Pamela Price defends embattled second-in-command, calls report about him ‘false’

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price staunchly defended her embattled chief assistant district attorney this week after an independent investigation concluded that he blatantly fostered a sexist and toxic work environment at his previous post in Marin County.

In a statement late Tuesday, Price hailed Otis Bruce Jr.’s work and took direct aim at Marin County officials for seeking to “impeach his character and publicly humiliate this dedicated public servant.” In doing so, she cast as “false” a blistering, 55-page report commissioned by North Bay leaders that concluded Bruce violated 17 personnel regulations while holding the second-highest position the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.

Related: Alameda County DA Pamela Price’s top deputy accused of workplace misconduct at previous job

Price’s statement did not specifically address the main findings of The Oppenheimer Investigations Group’s report,  which found that Bruce manipulated and intimidated other prosecutors in Marin County — some of them to the point of near-panic — while fostering a misogynist culture and a “quid-pro-quo” system of favoritism.

Conditions at the office became so toxic that nine women left the office in a two-year span over Bruce’s alleged sexist behavior, prosecutors told investigators. The firm investigated claims made by multiple deputy district attorneys who worked under Bruce.

Rather, Price called Bruce an “exemplary” employee, one who “consistently demonstrates professionalism, integrity, and dedication” as one of her administration’s top lieutenants and a key member of her transition team.

“I am quite familiar with the Oppenheimer firm that issued this report condemning Chief Bruce and people should not rush to judgment,” Price’s statement said. In the process, she also sought to discredit the firm by claiming a jury verdict  last month in an East Bay workplace discrimination trial was at odds with the firm’s investigative findings related to the same case.

Calls by this newspaper to Marin County officials and to The Oppenheimer Investigations Group were not immediately returned.

Price’s statement came after the Bay Area News Group reported this week on the details of the investigation, after earlier obtaining documents through a public records request. The documents — portions of which were heavily redacted — highlighted how Bruce’s decades-long tenure in Marin County came to an unceremonious end last year.

Faced with complaints about his conduct, Marin County hired The Oppenheimer Group to conduct the investigation on Aug. 1. Bruce was subsequently placed on administrative leave on Sept. 13.

Bruce retired from the county on Dec. 31 and days later went to work for Price as her chief assistant district attorney.

Yet The Oppenheimer Group’s investigation continued, and it wrapped up in February with a report that included 20 pages of findings and another 35 pages of statements from eight deputy district attorneys — all of whom complained of Bruce’s behavior. The prosecutors’ names were all redacted.

Because Bruce had already left Marin, “there was no discipline or other action taken,” County Counsel Brian Washington told the Marin Independent Journal.

Price also questioned the timing of the report’s release, referencing a $12 million racial discrimination lawsuit filed earlier this year by Bruce against Marin County. The suit alleged that District Attorney Lori Frugoli and others within the office retaliated against him after he challenged the firing of a Black prosecutor in June 2022. That prosecutor, Cameron Jones, later filed his own lawsuit against the county, seeking $18 million in damages.

Check back for more information as this story develops.