{"id":22713,"date":"2022-06-08T14:44:27","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T21:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22713"},"modified":"2022-06-08T14:44:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T21:44:28","slug":"da-chesa-boudin-recalled-san-francisco-voters-message-to-america-this-is-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/06\/08\/da-chesa-boudin-recalled-san-francisco-voters-message-to-america-this-is-us\/","title":{"rendered":"DA Chesa Boudin recalled. San Francisco voters\u2019 message to America: This is us."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Out-of-town media with their elbow on the pulse of San Francisco prepare to tell us what the recall of DA Chesa Boudin *really* means<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI<\/a><\/strong> JUNE 8, 2022Print (missionlocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CLICK HERE FOR SAN FRANCISCO RESULTS, ANALYSIS, MAPS AND GRAPHICS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco is a mid-sized North American city. It has almost exactly the same population as Columbus, Ohio. It\u2019s about 15 percent larger than Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those two cities, for good or ill<\/a>, don\u2019t captivate the national imagination. But this one does. You don\u2019t hear about \u201cColumbus values\u201d or a \u201cWinnipeg liberal,\u201d but \u201cSan Francisco\u201d does serve as a modifier. \u201cSan Francisco\u201d is a metonym<\/a>. Things happen everywhere, but in San Francisco, Things Matter. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, in 2014, four Smart cars were tipped over in San Francisco in the course of a week and it became fodder<\/a> for international news stories. And that was odd: People flip over Smart cars enough there\u2019s even a term for it: \u201cSmart tipping<\/a>.\u201d All it takes are large men, small cars, too much alcohol and not enough brainpower; San Francisco\u2019s hilly streets probably help, too.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those stories searched for deeper meanings behind all this. Because in San Francisco, Things Matter; <\/em>surely, this Means Something.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the present day, veteran city operatives backed by oodles of cash from extremely wealthy funders and their PAC have managed to tip over<\/a> San Francisco\u2019s progressive district attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fervent behavior on display in the weeks leading up to the election, voters writ large were not worked up: Turnout was paltry. Low turnout was actually probably the last remaining hope for DA Chesa Boudin, as he polled best with high-information, high-propensity voters. But there weren\u2019t enough of them to save the DA: With nearly 128,000 votes tallied (26 percent turnout), he trails by almost exactly a 60-40 split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to foresee knowledgeable and grounded reactions from out-of-town publications \u2014 not when two of the big ones have already burnished the liberal bona fides of one of this city\u2019s most prolific establishment kneecappers<\/a>, or centered a story around the worldview of a clownish GOP mayoral contender<\/a>, whom it erroneously credited for qualifying the recall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, San Francisco dumping its progressive DA Means Something. <\/em>But it doesn\u2019t mean everything, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily validate the pre-existing worldviews of authoritarian TV hosts or Substack opinion-havers for whom San Francisco serves as an allegory, concept and modifier more than as a city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Franciscans\u2019 hearty rejection of Boudin Means Something, <\/em>and says something about the state of criminal justice reform and limits of liberalism. But, in the end, it says more about San Francisco. More on that in a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also: The better the Chesa Boudin recall does, the worse the $400 million Muni bond will do.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start with, any claim that San Francisco voters rejected Boudin\u2019s policies or ideals would first require San Franciscans to have accepted them. There is no indication this ever occurred: Boudin, in 2019, won with a plurality of first-place votes in a razor-thin ranked-choice contest in a low-turnout election aided in no small part by the mayor\u2019s heavy handed appointment<\/a> of his main rival to the vacant DA post. That was crass: An operative in a rival campaign told me at the time, \u201cif Chesa wins, this is why.<\/a>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, that happened. And, as we wrote in 2019<\/a>, it was unclear if San Francisco voters were enthralled by Boudin\u2019s ideas, or simply rewarded the best-run campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boudin triumphed, with 36 percent of first-place votes in an election that only featured 42-percent turnout. But he governed as if he had a mandate. He never had a coalition comprising 50+1 percent of the electorate, and cementing one was not a goal. And that left Boudin vulnerable to a recall \u2014 and, once one made the ballot aided by bottomless wells of cash distributed via a veritable matryoshka<\/a> of political action committees<\/a>, Boudin was behind the eight-ball. There were no opponents to run against \u2014 Larry Elder will not become DA after Boudin leaves office \u2014 and this DA never had majority support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reject Boudin\u2019s ideas, voters would also have to, you know, reject his ideas. <\/em>For what it\u2019s worth, Boudin\u2019s ideas polled better than Boudin. Multiple surveys revealed pluralities or majorities of San Francisco voters support many of Boudin\u2019s signature liberal policies<\/a>. Despite the persistent drum beat of out-of-control crime sold by the recall campaign, crime is more rampant in municipalities overseen by traditional, law-and-order DAs. One of them, Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert, was on the ballot, running for Attorney General. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As June 7 wound down, Schubert had 7.6 percent of the vote statewide, and was the choice of 6.8 percent of San Franciscans. (While we\u2019re at it, populist gubernatorial hopeful Michael Shellenberger polled more like a nothingburger: He captured 3.3 percent of the vote statewide and 4.4 percent here in San Francisco).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is San Francisco a template for other cities or states with vulnerable prosecutors? Possibly, but the bar to qualify a recall in San Francisco \u2014 signatures from 10 percent of the electorate \u2014 is about as low as it is anywhere, making this city an outlier. And if the pro-recall forces end up spending $8 million to $10 million to win a majority of votes in an election where only 140,000 or so people bother to return their ballots, the cost-per-vote will be prohibitive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, the introspection here should be local, as much, or more, than global. San Francisco voters like to think of themselves as liberal, but were, in large part, swayed by a fear-based campaign not so different than the Willie Horton ads Lee Atwater cooked up in 1988. Symposiums could be taught regarding how to convince voters that the district attorney is the problem in a city where the police arrest rate is historically low<\/a>, and has been for years<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Franciscans are not wholly<\/em> rejecting reform, but it\u2019s hard to foresee even our \u201cliberal\u201d voters reacting poorly to a future DA announcing he or she is going to aggressively prosecute and incarcerate dope dealers, serial car thieves, etc. And that tracks: When it comes to bringing our own bags to the grocery store or marching in the streets to protest abortion crackdowns in Alabama, San Francisco is solidly blue. But, when it comes to less clear-cut and closer-to-home issues, like criminal justice reform, San Francisco voters indicate they like the concept of them \u2014 but, it seems, only so long as they remain conceptual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were to look at the professed interests of voters in Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s district on this handy dandy feature<\/a>, you\u2019ll find that police reform is a low priority. Perhaps that would\u2019ve been different in the summer of George Floyd two years ago, but San Francisco has moved on; the Black Lives Matter posters are sun-bleached and neglected in the windows of the city\u2019s $2 million homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is African American, never really defunded the police, but now she doesn\u2019t even have to bother with any budgeting sleight-of-hand to even pretend we\u2019re doing so. She\u2019s going all-in on hiring more <\/em>police and raising <\/em>their budget, and recently tapped the police department strategist<\/a> to fill a vacant supervisor slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the issues that most bedevil San Francisco voters are actually under the aegis of the mayor, not the DA, but it\u2019s the DA who will be recalled for them. He has served as a most effective human shield, and when he\u2019s gone, likely by month\u2019s end, the mayor will name his replacement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This city\u2019s voters have moved on because they can afford to, physically and metaphysically. Many San Franciscans now seem to simultaneously desire the vibrancy of a big city, but expect the safety and security of the suburban towns where they grew up. And there is simply not a strong base of African American voters here who would form a natural constituency to elect, and re-elect, a reform DA, as there is elsewhere. In Philadelphia, where DA Larry Krasner won re-election with nearly 70 percent of the vote, African Americans make up some 40 percent of the population. That\u2019s around eight times the proportion of San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these voters, the effects of aggressive, punitive policing and prosecution is no theory. That\u2019s their families that have been broken up, their relatives who have been incarcerated. For generations, the success of a DA was essentially gauged in how effectively he or she could do this.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the same night San Francisco recalled its progressive DA, a progressive prosecutor took the lead <\/a>in Alameda County, a far more populous county than San Francisco, where violent crime well and truly is<\/em> a problem, both statistically as well as anecdotally. The police-endorsed DA candidate is losing<\/a> to a progressive in Contra Costa County as well. Schubert, again, finished a distant fourth in the AG race. But, apparently, \u201cCalifornia sent Democrats and the nation a message on crime<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In San Francisco, meanwhile, the last Black neighborhood is the county jail. And that\u2019s the way things were before <\/em>we recalled the progressive DA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, again, is the city whose very name is a stand-in for liberal values. And, when you think about it, that Means Something.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out-of-town media with their elbow on the pulse of San Francisco prepare to tell us what the recall of DA Chesa Boudin *really* means by\u00a0JOE ESKENAZI JUNE 8, 2022Print (missionlocal.org) CLICK HERE FOR SAN FRANCISCO RESULTS, ANALYSIS, MAPS AND GRAPHICS San Francisco is a mid-sized North American city. It has… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22713"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22715,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22713\/revisions\/22715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}