Oakland’s political scene just got spicier than a Mission District hot sauce festival, and we’re here for all the drama. 🌶️

In a dramatic turn of events that sounds more like a Netflix political thriller than actual city governance, Oakland’s interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins just dropped the axe on Leigh Hanson, former chief of staff to recalled Mayor Sheng Thao. The reason? A meeting note that casually dropped the word “tokens” when discussing Black political operatives.

The Backstory of Betrayal

Hanson’s controversial note suggested using Black people as “tokens” in a political strategy, specifically mentioning City Councilmember Carol Fife and a paid operative named Seneca Scott. But here’s the tea: Hanson claims she was actually calling out tokenization by wealthy white recall campaign funders.

The Power Players

The recall campaign’s biggest donor, Philip Dreyfuss, a Piedmont hedge fund manager who threw down a cool $630,000, becomes the villain in this political soap opera. Seneca Scott, the recall’s paid spokesperson, finds himself at the center of this messy narrative - a man with his own complex political history.

The Fallout

Just days before a crucial Oakland mayoral election, Jenkins cleanly sliced through Thao’s former team, firing Hanson and placing other staffers on administrative leave. It’s giving pure political chess move realness.

Whether this is genuine accountability or last-minute election drama, one thing’s certain: Oakland politics continue to serve up more plot twists than a telenovela. Stay tuned, Bay Area! 🍿