Barbara Lee pledged to do a “forensic audit” to find “waste, fraud and abuse.” After she was elected mayor, she touted a narrow review of contracts in just one of the city’s 26 departments, plus capital projects, with no review of the city’s deficit, overtime, or reserves. (Video sources: KTVU, Oakland Report, Public Enemy. Montage by Oakland Report)
A shrinking promise
When first she ran for mayor in early 2025, Barbara Lee told Alameda County Democrats she would hire an independent forensic auditor to pinpoint waste, and even fraud, in the city budget.1
At a March 11 debate, Lee pledged: “We need a forensic audit.” The audit, she said, is one “that’s going to tell the taxpayers in this city where the waste, fraud and abuse is in our city.”2
“Where there’s fluff, and where there’s waste, we need to capture that and we need to make sure that we reinvest that in our budget.”
— Barbara Lee, at a mayoral debate in April 2025
Lee took office 18 months ago. Since then, no forensic audit of Oakland’s finances has been done. Instead, Lee has touted a July 21, 2026 council vote to hire a consultant to review contracts in one city department (among the 26 departments and offices in the city budget), plus capital projects. The review is limited to the three fiscal years before Lee took office.345
As of this week, no findings have been released.
In the run-up to Lee’s recent re-election campaign, the mayor’s office went so far as to declare the “forensic audit” pledge fulfilled — before any work was delivered. A July 22, 2026 release said the council’s approval of the narrow review serves to “fulfill one of Mayor Barbara Lee’s key commitments.”6
Running for re-election in October, Lee then overstated the scope of the review. She wrote that she had initiated an audit “of every capital project and human services contract from the past three years.” In fact, the consultant’s contract calls for it to analyze every contract’s expenditure data but to reconstruct only a sample of contracts it selects for more detailed review.7
Lee faced three lesser-known, poorly-funded challengers in her bid for re-election, and was re-elected last week with about 85% of the vote in unofficial returns.8
Oakland’s adopted budget funds 26 departments and offices. Lee’s claimed “forensic audit” examines contracts from only one of them, Human Services, plus the capital projects program, which is run mainly by Public Works and Transportation.
Police, fire, finance, housing and every other department are not included, nor are payroll, overtime, revenue forecasting or reserves — the subjects of the city’s recurring budget crises.
Subscribe for free to Oakland Report.
What a true forensic audit of the city’s books would confront
The problems the audit was meant to expose are extensive, and documented in the city’s own records.
An existential deficit. In March 2025, when Lee was campaigning for mayor, the city’s finance director reported a structural budget gap of $140 million.9 The city’s most recent five-year forecast projects deficits of roughly $115 million to $130 million in each year through 2030.10
Budgets built on money that did not arrive. The city’s fiscal year 2024-25 budget counted on $60 million in Coliseum sale proceeds; by June 2026, only $5 million had been paid. In November 2024, then-budget administrator (now finance director) Bradley Johnson warned: “If we do not change course, we will be roughly $115 million negative. We have already breached into our emergency reserve.”11 The fiscal year 2025-27 budget assumed about $40 million a year from a parcel tax that voters rejected on June 2, 2026.12
Related story:
Forever emergencies. The council has declared a fiscal emergency in each of the past four years, invoking “extreme fiscal necessity” and “unanticipated” financial events to suspend spending floors that voters approved, such as Measure NN’s requirement that the city maintain at least 700 sworn police officers, and that the city spend a baseline amount on parks maintenance.13
Overtime audits ignored. City auditors flagged police overtime in 2015, 2019 and 2022. In the fiscal year ending June 2025, the department spent more than $55 million on overtime, $31 million over budget.14
Credit downgrades. Fitch, Moody’s and S&P each cut Oakland’s rating between November 2024 and February 2025, citing the structural imbalance and public safety overspending.15
Related story:
Bond audits never done. The 2024-25 Alameda County Grand Jury found the city had never audited its Measure KK and Measure U bond spending, $1.45 billion in authorized borrowing; the City Auditor agreed.16
Contracts without council votes. The city awarded $61.2 million in contracts without council votes over three fiscal years, and went three years without filing the required disclosure. Of that total, $27.2 million in contracts were awarded on Lee’s watch as mayor.17
Related story:
The limited findings available so far have come from the city auditor, not the mayor
On Aug. 19, 2026, city auditor Michael Houston released an audit of capital project financial management covering the same three fiscal years as the forensic review.
The auditor’s review found “an absence of formalized internal controls that led staff to rely on their individual professional judgment and improvised measures like policy-setting by email.”
It also found bond payments processed without proper review, and the required Measure KK and U audits still undone. The administration accepted all 17 recommendations.
The auditor’s office launched its review on its own; it is not the limited audit Lee commissioned to fulfill her pledge of finding “waste, fraud and abuse.”18
Share this story with someone you know.
Other considerations and counterpoints
In fairness to the mayor and the city, we offer these counterpoints without further rebuttal for readers to consider:
Most of the deficit predates Lee, who took office May 20, 2025.
The FY 2025-27 budget she signed closed a $265 million two-year gap, and the city sold $334 million in Measure U bonds in December 2025 after the Grand Jury had questioned whether it could.
Competitive procurement accounts for part of the 14-month gap between inauguration and contract.
The council, not the mayor alone, set the scope by approving the consultant agreement.
Weaver’s work plan and selected contracts aren’t public, so the review’s depth isn’t yet known
If it’s broke, fix a tiny portion of it, maybe
Lee asked voters to judge her on finding where the city’s money goes. After 18 months in office, the “forensic audit” she delivered will reconstruct a sample of contracts in only one of the city’s 26 departments and one capital program. Contracts in the 25 other departments, the city’s nine-figure structural deficit, its use of overtime, its bond issuances and its reserves remain unexamined.
BE PART OF THE SOLUTION — JOIN OAKLAND REPORT
Oakland Report provides accurate, unflinching, data-driven reporting and analysis that you will find nowhere else. If you value our work to hold the government accountable, please consider becoming a supporting member. Your tax-deductible donation in any amount helps us to sustain and grow our nonprofit work.
Tavares, Steve. "Union-friend-Lee." East Bay Insiders, Feb. 10, 2025. https://eastbayinsiders.substack.com/p/union-friendlee
KTVU staff. "What Barbara Lee, Loren Taylor said about Oakland's budget deficit." KTVU, Mar. 11, 2025. https://www.ktvu.com/news/barbara-lee-loren-taylor-oakland-budget-mayor-debate; KQED. "Oakland Voters Want to Know How the Next Mayor Would Fix the City's Finances." KQED, Mar. 2025. https://www.kqed.org/news/12031370/oakland-voters-want-to-know-how-next-mayor-would-fix-citys-finances
City of Oakland. "Resolution No. 91282 C.M.S., professional services agreement with Weaver and Tidwell, LLP for an independent forensic audit of contracting." Oakland City Council, file #26-0880, adopted Jul. 21, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?GUID=60CCB766-364C-48F0-ABE1-064FC59FE1FC&ID=1423518&Options=info%7C&Search=
Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor. "100 Days of Action." barbaralee4oakland.com, accessed Nov. 7, 2026. https://barbaralee4oakland.com/100days; The Oaklandside. "Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee shares plan for her first 100 days." The Oaklandside, Apr. 21, 2025. https://oaklandside.org/2025/04/21/oakland-mayor-elect-barbara-lee-100-day-plan/
City of Oakland. "FY 2025-27 Adopted Policy Budget." City of Oakland Finance Department, Oct. 10, 2025. https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/finance/documents/fiscal-years/2025-2027-budget/fy25-27-adopted-budget-book-full-10.10.25-reduced-size.pdf
City of Oakland. "Mayor Barbara Lee Continues to Deliver on Promise to Strengthen Government Accountability." City of Oakland news release, Jul. 22, 2026. https://www.oaklandca.gov/News-Releases/Mayor-Babara-Lee/Mayor-Barbara-Lee-Continues-to-Deliver-on-Promise-to-Strengthen-Government-Accountability
Local News Matters. "Barbara Lee faces 3 candidates in Nov. 3 Oakland mayoral election." Local News Matters, Oct. 16, 2026. https://localnewsmatters.org/2026/10/16/oakland-mayoral-election-2026-candidates/
Bay Area Reporter. "Oakland Mayor Lee easily reelected." Bay Area Reporter, Nov. 2026. https://www.ebar.com/story/171829/News/News/Oakland%20Mayor%20Lee%20easily%20reelected
Ravani, Sarah. "Oakland trims budget deficit forecast, but long-term outlook remains grim." San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 2025. https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-trims-budget-deficit-outlook-grim-20179771.php
Oakland Report. "Oakland's 'unanticipated' financial emergency set to enter its fourth year." Oakland Report, Jun. 12, 2026. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/oaklands-unanticipated-financial-fourth-year
Oakland Report. "'If we do not change course, we will be roughly $115 million negative. We have already breached into our emergency reserve.'" Oakland Report, Nov. 20, 2024. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/if-we-do-not-change-course-we-will
Talerico, Kate. "Voters reject Oakland's Measure E parcel tax to pay for city services." San Francisco Chronicle, Jun. 8, 2026. https://www.sfchronicle.com/election/article/oakland-measure-e-parcel-tax-22282800.php
Citizens Oakland contributors. “Broken Promises: Oakland’s Measure E.” Oakland Report, May 7, 2026. https://www.citizensoakland.org/broken-promises
The Oaklandside. "One Oakland police officer made $490,000 in overtime. The city can't find records detailing much of what he did." The Oaklandside, Jan. 29, 2026. https://oaklandside.org/2026/01/29/oakland-police-overtime/
PFM Financial Advisors. "City of Oakland General Obligation (GO) Credit Ratings." Oakland Legistar, Nov. 2025. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=00352F4F-A512-448B-9BE9-C8771C1BBB0F&ID=15088333&M=F
Alameda County Civil Grand Jury. "2024-2025 Final Report," pp. 14--25. Jun. 20, 2025. https://grandjury.acgov.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/2024.2025-Alameda-County-Grand-Jury-Final-Report.pdf; Office of the City Auditor. "Response to Grand Jury Findings, Attachment C." Oakland Legistar, Aug. 2025. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=714D8A23-9775-4A7E-8C6B-0430525D827C&ID=14903994&M=F; City of Oakland. "Oakland Successfully Issues $334M Bonds to Fund Capital Projects." News release, Dec. 9, 2025. https://www.oaklandca.gov/News-Releases/Oakland-Successfully-Issues-334M-in-Bonds-to-Fund-Capital-Projects
Reinhart, Sean S. "Oakland approved $61 million in contracts with no council vote or prior public review." Oakland Report, Oct. 30, 2026. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/oakland-approved-61-million-in-contracts
Office of the City Auditor. "Audit of Capital Improvement Program Financial Management," press release. City of Oakland, Aug. 19, 2026. https://www.oaklandauditor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Audit-of-Capital-Improvement-Program-Financial-Management_Implementing-Comprehensive-Systems-Policies-and-Practices-to-Enhance-Oversight-of-Capital-Project-Delivery_00-Press-Release.pdf
Thanks Oakland Report and Sean. This article is so timely and excellent. Mindy Pechenuk
There seems to be no real political will to find waste, abuse and fraud in the system and reduce or eliminate it.