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by Joe Eskenazi<\/a> <\/strong>August 31, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/missionlocal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_1477-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1\")
Brad Chapin alleges<\/a> that aspirational District 8 supervisor Manny Yekutiel sexually assaulted<\/a> him six years ago. Yekutiel denies this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission Local<\/em> did not publish articles about Chapin\u2019s claim against Yekutiel, which would be our procedure with most any single-sourced claim against any candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But when Chapin on Wednesday<\/a> stood before the members of San Francisco\u2019s Democratic Party during an endorsement meeting and described the process it used to \u201cinvestigate\u201d his allegation as a sham, that was a far less controversial claim. This process was<\/em> a sham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve spoken to half a dozen members of the local Democratic Party, across the spectrum of local political ideology, and that\u2019s how they feel, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco\u2019s Democratic Party in 2024 created<\/a> its own \u201cCode of Conduct and Policies for Sexual Assault and Harassment\u201d in the wake of disturbing allegations being leveled at local Democratic politicos \u2014 most notably Mission District leader Jon Jacobo<\/a>, who is presently being prosecuted<\/a> on rape charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Members of the local Democratic Party risked repetitive stress injuries over the level of back-patting they self-applied over creating that code of conduct: The party\u2019s website lists more than a dozen articles<\/a> documenting its professed campaign to take on alleged political malefactors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2024 letter<\/a> from party chair Nancy Tung unmistakably refers to Jacobo and former Latinx Democratic Club president Kevin Ortiz<\/a> as the impetus for this action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The code of conduct was expediently spun up and enacted, to great fanfare. At last, we were led to believe, the scourge of alleged predators and harassers lurking within San Francisco political circles would be addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not since the America\u2019s Cup<\/a> have San Francisco officials so overpromised and underdelivered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Democratic Party\u2019s much-vaunted code of conduct, it turns out, is narrowly applicable. Not only did it not cover whatever did or didn\u2019t happen between Chapin and Yekutiel, it wouldn\u2019t even have applied to Jacobo \u2014 who, again, has been charged with rape by the district attorney and is being criminally prosecuted.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf Jon was seeking an endorsement, and I went to the Democratic Party and reported what happened to me, they would say that was also outside their jurisdiction,\u201d said Sasha Perigo, one of Jacobo\u2019s accusers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Discover pottery in a new light at Artillery Ceramics! Engage in pottery classes, workshops, and more. Dive into clay foraging, wheel throwing, and sculpting in San Francisco. Join today for an immersive artistic experience!Local \u2022 Creative \u2022 EngagingStart this week<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ortiz, meanwhile, was never prosecuted, nor were any of the accusations of alleged unwanted behavior<\/a> officially substantiated. Regardless, these, too, would not have come under the aegis of the Democratic Party\u2019s new dictum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s because the local Democratic Party code of conduct<\/a> governing inappropriate sexual conduct only covers what happens at official party or chartered Democratic club meetings or connected official events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blessedly, most meetings do not feature this manner of behavior. Most official events don\u2019t, either, though this would seem to cover someone misbehaving at, say, a club holiday gathering or a symposium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The code of conduct is certainly not applicable to Chapin\u2019s allegation that he was assaulted in someone\u2019s private home, years before Yekutiel was an office-seeker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The much-ballyhooed policy does not cover people working in City Hall, on campaigns, at nonprofits or pretty much anywhere that isn\u2019t under the umbrella of the local Democratic Party and its chartered clubs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And, as Perigo notes, that\u2019s not how sexual assault and harassment typically work. Even if people meet at official clubs or events, the Democratic Party\u2019s reach does not extend to time they spend in bars, in taxis, in homes \u2014 or anywhere that isn\u2019t somehow tied to an official meeting or event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we\u2019ve established that if you disobey Robert\u2019s Rules of Order and sexually assault someone in plain view of multiple witnesses at a Democratic Club meeting or official event, the code of conduct has you dead to rights. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In less straightforward cases, it\u2019s of little use. So, that\u2019s a problem. But there were also problems in not just the conception and formulation of the code of conduct, but how its application unfolded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To wit, when Chapin first registered a complaint with the Democratic Party in early 2026, nothing happened. For months<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, we need to briefly outline how this works, or is at least supposed to work. The investigatory process for charges of sexual misconduct has, by intention, been separated from the actual Democratic Party, and is carried out by volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Democratic Party seems to feel that, given the chance, its members couldn\u2019t help but interfere with such a sensitive matter \u2014 so it must, by design, sequester the people responsible for overseeing sexual assault complaints. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That may be true. But it also leads to opacity. Even members of the Democratic Party\u2019s own Committee on Sexual Assault and Harassment say they do not know who actually carried out the investigation of Chapin\u2019s accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the event of trouble \u2014 like not contacting a complainant for months \u2014 there\u2019s no way to demand accountability. And we\u2019ve got trouble<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how things ought to go<\/a>, according to the code of conduct. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A complaint to the Democratic Party is first fielded by a volunteer\/pro bono ombudsperson. This individual determines if the complaint falls under the (very narrow) scope of the code of conduct. If so, an investigation is launched. And, finally, the investigator\u2019s report is submitted to the volunteer\/pro bono judicial committee, which creates a three-member adjudication panel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We know the chair of the judicial committee is a woman named Gina M. Roccanova, because she signed her name to the one-page summation<\/a> disseminated to Democratic Party members on Aug. 26, only hours before the District 8 endorsement vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But nobody seems to know who the ombudsperson was; again, not even members of the Democratic Party\u2019s own Committee on Sexual Assault and Harassment. And when they asked, we hear they were told it was not their business to know.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our messages to party chair Nancy Tung and executive director Bobak Esfandiari asking that question were not returned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s why that matters: Remember, it\u2019s the ombudsperson\u2019s job to determine if a complaint falls within the purview of the code of conduct. Since Chapin\u2019s complaint is so clearly outside the code\u2019s narrow scope, this is a determination that should\u2019ve been made quickly \u2014 within days, maybe hours. But that didn\u2019t happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Democratic Party made its supervisor endorsements in mid-July. But not in District 8, because of the outstanding complaint. Instead, in mid-July, Chapin was contacted for an interview about his allegations by an attorney with the law firm Gibson Dunn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And Roccanova\u2019s Aug. 26 letter mentions that \u201can Adjudication Panel convened on Aug. 25, 2026, to review the investigator\u2019s findings of fact and make a determination about whether a violation of the code of conduct occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t know who the ombudsperson was, and we certainly don\u2019t know what the hell they were thinking initiating a five-week process to determine what should\u2019ve been evident in moments: This complaint doesn\u2019t fall under the code of conduct, because almost nothing does. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, one day before the delayed endorsement vote, the panel reached that belated conclusion. Its terse writeup<\/a> noted that, since the code was not applicable, \u201cthe accusation cannot be substantiated.\u201d But also: \u201cThis is not a determination on the merits of whether a sexual assault occurred.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This memo was neither damning nor exonerating. It was nothing: Voting members of the Democratic Party were, after all that time, given absolutely zero new or useful information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is mystifying why this delay was allowed to occur and just what the hell was being done over those many weeks. Members of the local party, on the day of a vote, were handed a half-page letter announcing that an investigation determined only that there needn\u2019t be an investigation, and they then buttressed that vote based upon the outcome of \u201cthe investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is something you\u2019d expect to see in \u201cDeath of Stalin,<\/a>\u201d not a Viz Valley community center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapin, on Wednesday, was dumbfounded. \u201cI went to your attorneys,\u201d he told the party. \u201cI asked him explicitly if this was a waste of my time because none of this happened at a Democratic Party event. And you knew that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Democratic Party ultimately endorsed Manny Yekutiel<\/a>. And that is its prerogative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It would have been fanciful to posit that any<\/em> investigation by the Democratic Party would\u2019ve truly gotten to the bottom of a six-year-old accusation with no independent witnesses that the police could not crack using a wire<\/a>. Was the Democratic Party going to fire up the Mystery Machine and hunt for clues? Everyone should\u2019ve been clear-headed about that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the process the party undertook was indefensible \u2014 and not just useless, but worse than useless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether or not you believe the claims of Brad Chapin, he was, clearly, in public agony during the course of Wednesday\u2019s meeting. The Democratic Party sent a clear message to him and to anyone who\u2019d think to come forward with a complaint. And it is emphatically not the message it triumphally proclaimed just two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is reckless to design a system so poorly, because the evidence will be used to invalidate survivors,\u201d says Perigo. \u201cI think the Democratic Party should\u2019ve been honest about its capacity to fact-find in a situation in which, very likely, there were no facts to be found. Especially after police had already investigated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt best, it was a waste of the survivor\u2019s time,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd, at worst, it does more damage than doing nothing at all.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n When a San Francisco neighborhood has a Mission Local<\/em> reporter, it means someone is there<\/strong>. We\u2019re following new housing projects proposed on your block, keeping tabs on what your district supervisor is up to at City Hall, and letting you know when longtime businesses close (and new ones open). When big news breaks, we already know the context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most neighborhoods don\u2019t have that. Yours could. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what Mission Local<\/em> is building. <\/strong>Our reporters don\u2019t parachute in \u2014 they write consistently on San Francisco, so you\u2019re never reading about your neighborhood from someone who just looked it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far we are in five of San Francisco\u2019s neighborhoods. But we know all San Franciscans deserve our kind of coverage. Will you join us?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Put a reporter on your block!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe is a columnist and the managing editor of Mission Local. He was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour humble narrator\u201d was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.More by Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two years after tough talk about confronting sexual misconduct, the S.F. Dems\u2019 process has proven to be a farce by Joe Eskenazi August 31, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) Brad Chapin alleges that aspirational District 8 supervisor Manny Yekutiel sexually assaulted him six years ago. Yekutiel denies this. Mission Local did not publish articles about Chapin\u2019s claim against Yekutiel, which… Continue reading ![\"San](\"https:\/\/cdn.broadstreetads.com\/assets\/3b1292fb-fcd1-4363-870b-300ee3d3fff9.png\")
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Unleash Your Creativity at Artillery Ceramics!<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe won\u2019t ignore your neighborhood<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Latest News<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s on now at San Francisco museums, September 2026<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nS.F. supervisor seeks to bar evictions for less than a month\u2019s unpaid rent<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nS.F. is poised to spend $33M more on OpenGov. It\u2019s still only handling basic permits. <\/a><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Joe EskenaziManaging Editor\/Columnist<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n