A long-serving member of the Oakland Public Ethics Commission was elevated to lead the accountability body this week, following the departure of its executive director in July.
Suzanne Doran was named the body’s executive director and will lead the commission of seven volunteer members who oversee the city’s compliance with laws related to campaign finance, government ethics, lobbying and transparency.
Doran has served with the Public Ethics Commission since 2016, according to the Commission.
“I am honored that the commissioners chose to place their trust in me as their next Executive Director, particularly at a time when voices for honesty and integrity in government need to be amplified at every level,” Doran said in a statement.
Doran said in an email that the Public Ethics Commission was handling more complaints with increased complexity that required more staff to investigate.
“Over the past ten years, the PEC’s caseload has surged in volume and complexity, while staff resources to process and investigate complaints have remained virtually static, undermining the Commission’s ability to deter violations through rapid detection and prosecution of wrongdoers,” she said in response to a question about what challenges the commission currently faced.
She lauded the City Council for adding two enforcement investigators in its most recent budget to bolster the Commission’s staff, which has only one. They will be hired by July 2026. But Doran said that would still leave the Commission short of what it needed.
“While these improvements will increase the [Public Ethics Commission’s] effectiveness, they still leave us under-resourced for our current caseload and well out-of-step with other local ethics commissions,” Doran said.
She said the Commission’s current priorities were getting the public financing program known as “Democracy Dollars” up and running and making sure the Commission was securely funded enough to continue strengthening its technology and staffing.
The Democracy Dollars program was created by Oakland voters in 2022 through Measure W as a way to let individual voters decide how to allocate public financing for candidates for local office, but its implementation has been delayed as the city sought to plug a $265 million two-year budget deficit.
The program would let registered voters distribute up to $100 in vouchers to campaigns of their choice. The public funding is then provided to eligible candidates by the city’s Public Ethics Commission.
“I am honored that the commissioners chose to place their trust in me as their next Executive Director, particularly at a time when voices for honesty and integrity in government need to be amplified at every level.”
Suzanne Doran, executive director of Oakland Public Ethics Commission
Former Public Ethics Commission executive director Nicolas Heidorn announced earlier this year he would step down after the city’s two-year budget cycle was completed to take on a full-time teaching position at University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, in Sacramento. He said he assisted the commission with the selection process and was “thrilled” that Doran was chosen.
“Director Doran has held a number of leadership positions within the Commission, is deeply familiar with its procedures and the laws it enforces, and is dedicated to its mission of promoting honest, transparent, and accountable government for the residents of Oakland,” Heidorn wrote in an email.
Heidorn echoed Doran’s concerns about funding, calling it the biggest challenge of tenure.
He said he was proud of the fact that the Commission had secured “noteworthy” settlements during his tenure and said Measure OO, passed by voters in 2024, would strengthen the Public Ethics Commission’s independence.
Doran has a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric with an emphasis on human rights discourse from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in public policy from Mills College.