The former chief of staff to Sheng Thao, the former Oakland mayor who was recalled and then federally indicted, has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging she was wrongfully fired by interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins after repeatedly raising alarms about ethical violations in his administration.
Leigh Hanson, who served as chief of staff through Thao’s tumultuous tenure and stayed on through most of Jenkins term as interim mayor, filed the 22-page complaint in Alameda County Superior Court on March 20.
Jenkins fired Hanson in April 2025 after backlash on social media over a portion of a handwritten note she’d taken during a 2024 campaign meeting with Thao and others that appeared to refer to Black people as “tokens.” Hanson said that the note was taken out of context, and that those in the meeting were discussing how backers of Thao’s recall were tokenizing Black supporters…