In another blow to embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her communications chief, Francis Zamora, announced his resignation Tuesday after nine months on the job.
Zamora’s announcement came just a day after Thao’s recently hired criminal defense attorney, Anthony Brass, withdrew as her lawyer.
The mayor’s office confirmed Zamora’s resignation in an email Tuesday morning and also provided his brief statement.
“I resigned my position as Chief of Communications,” Zamora said. “I thank my colleagues for their professionalism and dedication. It was an honor to serve the City of Oakland beside them.”
Thao also issued a two-sentence statement about his departure.
“Francis was a valuable member of the team whose contributions are greatly valued and appreciated. I thank him for his service and wish him well,” Thao said.
“I thank my colleagues for their professionalism and dedication. It was an honor to serve the City of Oakland beside them.”
Francis Zamora, Mayor Sheng Thao’s communications chief
Zamora’s resignation is just the latest in a string of bad news for the mayor, whose home was raided by the FBI last week, along with the homes and an office associated with Oakland’s prominent Duong family, which runs the city’s recycling contractor, California Waste Solutions.
While the FBI did not say what type of investigation the raids were linked to, Thao, two members of Duong family and Cal Waste are all under investigation by the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, which is looking into alleged illegal campaign finance contributions.
After four days of silence following the raids, Thao held a short news conference on Monday, during which she was defiant, saying that she had been wrongly targeted by federal officials, was being undermined by “radical right-wing forces” trying to remove her from office and would not resign.
Just hours later, Brass issued a statement saying he had withdrawn as her lawyer.
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