of Price and her administration.
The specter of a possible blacklist arose after a decision by Price to bar a journalist, The Berkeley Scanner’s Emilie Raguso, from attending a press conference on Nov. 29. Lee, herself a former TV news reporter, said she personally helped escort Raguso out of the presser at the “specific behest” of the district attorney — a move that drew wide condemnation from press advocates and free speech groups. Price later reversed her stance.
Lee said it quickly became clear that Price and her staff wanted to “hide, delete, and change the records” being sought by journalists, her lawsuit said. She specifically named Haaziq Madyun, the office’s communications director, as someone who was “not being forthcoming with the documents,” and who “may have deleted or altered records” that were required to be released under state law. Madyun is a former TV news reporter.
Lee said she repeatedly either spoke up to other staff members about those issues or refused to sign off on the office’s actions. On Dec. 12, shortly after a meeting with the office’s custodian of records, Lee was handed a termination notice and told that she had eight minutes to clear out her desk, according to the lawsuit.
Lee, who is Asian American, also accused Price of overseeing a toxic, racist workplace that often targeted people of East Asian descent, the lawsuit claimed. She said the district attorney had a habit of spouting “derogatory comments about her race” and would “utter audible remarks under her breath” that accused Lee of leaking information to the press.
Lee’s attorney, Nicholas Roxborough, said the lawsuit was filed after “brief” settlement talks led him to believe “something is very amiss” in Price’s office. He accused the district attorney of “attempting to silence her own people for refusing to participate in a cover-up,” and of spending “more time worrying about her appearance and her image than fighting serious and complex crimes in the Bay Area.”
Lee is seeking damages for emotional distress, unpaid wages, lost wages and attorney’s fees.
