Lee, who had kept Johnson on staff after taking office last year, said Sunday she had learned just before the weekend of \u201ccertain degrading and unprofessional communications\u201d involving the administrator, characterizing them as \u201cwholly incompatible with the values of this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder my watch, I will not tolerate transgressions of this nature,\u201d Lee said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The city administrator, an unelected position appointed by the mayor, oversees thousands of city workers and has the final say in how policies are implemented, services are carried out and most other officials are hired.<\/p>\n
Johnson, a hire of former Mayor Sheng Thao, was a rare top staffer who remained on the job after Lee took office a year ago, having proved himself as a collegial presence at Oakland City Hall amid an era of turmoil.<\/p>\n
But the city administrator\u2019s casual demeanor took on a new light in communications released this week that were first reported by The Oaklandside<\/a>.<\/p>\n In text messages in 2024 between Johnson and former Assistant City Administrator G. Harold Duffey, the two men use suggestive language while discussing women colleagues.<\/p>\n During one exchange, in March of that year, Duffey tells his boss that a woman official \u201cgot the old player mesmerized,\u201d referring to himself. Johnson responds that \u201cyou have to sit next to her\u2026 I have to force myself to look into her eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe had me a little giddy yesterday,\u201d Johnson tells Duffey.<\/p>\n Later, in June 2024, the two describe different women staff members as \u201ckryptonite,\u201d clearly referencing their appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goodness, she has a helluva walk,\u201d Johnson writes about an official.<\/p>\n Neither Johnson nor Duffey responded Sunday to requests for comment about the messages or Johnson\u2019s ouster over the weekend.<\/p>\n Duffey, who left the city earlier this year, was hired in April as the city manager in Antioch. Before his departure from Oakland, he gave a key interview to federal agents in the investigation that led to criminal charges against Thao, the ex-mayor.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s untimely exit, meanwhile, leaves the city without a top official just months before voters in the November election may decide on a new governance structure that would reduce the city administrator\u2019s day-to-day authority<\/a> by elevating the mayor\u2019s legislative power.<\/p>\n A native of Atlanta who previously served in a deputy role at the city government there, Johnson had carved out a role as a diplomat in an otherwise contentious Thao administration.<\/p>\n![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/EBT-L-OAKBOND-1210-10.jpg\")
City Administrator Jestin Johnson announces the sale of a key infrastructure bond during a press conference at City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n