Neighbor at Center of Mirkarimi Controversy Becomes Lightning Rod
Friends describe Ivory Madison as a feminist with an acute sense of justice
The woman who alerted police about an alleged domestic violence incident involving San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has a history of speaking out, especially on women’s issues. She was also a generous donor to Mirkarimi's most recent campaign.
Ivory Madison lives a few doors down from Mirkarimi and his wife, Eliana Lopez, in a Victorian home in the Western Addition. On Jan. 4., Madison contacted the San Francisco Police Department to report that Mirkarimi had injured Lopez during an argument on Dec. 31.
When investigators interviewed Madison, she said that Lopez came to her home on Jan. 1 and told her about an argument she had with Mirkarimi the day before that became violent, resulting in a bruise near her right bicep, according to a police affidavit. Madison told officers she recorded a video of the conversation, in which Lopez said the fight marked the second time in 2011 that Mirkarimi had abused her, the affidavit said. Madison recorded the bruise, according to officers who viewed the video.
But when police asked Madison to give them the video, she refused, forcing police to get a search warrant for it. Mirkarimi now awaits arraignment Thursday on misdemeanor charges of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.
Since the incident, Madison has declined to be interviewed, leaving many questions unanswered, including why she waited four days to call police and then refused to surrender the video. In a radio interview with a Venezuelan radio station Tuesday, Lopez assailed Madison for telling police, saying Madison is part of a powerful political conspiracy designed to sabotage Mirkarimi's political future. But in interviews, half a dozen friends and former co-workers described Madison as a feminist with an acute sense of justice that has prompted her to confront a variety of perceived wrongs with zeal.
“She is always outspoken,” said Phil Bronstein, the former editor-at-large of Hearst Newspapers, Inc., who befriended Madison in 2005. “Knowing Ivory, she probably agonized over what was the right thing to do. It is a tough situation to be in, if someone were to come to you in a state of distress, to determine what is the right thing to do.”
Madison first met Lopez when she began attending a class Lopez was teaching. “I was giving classes for children in dance and expression on Saturdays,” Lopez said in Spanish Tuesday in an interview on Noticias24, a Venezuelan radio station. “I knew she was lonely, and that she had a baby, and I told her she and her child could attend my classes for free.”
Madison and her husband, Abraham Mertens, each contributed $500 to Mirkarimi's campaign for sheriff last year, the maximum allowed under campaign finance laws. They helped host a fundraiser for Mirkarimi in Hayes Valley last fall.
But on Tuesday, Lopez claimed that Madison had betrayed her and Mirkarimi. “This person took the law into her own hands,” Lopez said in the radio interview. “I merely told her we’d had an argument on New Year’s Eve. And she used that against us, which made me suspect that there are powerful interests behind this. She’s broke. She has no money. No health insurance. You know that to live in the United States without insurance or income is a precarious situation. Now, we’re suspicious of her motive for calling the police four days after I spoke with her about a marital argument that was in no way violent.”
Madison did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday.
Mirkarimi’s supporters say law enforcement may have overreached in pursuing a domestic violence charge without the victim’s cooperation, adding a child endangerment count even though his son was not physically harmed, and requesting a protective order temporarily separating Mirkarimi from his family.
However, a domestic violence expert, and the police department’s own procedural manual, suggest officials played this case by the book.
According to the San Francisco Police Department’s General Orders on domestic violence, officers are not allowed to consider victims’ reluctance when dealing with domestic violence cases. They may seek protective orders if they believe victims are in danger of further violence.
As for the child endangerment charge, Minouche Kandel, an attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid, which provides legal assistance to low-income clients, said such charges are commonplace in domestic violence prosecutions — even in cases when children have not been physically harmed.
“In the past five or 10 years, there’s been a trend to recognize that children are affected when a parent is abused,” Kandel said. “Police are trained to ask whether there were children in the area, and whether they witnessed the abuse." According to court documents, Lopez told Madison and another neighbor in separate conversations that her 2-year-old son witnessed the alleged abuse.
Madison, a San Francisco native, dropped out of high school and later became president of the New Orleans chapter of the National Organization for Women in the mid-1990s. In that role, she helped pressure the Sugar Bowl committee, which oversees one of college football's top bowl games, to elect its first female members.
She went on to enroll at the now-defunct New College of California Law School in San Francisco. In 2001, Madison had a run-in with the editor-in-chief of the school's law review over an article that she said contained offensive material, according to Lou Lesperance, a paralegal in San Francisco, who is a longtime friend of the former editor.
Madison, a law review staffer at the time, had deleted a section of the piece in which the author recounted reading Playboy magazine on a bus, Lesperance said. The editor disagreed and reinserted the material, prompting Madison to file a complaint with the school’s grievance board, saying his decision amounted to sexual harassment. The school’s grievance board disagreed and the content was printed.
Madison received a law degree from the school in May 2003. But instead of practicing law, she helped found a consulting firm and then, in 2002, started the Red Room Writers Society, named after a White House room frequently used by Eleanor Roosevelt.
The society became Redroom.com in 2007, a social networking and marketing site for authors ranging from Salman Rushdie to Barack Obama, initially backed by $1.25 million in funding from investors including Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.org. Madison's husband is the site's general counsel.
In 2009, Madison published a graphic novel, "Huntress: Year One," about a female vigilante who fights sexist institutions.
Her background suggests she may be a formidable force for Mirkarimi to contend with, Lesperance said.
“Knowing what I know about Ivory Madison, if I were Ross Mirkarimi, this is the last person I would want involved in this,” Lesperance said. “For a person who would go to the mat over the law article, you would be swinging for the fences over something like this.”
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly characterized the relationship between Abraham Mertens and Ivory Madison. They are married. Also, the article incorrectly stated when Phil Bronstein met Madison. It was in 2005, not 2007.
Related
eight arms
She is a comic book author!!!!
R T
Jealous?
eight arms
Is that really a leather cat suit???
eight arms
Or just a leather jacket?
Lou Lesperance
She is pretty hot.
eight arms
Word just in she does not if fact wear cat suits. During the day.
eight arms
Also I'm not into comic books about people who slice up animals with knives. Not my idea of a compelling superhero.
People who hurt animals are psychopaths and people who glorify it in comic books are not much different.
And people who remain silent for political reasons while government officials like Hayes-White assault their spouses with bottles also probably have some kind of mental disorder.
Her comic book is deranged, and makes me wonder how much of it is a reflection of it's author. And her supporters.
Lou Lesperance
I think the line - "Her background suggests she may be a formidable force for Mirkarimi to contend with..." was perhaps taken out of context by Ms. Gollan.
My point was that Ivory was willing to make a major issue over a minor editorial disagreement - one that could have had significant career implications for a newly graduating law student. Surely her prerogative to do so, but still.
What might Boss Ross be thinking...knowing that his wife & "The Huntress" have been 'documenting' their marital decline? Perhaps unknown to Lopez...perhaps not. But definitely not unknown to Ms. Madison.
Just saying.
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
Thanks for clarifying your statement for Ms. Gollan. Bay Citizen has some interesting articles, but it also suffers from hiring too many inexperienced reporters who appear to be willing, consistently, to slant a story toward SFPD, the Pac Heights twatocracy, and F.O.W.'s (friends of the late Warren Hellman.)
tikwonleep
It may indeed be the case, and I hope it is the case, that Ms. Madison did the right thing. And FWIW, the accused does increasingly look guilty, if news coverage over the past couple of days is to be believed.
This article, however, appears to contradict itself.
It quotes, by deliberate choice and with intent to invoke as authoritative, someone who says her "background suggests she may be a formidable force" do deal with in court.
While reading Ms. Gollan's piece, however, it looks to like this article provides material that could form the beginning of a formidable argument _against_ Ms. Madison.
Exhibit (1) Ms. Madison decided to delete a comment in an article for a law journal because she doesn't like that some men read Playboy. She then filed a complaint with the school's grievance board saying her editor committed sexual harassment by deciding against her kind of censorship. This would suggest she will pick a legal fight all because she cannot tell the difference between what she just does not like and what is repulsive, versus what is criminal.
Exhibit (2) She wrote a novel about a "female vigilante who fights sexist institutions." In the eyes of a jury, it's not going to be a long shot to wonder if a female who makes up a story about a female vigilante fighting sexism, easily might also fantasize about being one herself. If I was Mr. Mirkarimi's defense, I'd say, "Ms. Madison's background suggests she's been waiting all her life for the opportunity to put a man in jail for his treatment of women. If she agonized over her decision, it was only because she knew her victim personally and liked him previously."
A far more formidable accusation would have come from a male graduate of the police academy who has a concealed carry license, who reads Playboy on the bus and rolls his eyes at women on the bus who read graphic novels about female vigilantes, who doesn't care what feminist American women say about his Venezuelan TV wife, but who nonetheless got wind of the spousal abuse and agonized his way out of his comfort zone to report it.
I have no qualms with Ms. Madison, nor with Mr. Mirkarimi. Just with this article.
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
"This article, however, appears to contradict itself."
Your comment, however, was damn clear. Well stated.
Separately, I'd point out that Ms. Madison stands to benefit greatly from the publicity.
Who kniws what went on 'tween the couple. The real tragedy is that (and I say this as someone underwhelmed by the supposed significance of Mirkarimi) that the real victims - those whose suffering might have been alleviated by Mirk's attempts at reform, are apparently of no consequence to the "feminist vigilante" wannabe, Ivory Madison.
Name withheld
This comment violated our terms of use and was removed.
Lou Lesperance
@Michelle Kohlhaas- I've got no beef with Ms. Gollan. I just thought that one line needed clarification.
For the record - I don't know shit from shine-ola about the Mirkarimi/Lopez marriage. I wish them well and as the product of a divorced marriage - I hope their son can ride it out as well as possible.
What I do know is that Ms. Madison has a penchant for pursuing administrative / legal processes in situations where other, lets say, more reasonable people, might have done things differently. Again - one man's opinion - and one woman's prerogative.
I love the SFPD. And hell - let’s give a shout out to the Sheriff’s Department too.
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
Point taken, though I'd have to wonder what it is you "love" about "the SFPD."
Is it their bloated salaries and overtime? (At 82K, SFPD starting salary was TWICE that of NYPD in 2010.) Their pension spiking? Their kabuki theater police commission? Their thuggish union leader? Their near-total lack of oversight and their M.I.A. transparency? Their brain-dead complicity in the total fraud that is "the war on drugs"? Their overuse of force?
Just wondering.
Maybe ask the FBI, which is currently investigating SFPD. Or try reading through SFPD's own records. There's a consistent refusal over several decades to get rid of violent, corrupt officers. Sherriff's Dep't, OTOH, is good people. Seriously. And I know many good SFPD officers. Unfortunately, the refusal of SFPD to police their gross surplus of rogue cops makes it very difficult for those individual officers who are ethical.
Dallas DeBurger
She sounds like one of those busy body types.
R T
Interesting article. I am glad I learned more about her. If anything, all this seems to make her more credible to me as a witness. She is an apparent known progressive, donated to Ross and even hosted a small fundraiser for him. I love the fact that she is shying away from any media attention at all. Just seems to discredit what Mrs. Mirkarimi is saying about her motives. If she is trying to cash in on this, this isn't the way to do it. She hardly seems like the pawn of a vast right wing conspiracy to get Ross out of office.
eight arms
Her comic book is rather intense in context.
eight arms
Makes me wonder why she and her supporters would remain silent about the Fire Chief smashing a pint glass over her spouse's head.
Name withheld
This comment violated our terms of use and was removed.
June Ko-Dial
i am going to bet my money on the fact that most of the responses against Madison are male. Lopez came to her and told her that he had abused her, had Madison video tape it in case he tried to take their son. does that sound like the action of women looking for money? 15 minutes of fame? i think not. she told two different neighbors!
how many of you have been abused? feared for your safety and your childs? she probably got major threats from him after this came out, he knew he certainly couldn't hit her, he is under the public microscope, thank God!. i'll bet she is thrilled he's in jail, she is safe right now. of course she's arguing against this in public, SHE HAS TO!! why would she have a friend video tape something like this if there wasn't a problem? so quick to assume the female is NOT the victim. one of you ask if Madison was jealous! REALLY? oh yea i'm sure she wishes she was married to a Sheriff that hit her and threatened to take her son away from her. something i dream about every night. get real!
yes, Lopez is putting on a good public fight because he will be released at some point. shes probably terrified!!
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
Uh, June, I'm a woman, and I have sincerely questioned Madison's motivations.
I wouldn't discount the seriousness of a bruise on an arm. OTOH, we haven't seen any evidence, and Gascon is hardly without political motivation.
And as the Hayes-White incident indicates, women aren't the only victims of domestic violence. Unless, of course, you're totally sexist.
Lou Lesperance
If I had to choose my opponent - I'd go up against Ross. Joanne Hayes-White looks like she can kick that ass!
Janina Dowling
Clearly Ivory Madison is an important witness for Eliana Lopez and the thorn now for Mirkarimi's career!
If Eliana Lopez went to her for help and allowed Madison to record and tape her of her abuse, from her husband, this clearly shows that there is Great Evidence of Domestic Violence. Why is Eliana so afraid of her husband? If she sought a neighbor's help than it is clear that Eliana Lopez is crying out for someone to listen to her and come to her Aid! What are the authorities waiting for here? For a death to occur?
With the violence that policemen come into contact on a daily basis, Anger Management is one of the major problems with respect to anyone in law enforcement. Why doesn't this couple seek
Psychological Counseling? And what makes Ross Mirkarimi think that he is invincible to having any psychological problems? He should seek Counseling Immediately! They both should! Not intimidate his wife and blame her for his violent and psychological problems! The issue here is obvious that Ross Mirkarimi does NOT deserve this job because he has issues of himself to deal with! And how can he hold an important position and not expect the press to criticize him? Yes! I think the real Mirkarimi is now revealed and YES, he should step down from his newly elected post. And I did not vote for him because I did not trust the way he looked when he was trying to get the people's vote over on 24th Street and Mission!
Lou Lesperance
Again - I've got no beef with Ms. Madison. Her problem with my buddy was many moons ago and has nothing to do with the Mirkarimi situation. It's just a funny story about a young law student who had a bug up her ass.
Still - I'm glad she's not my neighbor. Although she is pretty darn attractive - in that Catherine Tramell kind of way.
Like I said earlier - I voted for Mirkarimi for Sheriff primarily because he didn't come from within the department and might not have been as beholden to the 'overtime gods.'
Guess that's not gonna work out.
Name withheld
This comment violated our terms of use and was removed.
Rob Anderson
I've been Mirkarimi's harshest critic since he was elected in 2004, but I find it shocking that he's being tried in the media here in Progressive Land. Why not just wait for the hearing?
On the compensation for city cops and firemen, people need to read the Grand Jury's report, pages 20-22:
http://www.sfsuperiorcourt.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=2660
More than any other city workers, apparently firefighters are most guilty of "pension-spiking" to inflate their retirement benefits, which is why they bullied Jeff Adachi at that funeral:
http://district5diary.blogspot.com/2011/06/firefighters-heroes-or-bullies.html
Windy
Enough trying the case in the media. There's so much misinformation in the comments from people with agendas.
I hope if I went to a neighbor and complained my (politically powerful) husband had hurt me that she would document it and take it seriously, regardless of whether she was hot, not hot, broke, or rich.
Did this rise to the level of spousal abuse? Happy to let a jury figure that out based on the evidence at hand.
I have worried this case seems overly political. But if he's guilty, he should be prosecuted. Let the system do its job.
Daniele E.
I’m sorry…but I cannot believe the conclusions folks come to or the histrionics here. I mean: Lopez: “Madison is part of a powerful political conspiracy designed to sabotage Mirkarimi's political future”. Really? But, you came to her to go out of your way to document a bruise from a fight, and now you’re intimating that maybe her and her partner’s contributions and offering of her house for a meet and greet were just a cover? Well let’s see. I guess that’s not necessarily beyond the realm of possibilities, but I can’t help reading it more as “Deflect! Deflect! Let’s paint a very dramatic scenario to draw attention away from the original, documented drama.” We’ll see.
Lopez: “This person took the law into her own hands.” Really? This person did what any responsible person would do in reporting violence. Since when is that taking the law into your own hands? No—that will be for a judge to decide. And that judge may well find that none of this rises to the level of criminality.
Lopez: “Four days after I spoke with her about a marital argument that was in no way violent.” What? “No way violent?” Now I’m really confused. Look, I guess it’s possible that maybe Ross, unaware of his inherent physical strength, maybe squeezed her arm a little too hard, completely innocent of any hurtful intent. That’s possible. But it doesn’t seem likely given the contexts that have been described/leaked in the media thus far.
And this bit about the Playboy excerpt: without details of the content in question, it’s hard to draw any inferences from that, in my opinion, except that it seems the woman isn’t afraid to speak out when she sees a wrong.
Can we all just take a deep breath and let the system run its course? And believe that people (many, anyway) have the best intentions, and that also, we are all human with weaknesses that can be mended—if need be.
Lou Lesperance
It doesn't take all that much courage to file a harassment complaint in an academic setting. Especially an unfounded one which is ultimately brushed aside by the adjudicating officials.
On the other hand - if she felt that she had to drop the dime on Ross because he was slapping his wife around - I can't really blame her for that. But still - the earlier "busy body" comment has a ring to it.
Just saying.
Daniele E.
courage/no courage really is not for me to know. she filed a complaint.
"drop the dime on Ross" is yet another slanted way of reading facts. Do you people not see the difference? How about: decided to report violence. (Ostensibly, it was violence, from what we've been told).
And why do you suggest that the concept of "busy body" applies here, when she was approached by Eliana—not the other way around.
eight arms
Ivory Madison's comic book is just unreadable. It really, really sux. It starts out with the hero killing and then cutting up a dear in a room full of dead squirrels and raccoons. It is demented in that it wants to be taken seriously. It is a little bit scary.
It makes me feel uncomfortable looking at it. People who hurt animals are sick and people who make superheros out of animal murders shouldn't be published. I am ashamed Chronicle Books would support this trash.
eight arms
It is just bizarre that people who seem so damaged by Domestic Violence would think it was ok to allow an abuser to stay as Fire Chief.
Lou Lesperance
The difference was the Lopez's neighbors saw her as a victim whereas Hayes-White's neghbors just thought her husband was a big pussy.
"Michelle Kohlhaas"
Wait, wouldn't the difference be that in the Hayes-White incident, the husband reported TO 911 that he had been struck in the head two times by the fire chief.
In this case, a neighbor (second-hand) reported a confidential account to police.
Based on the distinction, H-W should have been booked.
eight arms
At first I thought she might be kinda cool after all but no, judging from her comic book she is super weird, not a super hero.
Lou Lesperance
Weak.
eight arms
She really should wear cat suits though.
MotherLodeBeth
Ms Lopez is from Venezuelan which is a patriarchic based or male run society, so she may have felt it was wrong for someone to tell the police that her husband Mr. Mirkarimi had hurt her. In Venezuela women probably tell each other stuff like this, because they assume they wont tell anyone else.
But this is the United States and thankfully San Francisco takes these things seriously. And if Mr Mirkarimi did indeed leave bruises on his wife, and has done this before then he should have known better than to even run for Sheriff much less take the oath of office.
Daniele E.
Yes, you might be onto something with the cultural differences. I wouldn't doubt it. I can understand the feeling of betrayal here, but only if there was a tacit understanding between the two that Eliana was only trying to be proactive in case evidence was needed in the future. If it was just 2 isolated incidents, then that doesn't necessarily a pattern make. And none of us truly know the level of violence either, and I am by no means condoning any form of DV by saying this.
But if the above were true, and the arguments really hadn't gotten to a truly disturbing level yet, then it's understandable to feel her anger at it having become "all this". And then I can understand her comments of things being taken out of context.
But Ivory decided she needed to report it. I just hate to see Ivory being disrespected for having done so, if she felt it was the right thing to do.
And now that it's done, I trust the system. I think the authorities are acting cautiously, with everyone's best interest in mind.
I'm hoping for a speedy trial, and if their love is strong, it can withstand this. Sometimes we all need to learn some new skills: "radical acceptance" would be a good one for the couple right now. And if it's shown that anger management is another appropriate one, I hope it gets mastered as well.
Lou Lesperance
This story has been my first interaction with this site.
The "terms of service" edits seem to be a little silly so I'm going to tap out.
I have to say - I am thus far not impressed with "The Bay Citizen."
Stay Gold.
Alex Fraser
All of you bloating about Ivory Madison: I suggest that you look at her Author's Page at Red Room, which she co-founded. Ms. Madison appears to be a most accomplished person, one who might be expected to take her responsibilities as a citizen seriously.
[Macresarf1]
Alex Fraser
For your convenience:
http://redroom.com/member/ivory-madison/bio
[Macresarf1]