<\/p>\n
Former NFL running back Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch leaves the Assembly chamber \u2014 followed by Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Fresno \u2014 as legislators debated the redistricting bills on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. Lynch was introduced by his hometown Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, as a special guest.<\/p>\n
HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n
hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office tried to get Oakland officials to clear a homeless encampment near the home of the governor\u2019s podcast co-host<\/a>, former Seattle Seahawks running back and UC Berkeley football star Marshawn Lynch.<\/p>\n According to text messages obtained via a public records request, Newsom\u2019s office pressed Leigh Hanson, then-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao\u2019s chief of staff, starting in late May 2024 to clear RVs near the Lynch family\u2019s house in the Temescal neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cHey Harold, I got a call from the Governor\u2019s office regarding a number of RVs that are parked out in front of Marshawn Lynch\u2019s family home,\u201d Hanson texted then-Director of Public Works Harold Duffey and then-City Administrator Jestin Johnson on May 28, 2024. \u201cThe Governor\u2019s office is requesting our support to help resolve the issues in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanson said there were \u201cseveral campers\u201d there that were \u201cdoing questionable things.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanson\u2019s texts, which were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, were subpoenaed during a federal corruption investigation into Thao\u2019s administration. The texts were released as part of a public records request<\/a> seeking all messages between Johnson and other Oakland officials starting in November 2022. Thao was recalled from office in 2024<\/a> and indicted by federal authorities last year on bribery charges.<\/p>\n Lynch is a co-host of the \u201cPolitickin\u2019 \u201d podcast, along with Newsom occasionally and Doug Hendrickson, who is Lynch\u2019s agent and Newsom\u2019s longtime friend. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, introduced Lynch as a special guest on the chamber floor last August. Newsom was a regular Politickin\u2019 host from its July 2024 launch to March 2025 but has appeared less frequently on the show since its March 2026 return<\/a>. Hendrickson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on behalf of himself or Lynch.<\/p>\n Governor\u2019s office responds<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear who from Newsom\u2019s office reached out to Hanson or if city officials successfully cleared the encampment. Hanson could not be reached for comment. She recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city<\/a> after Thao\u2019s successor, Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins, fired her in April 2025.<\/p>\n Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in an email on Wednesday that the state had repeatedly tried to get Thao\u2019s office to address high crime rates and \u201cpersistent public safety issues\u201d to no success, because Thao \u201cwasn\u2019t moving with any urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the reality of a city struggling to manage core responsibilities. The Governor ultimately had to surge CHP (California Highway Patrol) resources and operational support into Oakland because local leadership had lost control of the situation,\u201d Gallegos wrote.<\/p>\n Previous text messages released via the request showed Hanson mentioning sporadic contact between the mayor\u2019s office and members of Newsom\u2019s administration, like his longtime former aide Jason Elliott, for advice on framing homelessness and public safety issues to local media.<\/p>\n On June 1, 2024, Hanson followed up to say Newsom\u2019s office had reached out again. She said she had visited Lynch\u2019s block, where she witnessed two campers and \u201c5-6 pit bulls\u201d that had taken over \u201cmost of the street.\u201d Six days later, she asked Johnson and Duffey for \u201cany update on the Marshawn house.\u201d<\/p>\n Later that day, Johnson and Duffey separately discussed potentially closing the encampment with help from the fire department, but it\u2019s unclear if they took action.<\/p>\n A resignation, bribe allegations and the FBI<\/p>\n Johnson resigned last week after texts<\/a> between him and Duffey came to light that showed the two making crass remarks about other female officials. Duffey is now city manager of Brentwood in Contra Costa County<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FBI said Thao and her romantic partner, Andre Jones, sought over $300,000 in bribes from the Duong family<\/a>, the owners of the California Waste Solutions recycling company, for helping extend the Duongs\u2019 contract with the city of Oakland. Prosecutors said Thao also helped the Duongs try to secure a contract with the city for their modular home company, Evolutionary Homes.<\/p>\n The scandal has mentioned other California politicians, including married couple Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, and Attorney General Rob Bonta, who have not been implicated or charged with wrongdoing but have ties to the Duong family.<\/p>\n As a state legislator, Rob Bonta lobbied for the California Energy Commission to award grant money for a green energy project to Viridis, a company run by the Duongs and their business partner, Mario Juarez, who is the FBI\u2019s star witness<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rob Bonta later spent $500,000 in campaign funds to represent himself<\/a> in the case against the Duongs, who have donated to him and posted photos on<\/a> social media of themselves socializing with both Bontas<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mia Bonta won her husband\u2019s Assembly seat in a special June 2021 election after he was appointed attorney general. She rented office space from Juarez and received donations<\/a> from the Duong family, which she said she returned.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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