Hallinan for D.A.

THE RUNOFF FOR district attorney in San Francisco has been swamped by the surprisingly close mayoral contest between Gavin Newsom and Matt Gonzalez. But while it's not getting much media attention, the second item on the Dec. 9 ballot is also crucial to San Francisco.

Terence Hallinan, the eight-year incumbent, has never lived up to his full promise as the nation's most progressive district attorney. He never conducted a real investigation into Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s theft of the public power election in 2002. He allowed John J. Tennison and Antoine Goff to sit in prison for years despite clear evidence that they were framed by the S.F. cops and prosecutors for a murder they didn't commit.

But Hallinan has made some real progress in advancing a progressive law-enforcement agenda. He's vastly increased the number of nonviolent offenders who get sent to diversion programs instead of prison sentences (saving the city millions of dollars in the process). He's refused to treat homelessness and poverty as crimes. He has made real efforts to take on political corruption cases (although he could have done more). He's a national leader in the fight for medical marijuana. And at least he tried to go after the cops who covered up Fajitagate and thus helped put police reform on the public agenda.

His runoff opponent, Kamala Harris, is running as a liberal and is a competent prosecutor. But her ethical lapses – particularly her decision to violate her own pledge and break the campaign-spending limit – are troubling. More important, she's a close political ally of Mayor Willie Brown, a product of his political machine, and a beneficiary of his patronage. That means she can never be trusted to fulfill the independent watchdog role of an elected D.A. in a town riddled with political corruption. In an endorsement interview with us, Harris refused to criticize anything Brown has done and could not cite a single ethical problem in the Mayor's Office. That's just outrageous. If Gavin Newsom is elected mayor, and Harris is the new D.A., it will give the old machine operatives free reign at City Hall.

Vote for Hallinan.