A high-ranking city official in Oakland, California, has been fired over a resurfaced note that showed her referring to black people as “tokens,” according to reports.
Chief of staff Leigh Hanson was fired Sunday over the alleged note, which was released last week alongside other documents related to an FBI probe that prompted the indictment of the city’s previous mayor, Sheng Thao, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Hanson was hired by Thao as her chief of staff in 2023, and penned the note as part of her then-boss’s doomed bid to fight being recalled, KRON reported.
One line read, “CM Fife can reach out to NAACP — use BP as tokens.”
Hanson confirmed “BP” was an abbreviation for black people, while “CM Fife” referred to Oakland Council Member Carroll Fife.
Hanson previously defended the note, claiming it had been taken out of context.
According to Hanson, the note was written during an anti-recall planning meeting where Thao and others discussed their perceptions of the recall effort’s plans to recruit black people to their cause — and that she had written down comments made by Thao.
Interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins on Monday, a day after firing Hanson, said that most of Thao’s staff would be put on paid administrative leave before being released on April 11 ahead of a special election to permanently fill the role.
The embattled former mayor, Thao, became the subject of an FBI investigation months after a mysterious FBI raid on her home.
She was indicted on eight charges earlier this year related to receiving kickbacks from major political donors.