Three cities in San Mateo County this week formally endorsed Measure A, a poll initiative that may enable the Board of Supervisors to take away embattled Sheriff Christina Corpus if handed by voters in a March particular election.
Belmont, Redwood Metropolis, and South San Francisco are the newest cities to take an official stance in opposition to Sheriff Corpus. The cities of San Carlos, Millbrae, and San Mateo have every beforehand taken a place of no confidence in Corpus.
Requires Corpus to resign arose after a 400-page investigation into her administration was launched in November, containing findings of abuse of energy, retaliation, and intimidation in her workplace.
The Board of Supervisors at the moment doesn’t have the authority to take away the sheriff or every other elected official, in order that they moved to place it on the poll and produce it to the voters.
Requires Corpus to resign got here swiftly following the discharge of the report, however she has been steadfast in her promise to remain put. She has stated the assaults on her are politically motivated as a result of she is a feminine sheriff up towards a gaggle of officers who’re a part of a “good ol’ boys club.”
With Corpus refusing to step down, the county moved ahead with holding a particular election set for March 4 wherein voters will determine on Measure A. It’s a constitution modification that will grant the board momentary energy to take away the sheriff for causes similar to violation of regulation associated to a Sheriff’s duties and misappropriation of public funds.
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus chatting with the Board of Supervisors who have been discussing the best way to take away Corpus from workplace following a scathing investigation on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024 in Redwood Metropolis, Calif. (Alise Maripuu/Bay Metropolis Information)
Every metropolis council shared comparable causes for supporting Measure A, saying that the unfavorable results of a sheriff’s workplace in shambles trickle down to each metropolis within the county.
“When the county’s law enforcement system is failing, it doesn’t just impact the sheriff’s department,” stated Belmont Mayor Julia Mates throughout Tuesday’s assembly. “It impacts the entire county, including Belmont.”
Though Belmont, Redwood Metropolis, and South San Francisco have their very own police departments, they nonetheless work carefully with the Sheriff’s Workplace and depend on it for sure regulation enforcement providers.
“Our police force closely interacts with the Sheriff’s Department,” stated Redwood Metropolis councilmember Diane Howard throughout Monday’s metropolis council assembly. “Our citizens may interact with Sheriff’s Department staff on the roads within Redwood City and in our unincorporated neighborhoods.”
Most councilmembers from every metropolis agreed that eradicating Corpus to stop additional disarray within the Sheriff’s Workplace is an pressing matter that can’t stall.
“Measure A is an opportunity for us to cease the harm that continues to happen and continues to be perpetrated in the Sheriff’s Office,” stated Redwood Metropolis Mayor Elmer Martinez-Saballos at Monday’s metropolis council assembly. “That’s why we need this extraordinary measure.”
“I don’t believe that we should be holding San Mateo County hostage by waiting,” stated South San Francisco metropolis councilmember James Coleman at Wednesday’s assembly.
“Measure A is an opportunity for us to cease the harm that continues to happen and continues to be perpetrated in the Sheriff’s Office.”
Redwood Metropolis Mayor Elmer Martinez-Saballos
As for Corpus, she thinks that metropolis councils shouldn’t be taking official stances on issues on the county stage, she wrote in a press release.
“While collaboration between city and county leadership is essential to our shared success, it is both inappropriate and counterproductive for city officials to engage in politically motivated attacks on county matters–particularly against the highest elected law enforcement official in the county,” Corpus stated.
Councilmembers in Redwood Metropolis unanimously voted in help of endorsing Measure A, besides Jeff Gee, who recused himself as a result of he’s a board member of a nonprofit that has contracts with the Sheriff’s Workplace.
All 5 metropolis councilmembers in Belmont agreed to endorse it.
In South San Francisco, Vice Mayor Mark Addiego was the only real opponent who voted towards supporting the decision of endorsement. It nonetheless handed with a majority vote.
‘A daytime soap opera’
Whereas he’s appalled by the scenario within the Sheriff’s Workplace, Addiego discovered the 400-page report back to be lackluster and was skeptical that lots of the allegations within the report got here from one particular person.
“When I read this report, it reminded me of a daytime soap opera,” he stated. “Everything that I read left me scratching my head.”
He questioned why Corpus has not been charged by District Lawyer Stephen Wagstaffe with any of the crimes she is accused of.
“Where is D.A. Wagstaffe? When are charges brought? If there’s some criminality here, why haven’t we heard from that?” he stated.
The creator of the investigative report into Corpus, retired Choose LaDoris Cordell, instructed that the sheriff resign, however didn’t explicitly level out any criminality.
In her report, Cordell interviewed about 40 present and former staff on the Sheriff’s Workplace and concluded, “Lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority are all the hallmarks of the Corpus administration. Corpus should step down.”
One other certainly one of his considerations is the opportunity of future litigation introduced towards the county if the Board of Supervisors removes her as an elected Sheriff. He thinks the easiest way to maneuver ahead and keep away from potential lawsuits is to carry a recall election.
“If the measure passes, then the Board of Supervisors is going to remove her from office. But it may not be over,” Addegio stated. “If we have a recall and the voters remove her from office, it’s over.”
