San Francisco voters recalled far-left District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Tuesday, as expected. What wasn’t expected is that the margin of his recall was nearly twice what polls had forecast: Instead of being recalled by 10 points, the margin was closer to 20.
This reflects the frustration voters had over Boudin’s determination to “reform” the DA’s office into a safe harbor for repeat criminals. He lied when he tried to cover his intentions with words such as “equity” and eliminating the “legacy” of “mass incarceration.” He promised reform, and San Franciscans got it, good and hard.
Boudin began by releasing criminals from prison on the pretext of limiting the spread of Covid. He eliminated cash bail for what he called “minor” offenses. He failed to prosecute criminals. He worked hard to empty prisons by reviewing the convictions of many serving time.
The results were predictably catastrophic: Property crimes soared, along with open drug use. Car and home break-ins jumped. Homicides rose. Panhandling increased. Homelessness and the related squalid conditions he inherited got worse.
As EMC Research noted, burglaries spiked by 49 percent during his 18-month administration, and an astonishing 84 percent of charged perpetrators were back on the streets within two days!
What happens now? First, Boudin will remain DA until later this month or early July, when the Board of Supervisors certifies the election results. Next, San Francisco Mayor London Breed will appoint his successor to complete the remainder of his term.
Mayor Breed is already considering several candidates for the interim position. District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani should top that list, as she was the first elected official to endorse Boudin’s recall vote. Unfortunately, she is a rare moderate on the city’s Board of Supervisors and Breed needs her there to balance the crazies.
There’s Nancy Tung, an Asian-American who came in third in 2019 behind Boudin. When Breed tried to name her for a position on the police commission in 2020, the Board of Supervisors rejected her because of her tough-on-crime stance. Instead, they preferred someone more amenable to Boudin’s far-left “reform” efforts.
There’s Brooke Jenkins, one of the more than 50 prosecuting attorneys who left the DA’s office. She was also a vocal supporter of the recall effort.
There’s Joe Alioto Veronese, a former police officer who would have the support of the SFPD, which suffered under Boudin’s efforts at “reform.”
The impact of the successful recall of San Francisco’s radical DA is likely to be felt in Los Angeles, where a recall effort is underway to rid that city of its own Soros-backed District Attorney, George Gascon.
It could have national ramifications as well. As the liberal New York Times lamented in its commentary following the recall of Boudin, “voters are sending a message of frustration and [are] hankering for change.”
According to Ballotpedia, there are 123 ongoing recall votes, many of them fueled by the same “frustration and hankering” that turned out three San Francisco school-board members in February and the city’s DA on Tuesday.
Related articles:
San Francisco Voters Poised to Recall DA Chesa Boudin on Tuesday
San Francisco’s Communist DA Will be Recalled, According to Latest Poll
