On January 8, 2020, District Attorney Chesa Boudin was sworn in and SF progressives rejoiced. Now, less than two years later, Boudin’s critics have mounted a recall election because of his progressive tactics, based on the platform that got him elected.
Boudin was a San Francisco Public Defender when he ran to replace interim DA Suzy Loftus, his opponent in the race. Loftus had been appointed in 2019 by San Francisco Mayor London Breed after SF District Attorney George Gascón resigned to run for DA of Los Angeles.
In the race between Boudin and Loftus, Loftus was seen as the establishment candidate. Boudin energized San Franciscan progressives in a way she could not. He beat Loftus in the close special election.
The role of District Attorney is to serve as the county’s chief law enforcement officer. The DA’s role is to prosecute people who have been accused of breaking a law.
Boudin ran for DA on a platform of prison reform, including pushing restorative justice practices and reducing incarceration.
Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for the Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall said, “The facts are clear: Boudin has prosecuted crimes at the same rate as past DAs.”
photo courtesy of Stand with Chesa
This is untrue according to a report written by Susie Neilson that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 8, 2022. The report states that Boudin’s charging rate is 48% while George Gascón’s (Boudin’s elected predecessor) rates were at 54% during his last two years in office. There are several factors that go into whether a crime is charged including the amount of evidence and personal ideology. Part of the reason why Boudin’s charging rates are lower is because COVID-19 restrictions caused San Francisco’s court system to operate in a restricted way. When the city reopened charging, rates for theft and petty theft both went up. All across California theft arrest rates dropped during the first year of the pandemic.
Those calling for Boudin’s recall use his platform as evidence that he is soft on crime. They complain that under his leadership there have been fewer arrests and there have been increases in vehicle theft and burglary, especially in high-income neighborhoods. The organization San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin claims on its website that Boudin “refuses to adequately prosecute criminals and fails to take drug dealing in our neighborhood streets seriously. He doesn’t hold serial offenders accountable and has released them from custody without consequences. Boudin’s response to victims? ‘Hopefully’ home burglaries will go down.”
Richie Greenberg — a former Republican candidate for mayor and a current organizer and media spokesman with Recall Chesa Boudin — said that his organization was started two days after the death of two women on December 31, 2020. “That was the last straw. San Franciscans are absolutely disgusted by the presence of this asshole Chesa Boudin who has been perpetrating a fraud for two years. He has to be removed.”
According to the website Stand with Chesa, overall crime in SF has dropped by 30% during Boudin’s time in office. Edwards said, “Chesa Boudin ran for District Attorney pledging to reform our criminal justice system, support victims and invest in solutions that prevent crimes from occurring in the first place. Voters agreed. Since he was sworn in, he’s been doing exactly what he promised. In just two years, he’s worked to improve services for victims, end cash bail which penalizes the poorest defendants, treat kids like kids and improve prosecutions of serious crimes.”
According to Neilson’s article in The SF Chronicle, while Boudin has been District Attorney, there has been an increase in rape and narcotics charges and a decrease in lower level crimes including assaults, larceny thefts and robberies. Crime rates during the pandemic years, however, are similar around the country and the DA should not be solely blamed for the amount of crime.
Boudin’s platform was influenced by his childhood and his approach to the role of the justice system in society through his education and experience.
As a child, both of Boudin’s parents were imprisoned for taking part in a failed robbery connected to the radical group the Weather Underground. In the course of the robbery, three men were wounded and two police officers killed. Boudin’s parents drove the getaway car. His mother served 20 years of her 40 years-to-life sentence. His father was recently paroled after 40 years in prison.
Boudin was 14 months old when the heist occurred. His parents drove the getaway cars in the robbery. Boudin was raised in Chicago by friends of his parents.
Boudin went to Yale University, earned two master’s degrees from Oxford University and his J.D. from Yale Law School. He has a distinguished record of clerkships and post law school fellowships, as well as serving as a San Francisco Public Defender.
Boudin’s supporters push the notion that the recall effort is Republican led and funded. Edwards endorsed this argument saying, “Republican activists and their allies have targeted Boudin in an expensive and unnecessary recall. These are the same tactics we’ve seen in many other places as those who lost the last election attempt a do-over. Deep-pocketed conservative donors should not be able to force endless recalls as they tried to do with Governor Newsom and are now attempting to do with Boudin.”
However, the group behind the recall submitted 83,484 signatures to the Department of Elections. There are only 33,000 registered Republicans in San Francisco. The recall petition garnered well over two times that number of signatures.
The biggest donor to the recall campaign is David Sacks. Sacks is a venture capitalist who until 2016 was a Republican donor. Then, in 2016 he donated to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). In 2017 he donated to Gavin Newsom and in 2018 the Democratic midterm fund. During the pandemic, however, Sacks was a major donor and supporter of the Newsom recall. He has also donated to Govern for California which has supported many Republican candidates.
On November 9, it was announced that the recall election will take place on June 7, 2022.
If the recall effort is successful, San Francisco Mayor London Breed will appoint someone to replace Boudin until a regular election can be held next November.
