Politicians get a lot of shit, and they generally deserve it. But I have to say: After listening to almost all of the debate over the removal of Ross Mirkarimi -- and watching the 4-7 vote to keep him in office -- I was impressed by the supervisors who got it right, took it seriously and provided thoughful and credible debate.Read more »

By Evelyn Nieves

For months, I’ve watched as Ross Mirkarimi has been slandered as a “wife beater”—by the mayor of San Francisco, no less—and vilified in the press based on lies, half-truths and innuendo.  It has been heart-breaking, nauseating, to witness.

I know for a fact that Ross is no abuser. He and I were a couple for eight years. For most of that time, we lived together. Not once did Ross even come close to making me feel unsafe in his presence. He never threatened me. He would walk away or cry “uncle” rather than argue. He simply had no stomach for it.Read more »

It's no suprise that lawyers for suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi are calling a recent poll biased. The poll, paid for by a group of local women, many of whom have been in the forefront of the efforts to remove Mirkarimi from office, found that 61 percent of people wanted the sheriff ousted. Read more »

The Ethics Commission is expected to rule by the end of the day Aug. 16 on whether to recommend Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi be removed from office.

The final legal arguments are over, and much of the discussion was around the technicalities of the law: What is official misconduct -- and does the conduct in question have to be related to official duties? Does it have to occur when the official is in office? There were also factual disputes over whether Mirkarimi was involved in witness intimidation and whether the mayor properly used his discretion in suspending the sheriff.Read more »

What’s going to happen to Mayor Ed Lee?

That’s the big question after a series of news reports have suggested that the mayor was less-than truthful under oath in his statements to the Ethics Commission. If he actually lied on the stand, that would be considered perjury, which is a felony.Read more »

KGO's Dan Noyes flew to Caracas, Venezuela to interview the wife of embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, and while her comments haven't made anywhere near the media splash that most scraps of information on this sordid tale create, it's very much worth watching the video. Check it out here.Read more »

By Debra Walker and Krissy Keefer

We have been shocked and saddened by the perpetual attack on Ross Mikarimi and his family.

To Ross’s credit, he took responsibility in the criminal case he faced, and accepted a plea bargain to a non-domestic-violence misdemeanor that the district attorney concluded served the interests of justice.Read more »

Virtually unmentioned in the torrent of words that have flowed over the Ross Mirkarimi false imprisonment, suspension and pending vote to determine his removal by the Board of Supervisors is any reference to what should now be the most important issue to be considered as the sad saga unfolds: the fact that Mirkarimi was, just four months before his removal, elected by a majority vote and his removal from office would simply set aside that vote, diminishing all of our cherished beliefs about "majority rule."Read more »

If Mayor Ed Lee thinks that a person who pled guilty to false imprisonment can't do the job of San Francisco sheriff, he's welcome to say that. He would hardly be alone in that position, and it's one that a fair number of progressives support.

But I didn't know whether to laugh or puke when I heard his statement on the suspension:

Sheriff Mirkarimi's actions and confession of guilt clearly fall below these standards of decency and good faith, rightly required of all public officials.Read more »

The drama that hordes of reporters were waiting for didn't happen. District Attorney George Gascon's threat to "bring up" at Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's sentencing the notion that Mirkarimi didn't really think he was guilty vanished. Read more »