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In my experience in San Francisco going back to 1979, the media spends the first month after a mayor has been sworn in focusing on the plans and personnel of the new administration. Not this time. Ross Mirkarimi’s domestic violence charges have dominated the news cycle from the time they first emerged, and this is likely to be the case until the matter is resolved.
I bet Mirkarimi has gotten more media coverage in his month as sheriff than predecessor Mike Hennessey got in 32 years. The Sheriff has rarely had a high profile in San Francisco. San Francisco is a City and County, so its sheriff does not have the power over non-city areas that has brought the office greater attention in Los Angeles County or Maricopa County, Arizona (home of the racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio).
Richard Hongisto made national headlines when he temporarily refused to evict International Hotel tenants, and went to jail for contempt. And his interim replacement Gene Brown got attention through a series of prisoner escapes that coincided with Hennessy’s 1979 campaign.
But this is the first time the Sheriff has eclipsed the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and even the Governor for over a month as a topic of public discussion.
Lee Can’t Match Mirkarimi
Mayor Ed Lee’s nose to the grindstone approach is popular with voters, who prefer a mayor focused entirely on getting things done. But the Mayor’s efforts to create affordable and workforce housing, expand small business loans, revitalize Ocean Avenue, and similar actions he has taken in January cannot match the gossip quotient of domestic violence charges against the city’s Sheriff.
Are people talking nonstop about Mirkarimi because of the constant media coverage, or because they are genuinely interested in a story that concerns far less people than those affected by the above issues and others?
I heard a reporter ask the mayor at a January 24th press event whether, like the electrical outage at Candlestick in December, the Mirkarimi charges were making San Francisco a “national embarrassment.” What possible basis could there be for such a question, other than to justify media focus on a story with so few new facts that even the smallest new detail becomes a front-page article.
It would be one thing if San Francisco had elected Mirkarimi with such charges pending. But that is not what happened here.
What the media might have reported if not for the Mirkarimi distraction is that Mayor Lee brings multiple Supervisors to most press events, a clear break from past mayors. And each event is geared to building support for future actions, functioning as organizing opportunities rather than the standard ribbon cutting.
Mayor Lee is not going to get in public yelling matches, or create gossip through his personal life. It appears that a media that privately complained about Gavin Newsom’s distractions prefer this type of coverage after all.
This post originally appeared at Beyond Chron
© The Bay Citizen, 2012
eight arms
Coming from one of the Mayor's biggest supporters, this article is hardly objective, and once more illustrates the politics involved.
More scorched earth politics from Lee, Brown, Pak, and the author Randy Shaw.
eight arms
Readers need to know that every sentence, every phrase, every dotted "i", every comma, was carefully considered and judged for it's impact supporting the Mayor, Brown, and Pak and its effect in totally eliminating the opposition, including Mirkarimi.
I think it has become apparent over the last few years that cheerleading for real estate criminals is about as low as it gets.
eight arms
Because oh hell even the President learned his lesson that you just better play ball with these gangsters or else....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/obama-administration-mortgage-fraud-settlement_n_1236708.html
R T
Yawn, stretch, zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
eight arms
Cleaning up? Tying up loose ends? Right Randy?
""As a Supervisor, Mirkarimi had a 100% pro-tenant voting record..."
CJ Flowers
Why is this guy who clearly has personal financial interests in political outcomes writing a column like this for BC??
Just embarrassing...
Edward Liu
Baksheesh ! Baksheesh ! Baksheesh !
The poverty pimps are now facing the end of Baksheesh !
Redevelopment has not been achieving its original intent and goals.
It is a cesspool of patronage.
It is about time that the gravy train ends.
California is broke, dead broke.
No more. No mas.
No money! No Honey.
The pimps, the whores, and the Johns just have to find a nobler profession, I.e. an honest day's job for an honest day's pay.
eight arms
Anyone interested could read this article and then wonder could Randy Shaw REALLY be so that much a viper that he would support Willie Brown's hand picked successors against pro-tenant mayoral candidates and now against the sheriff with a 100% voting record for tenants when he was supervisor.
http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=TENANT_POLITICS:_1992-1996
"Brown's support for tenants quickly waned...."
R T
This isn't about whether or not the Sheriff is pro-tenant or pro-landlord- it is about whether or not he abused his wife.
eight arms
"Brown's abandonment of the tenant cause corresponded with the onset of a new wave of skyrocketing residential rents and property values. Fueled by the economic boom in neighboring Silicon Valley, San Francisco rents climbed 37 percent from February 1996 to February 1997. While existing tenants remained protected by rent control, average monthly rents on vacant apartments rose to $1,233.00 during this period, and to $1,724.00 for two-bedroom units. The steep rises showed no signs of abating through the end of the year.
Owner-occupancy evictions of seniors and other tenants living with below-market rents doubled in the year following Brown and the Board's rejection of legislative protection. As low-income people are forced out of the city, with the middle class soon to follow, the city's elected officials continue to maintain a "Don't Worry, Be Happy" attitude...."
-Randy Shaw
R T
The more I look at this, the more Mirk, just ends up losing either way. If the tape etc. is allowed as evidence, he is screwed and will get convicted. If the tape is excluded he has a good chance of being found not guilty.
But, while his defense attorney is doing a good job fighting the good fight to keep the tape out of court- as she should, he will lose huge in the court of public opinion. If that tape ever goes public, and we all know it will, he is toast as there is no defending it in the media. Common sense says he ought to resign and move on.
steve vee
This guy is in serious denial. It is real simple, you cannot remain sheriff and beat women. I've met the guy before, and he never shuts up. Yammers on and on. But now we know this sicko beats women. He's a wierd guy at the end of the day. Hope he stops his campaign for the most disgraceful sheriff in the country.
steve vee
This 8 arms guy is wierd. This is about a violent sheriff who likes beating women, not housing issues. The village idiot is often in denial until the end. Consider mirk a VI at this point.
eight arms
I guess I can't really argue with that but if I'm weird it is only a tiny part of how weird this whole trial is to most people.
Usually prosecutors wait for defense to file a motion to disallow evidence. That the prosecutor filed a motion to allow is a sign they are scared they have a weak case and don't want to lose and want to determine the arguments defense will use.
Madison gathered evidence for a future international custody battle, enough to get the evidence removed just that. She waited four days to call the police. When the police came she refused to release the evidence and they had to seize it with a warrant.
If the trial court issues some unusual, contorted ruling the appeals court will likely show some sense.
This is a heavily political trial because the usual real estate people have riled themselves into a lynch mob. The point isn't to win. The point is to drag it out however they can, knowing they will likely eventually lose. That's not justice. That's abuse of the courts.
eight arms
Also I feel like that if it isn't about housing then why is the head of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic writing about it?
steve vee
I don't really see any grand conspiracy to get Mirk. He is beating women and intimidating witnesses. Crimes. You cannot do that and have credibility as a sheriff. Too hypocritical. Career is over. Good to hit the private sector and actually work for a living.
steve vee
This "man" needs to resign tomorrow. Gonzalez and now Mirk. Both want to be paid as they abuse the taxpayers of this city. Both are clowns. Send both of these arrogant men to pasture. Trust me that we will "lose" nothing as a city as these compromised people are done. They both need some humility in life.
steve vee
Throw him out now. He will lie and abuse alleged criminal "suspects" in the future. He has concealed his criminal work here, god forbid what gets unleashed on the public with him in charge. Recall now. Public protests now. Unfit for office and taxpayer money. Period.