Free Republic

Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi convincingly lost his bid for re-election Tuesday after spending months in the national spotlight as the face of his city's controversial "sanctuary city" policy on illegal immigration. Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Henessy had received 63 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi and his office received heavy criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San...

In a shocking end to the melodrama that has consumed San Francisco City Hall for the past nine months, the Board of Supervisors bucked Mayor Ed Lee late Tuesday night by giving suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi his job back. Four members of the board rejected Lee's call that Mirkarimi be permanently removed for committing official misconduct, an allegation that stemmed from a New Year's Eve fight with his wife for which he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment. Lee needed nine of the 11 supervisors' votes to oust Mirkarimi. Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, Jane Kim...

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in connection with an incident in which he allegedly inflicted a bruise on his wife. In exchange, San Francisco prosecutors dropped a domestic violence charge and two other misdemeanor counts filed in January against Mirkarimi, 50. Mirkarimi was still serving on the Board of Supervisors at the time of the New Year's Eve incident inside the couple's Western Addition home. He was sworn in as sheriff about a week later. Under the plea agreement, Mirkarimi will be sentenced next Monday to three years' probation, one...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home. But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things. "If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now," Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said.

When suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi first came under investigation for domestic violence against his wife, he had to surrender his guns. But police investigators had a hard time obtaining them from Mirkarimi, who may have misled investigators about their whereabouts, according to documents filed in his official misconduct hearings. As a member of the Board of Supervisors, the progressive stalwart consistently favored gun control. He once drew court opposition from the National Rifle Association over a move to strengthen The City’s rules for handguns in homes. Yet when it was time to surrender his guns, Mirkarimi didn’t immediately hand them...

Mayor Ed Lee has suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi without pay while he awaits an ethics hearing on whether he should be permanently removed from office. The suspension came a day after Mirkarimi was sentenced to probation and counseling as a result of pleading guilty to false imprisonment in a high-profile domestic violence case involving his wife. Just hours after Monday’s sentencing, the mayor met with Mirkarimi and gave him a day to contemplate resigning, but the sheriff said Tuesday his conviction is not grounds for removal. “He has chosen not to resign, and now I must act,” Lee solemnly told...

Mayor Ed Lee is suspending Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi from his post, the first step toward removing him from office permanently for official misconduct. "He has chosen not to resign and now I must act," Lee said in a 5 p.m. news conference today. He said the sheriff's actions "fell below the standard of decency and good faith" needed for public officials. Mirkarimi pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment for an incident involving his wife on New Year's Eve. Lee named Vicki Hennessy to serve as interim sheriff. Hennessy last ran the Department of Emergency Management...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is refusing to resign, his lawyer told the Associated Press, despite Mayor Ed Lee's ultimatum that he step down or be ousted in an ethics probe. A spokesman with the mayor's office said Lee will address the issue later in the day, and reporters have gathered at the San Francisco sheriff's office after being told Mirkarimi will also make a statement today. Attorney Lidia Stiglich told the AP that Mirkarimi was asked by Lee to step down after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment. "I'm not aware of...

San Francisco -- Mayor Ed Lee gave embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi until no later than 5 p.m. today to resign or face an official misconduct charge and the possible forced removal from office, sources told The Chronicle today. Mirkarimi was sentenced Monday to three years probation, a year's worth of domestic violence intervention classes and other penalties for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment of his wife. He met with Lee from 4 to 4:30 p.m. Monday in the mayor's office, where he was given 24 hours to make up his mind, the sources said....

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mayor Ed Lee gave embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi until 4 p.m. today to resign or face an official misconduct charge and the possible forced removal from office, sources told The Chronicle today. Mirkarimi was sentenced Monday to three years probation, a year's worth of domestic violence intervention classes and other penalties for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment of his wife. He met with Lee at 4 p.m. Monday in the mayor's office, where he was given 24 hours to make up his mind, the sources said. The mayor's office said Lee...

BELLEVUE, WA – The plea deal announced this morning that allows anti-gun San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi keep his guns in what began as a domestic violence case “smacks of hypocrisy at the highest order,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. Mirkarimi pleaded guilty in San Francisco court this morning to what the San Francisco Chronicle described as “a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in connection with an incident in which he allegedly inflicted a bruise on his wife.” “As a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Ross Mirkarimi supported all...

The domestic-violence case against San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi did not start with a call from wife Eliana Lopez, or neighbors who heard a fight getting out of control at the family's home on New Year's Eve day. It started with a Jan. 4 phone call to police from a friend and neighbor, Ivory Madison, whom Lopez had visited on New Year's Day. According to a police affidavit, Madison videotaped Lopez crying and showing a bruise on her upper right arm, caused, Lopez said, by her husband grabbing her. Last month, District Attorney George Gascón filed misdemeanor charges against Mirkarimi...

“Although San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was a strong advocate of gun control while on the Board of Supervisors, he surrendered 3 handguns when police recently booked him on misdemeanor domestic violence charges,” KCBS reports. Mirkarimi apparently owned them while sponsoring legislation last summer to bolster San Francisco gun control laws against a lawsuit by the National Rifle Association. “Mirkarimi was elected sheriff in November after serving seven years as one of the city's more liberal supervisors,” Fox News tells us. Indeed, “As a longtime member of the progressive bloc on the Board of Supervisors, Mirkarimi was a vocal advocate...

It's looking likely that San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will file misdemeanor domestic violence charges against newly sworn-in Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. Prosecutors are "convinced this is very real," said a source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. The case stems from a New Year's Eve incident in which Mirkarimi allegedly grabbed his wife - former Venezuelan telenovela star Eliana Lopez - with enough force to leave a bruise. Lopez has said publicly that she has no complaint against her husband and that the incident had been taken "out of context." Mirkarimi's attorney, Robert Waggener, said Tuesday that the sheriff...

The execution of Crips Gang founder and convicted murderer Stanley “Tookie” Williams on December 12th generated an inordinate amount of hysteria from anti-death penalty forces, not to mention the mainstream media coverage, which, as always, skewed leftward. The vigil that took place outside San Quentin on the night of Williams’ execution was attended by such ubiquitous liberal celebrities as actor Mike Farrell, folksinger Joan Baez, and professional race-baiter Jesse Jackson. Brows were beaten, tears were shed, and Governor Schwarzenegger was lambasted for denying Williams clemency. Apparently, all it takes is writing (or more likely having ghost-written) several children’s books and...