Oakland\u2019s city administrator resigned Friday after text messages between him and a top lieutenant were made public discussing female employees and colleagues in degrading ways.<\/p>\n
The text messages of Oakland City Administrator Jestin Johnson were recently taken into possession by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of the agency\u2019s corruption investigation into former Mayor Sheng Thao, who hired Johnson in June 2023, as Oaklandside reports<\/a>. The messages were reportedly made available through the city\u2019s public records portal last week prior to Johnson\u2019s resignation Friday. <\/p>\n According to the Chronicle<\/a>, Johnson\u2019s contract, which was set to expire in January 2027, granted him a salary of $340,000 a year, plus $750 per month for transportation. Johnson is reportedly Oakland\u2019s highest-ranking official.<\/p>\n \u201cOn Friday evening, I learned about certain degrading and unprofessional communications involving Mr. Johnson,\u201d said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who kept Johnson in the role when she became mayor last year. \u201cUnder my watch, I will not tolerate transgressions of this nature.\u201d<\/p>\n ABC 7 reports<\/a> that Assistant City Administrator Elizabeth “Betsy” Lake, who\u2019s worked for the city for eight years, will take over the city administrator position on an interim basis. Lake previously practiced law for 30 years.<\/p>\n In Johnson\u2019s text exchanges with another top official, Harold Duffey, he said one female employee had a \u201chelluva walk\u201d and that another made him \u201ca little giddy,\u201d explaining he had a hard time looking her just in the eyes.<\/p>\n Per Oaklandside, the subject of one of the more egregious text exchanges was Johnson\u2019s former assistant city administrator, LaTonda Simmons, implying that she used her femininity to influence powerful men and calling her \u201cemotional.\u201d Johnson fired Simmons<\/a> last June.<\/p>\n “Reducing women to sexualized functions and labeling women as emotional undermines and delegitimizes their value. Given his references to me and what his text shows, it comes as no surprise,” Simmons said in a statement. “I reported to then-Interim Mayor, now City Council President, Kevin Jenkins, and others that Jestin was disparaging me and interfering with my work, but I received no support.” <\/p>\n Oaklandside notes that Simmons\u2019s spokesperson, Reese Walters, was awarded a $1 million settlement<\/a> last year in a lawsuit against the city, which alleged that during her time as the Department of Violence Prevention\u2019s public information officer, her boss Guillermo Cespedes regularly spoke about her offensively and inappropriately. She said he also paid her less than male colleagues in similar roles and fired her for submitting whistleblower complaints.<\/p>\n