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San Francisco Mayor Lee suspends embattled Sheriff Mirkarimi
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| Contributor | Hikikomori Blitzkrieg! |
| Last Edited | Hikikomori Blitzkrieg! Mar 20, 2012 10:41pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Julia Prodis Sulek |
| Media | Newspaper - San Jose Mercury News |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 21, 2012 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | SAN FRANCISCO -- Newly convicted Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi set the stage for a dramatic showdown Tuesday, refusing to resign minutes before Mayor Ed Lee announced he will suspend him.
Facing throngs of reporters for the second day in a row, Mirkarimi changed his disposition from contrite to defiant, setting the tone from the instant he stood before microphones and announced:
"I am Ross Mirkarimi, the sheriff."
A half hour later, Lee, who on Monday had given him a 24-hour ultimatum to resign, said he would charge him with official misconduct as soon as Wednesday. He appointed a temporary replacement until the Ethics Commission and Board of Supervisors decide his political fate.
"Sheriff Mirkarimi's actions and confession of guilt clearly fall below the standards of decency and good faith" required of public officials, Lee said.
After five days, the Ethics Commission will begin a process to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. The votes of nine of the 11 supervisors will be needed to remove him from office.
The sensational case has made headlines for weeks, ever since allegations surfaced of domestic violence stemming from a New Year's Eve fight between Mirkarimi, 50, a rising political star who just won election in November, and his Venezuelan soap star wife, Eliana Lopez.
A day after the fight took place in front of their two-year-old son, Lopez fled to her neighbor's house and recorded on video her
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tearful story of being grabbed and bruised on her arm.
Throughout the ordeal, Lopez denied she was a victim and became her husband's staunchest supporter, standing at his side during his swearing-in ceremony a week after the fight.
The case became a flashpoint for victims' advocates in the domestic violence community. Many were horrified that the sheriff initially called the case a "private matter, a family matter." So they paid for a downtown billboard to say: "Domestic violence is NEVER a private matter." |
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