{"id":47462,"date":"2026-04-02T18:39:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47462"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:39:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T01:39:31","slug":"sup-jackie-fielder-hasnt-resigned-and-doesnt-need-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/sup-jackie-fielder-hasnt-resigned-and-doesnt-need-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Sup. Jackie Fielder hasn\u2019t resigned\u2014and doesn\u2019t need to"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Plenty of elected officials have taken time to recover from health problems.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

March 31, 2026 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Sup. Jackie Fielder had cancer, or was in a bicycle accident and needed emergency surgery, I suspect all these rumors and reporters scrambling for the scoop wouldn\u2019t be happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, according to her office, she is having a mental health crisis. That\u2019s pretty common in the US: One out of five adults in this country experience some type of mental health symptoms every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Rivano Barros at Mission Local is a good, honest reporter, and when Fielder was hospitalized and he called her Friday, I\u2019m sure he accurately reported that she said she thought she had to resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sup. Fielder can take time off to get health and come back to her job. Others have.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A person who is in terrible pain often says things without thinking them through. Still, not his fault for reporting what he heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that set off a frenzy of others trying to call her, to call her staff, to confirm or deny: Has she resigned? Has she not resigned? Who will the mayor appoint for her job? What are the political implications?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fielder and her staff\u2014not surprisingly\u2014were in no position to answer those questions or to make any definitive statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns out, Fielder has not resigned, and doesn\u2019t plan to at this point. I got a statement from her office Sunday night saying she<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

will be taking a medical leave of absence, during which time the District 9 office will remain dedicated to meeting the needs of our constituents, neighbors, and community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On matters of her personal health, we respectfully ask the press to give her the privacy and space necessary for healing, and not to report on unsubstantiated rumors. We urge everyone to treat this situation with the same respect and sensitivity as they would if she were recovering from any other medical emergency.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Fielder is an elected official. She can take a leave if she needs one. Former Sup. Michela Alioto took several months off to recover from an injury, and nobody suggested she resign. All I have heard from people in the district (where I live) is expressions of support and care; we want her to get better. Nobody is going to complain that she\u2019s not at City Hall, any more than we would if she was recovering from any other serious health issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am happy to report that most of her colleagues on the board, and the mayor, and everyone I know in D9, has said the right thing: Fielder needs space and time for recovery, and we all need to support her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all also need to be patient. It\u2019s fun to gossip and speculate about politics, but there is nothing to say right now. I know that\u2019s not easy for reporters who want to be the first to get the news, but sometimes, you have to give someone in pain their space and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get well soon, Jackie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here<\/a>. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plenty of elected officials have taken time to recover from health problems. By Tim Redmond March 31, 2026 (48hills.org) If Sup. Jackie Fielder had cancer, or was in a bicycle accident and needed emergency surgery, I suspect all these rumors and reporters scrambling for the scoop wouldn\u2019t be happening. Instead,… 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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47463,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47462\/revisions\/47463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}