San Francisco's progressive DA likely headed for recall

[RandySF]

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A campaign to oust one of the nation’s most progressive prosecutors will likely go to San Francisco voters next year after recall supporters submitted far more signatures than needed to qualify for the ballot on Friday.

Three days before the Oct. 25 deadline, organizers of a campaign to recall San Francisco’s criminal justice reform-minded district attorney Chesa Boudin submitted 83,000 signatures — 32,000 more than are required — to the San Francisco Department of Elections.

If at least 51,000 signatures are verified by city officials within the next 30 days, a special recall election could be held as soon as June of next year.

A former public defender and son of left-wing militants who went to prison when he was 14 months old for a deadly robbery gone wrong, Boudin, 41, ran for DA in 2019 on a platform of promising to end mass incarceration and boost non-prosecution diversion programs.

Within his first few months in office, Boudin made good on his campaign pledges. He eliminated cash bail for defendants with the goal of making pre-trial release determinations based on risk instead of wealth. He ordered the DA’s office to stop applying sentencing enhancements based on gang affiliations, arguing that they contribute to racial disparities in the criminal justice system.



https://www.courthousenews.com/san-franciscos-progressive-da-likely-headed-for-recall/

[JohnSJ]

13. This has to do with the city of SF, not the state, and the issues aren't comparable. The state

recall process definitely needs to be reformed, and require at a minimum of 25% to initiate a recall

[rampartc]

2. the right wingers say that he made shoplifting legal in san francuisco.

is there any truth to that?

[tenderfoot]

5. No.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/San-Francisco-s-shoplifting-panic-desperately-16327614.php

[RandySF]

8. No, but his office has a bad habit of blowing off victims and/or families.

[Walleye]

3. The recall law is now weaponized along with the filibuster

Minority rule is their goal. GOP didn’t waste any time corrupting the election laws after they lost fair and square

[JohnSJ]

15. This is the city of SF, not the state, and the issues are not the same thing

[Walleye]

16. I still think recall election so weird. If they're criminals prosecute, if they're incompetent vote

Vote them out next time,that’s what we have elections scheduled for. I lived in California in the 70s but I was raised and now live in the East Coast. We don’t have a bunch of referendums on our ballots either. So I guess I’m just a little bit prejudiced against it.But if California likes it let them have it

[JohnSJ]

17. In general I agree with you. It was an extremely close election. If it is used it should only

be used for illegal activities.

This is somewhat government by mob rule.

I also am not a fan of the initiative process. That is what representative governments is suppossed be about. Obviously though enough people here in California believe their issues are not adequately being addressed by the legislature.

[marmar]

4. Seems like they should add "vote" to the end of the headline...

.... my initial assumption was that he was about to be recalled.

[madville]

6. 1/3 of the prosecutors have resigned from that office

Since last year, some are actually leading the recall effort. Having recently lived in the SF Bay Area a couple of years (2017-2019) I wouldn’t want to live there if it’s worse now than it was then. The regular random violence on the BART at the time was bad enough, cant’t imagine what it’s like with the criminals knowing they’ll just get booked and released and the DA’s office will just decline to prosecute in most cases.

[Ace Rothstein]

7. Yeah, I don't think this is comparable to the Newsome recall effort.

[JohnSJ]

12. It isn't comparable.

[msfiddlestix]

9. yeah..when it comes to these kinds of changes

a measured approach should have been in play, obviously.

It's really messed up.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Sounds like all those scare stories that Walgreens has been pushing are having an effect!

[JohnSJ]

11. I don't blame them. They have more than enough signatures. This has nothing to do because he

is a progressive, most elected officials in SF are progressive, this is because a large portion of the city do not believe he is up to the job.

That race was an extremely close election

That is how the city set this process up.

The problem with recalls, or impeachment, is that it should only be used if there are illegal activities

[madville]

19. One could argue that a district attorney blatantly refusing

To prosecute criminals under laws that they are sworn to uphold and enforce is a dereliction of their duty. I would consider that an impeachable or recall worthy offense.

[JohnSJ]

20. Is that a violation of law that would be prosecutable though?

[madville]

21. Probably not, but people get fired for things everyday that aren't illegal

There should always be a mechanism to fire any elected official for not performing their job. If voters hire someone, they should have a way to fire someone for not performing.

[JohnSJ]

22. That is the argument, but isn't that what elections are for? If you have enough signatures, not

a majority of the voting public, you can hold another election to effectively invalidate the official election that was held.

It is very prone to abuse, and it has been in our Governor races for sure

I am sure there are a significant number in the populous in SF who believe he is doing just what he promised to do

[kimbutgar]

14. I'm voting no on all the recalls in SF

[Deminpenn]

18. Same thing happened to Larry Krasner in Philly

The FOP and some of the former-DAs that Krasner either pushed out or who left on their own ran a candidate in the Dem primary against him. With Phila being such a heavily Dem city, the primary is often the real election as the winner generally has a walkover in the general election. Krasner won easily.

The same issues surfaced about cash bail and mass incarceration with the same arguments.

There was an Independent Lens documentary "Philly DA" that followed Krasner's first campaign, victory and the major changes he made to the DA's office.