Recalls Galore

11/01/2021 English German

Edition # 140
San Francisco, 11-01-2021

Coyotes at close distance Recalls Galore USA to Germany and Back, In Times of Corona Packages on an endless journey Corona in the Fall of 2021 Construction Site "Ocean Beach" Rip-off at the airport: 8 dollars for a luggage cart Top product: Atul Gawande "Being Mortal" Traveling as a hobo on a freight train

Recalls Galore

Figure [1]: San Francisco's District Attorney Chesa Boudin is facing a recall.

Angelika Our Governor Newsom narrowly escaped a recall recently. Nearly 62% of California voters voted "no" on September 14th to his removal. The majority of the population probably did not want a political change in these turbulent times. However, there are still a few other eagerly awaited recall proceedings pending in San Francisco. Our District Attorney Chesa Boudin will most likely also have to face a recall procedure. The necessary signatures were submitted by the end of October and are now awaiting verification from the relevant authority.

Boudin is a highly controversial person in our city. He has fanatic followers, but also just as many opponents who would like to drive him out of town. In the US, prosecutors are elected by the people, which may seem particularly democratic at first glance, but it has its pitfalls. This means that aspiring prosecutors have to campaign and, under certain circumstances, promise change in order to win voter votes that may later backfire when they're actually in office. There is also a tendency in the US to appoint flashy personalities to important positions without thoroughly thinking about whether these people are qualified for the position. For example, Boudin was a public defender, so he had experience in defending defendants, but not in prosecuting them.

Figure [2]: Burglaries in San Francisco have increased significantly during Boudin's term.

Anyone who has ever seen a typical American courtroom TV series like "Law and Order" knows that investigating police work closely with the prosecutor's office to bring about an indictment, while the defense attorney represents the interests of the accused. Boudin, in a sense, switched sides, but that's not quite right either. Boudin wants to achieve reforms in the American criminal justice system and sees the position of prosecutor as more suitable for this than that of the defense attorney. He belongs to the group of so-called progressive prosecutors, which are currently en vogue in larger cities such as Chicago (Kim Foxx), Philadelphia (Larry Krasner) and Los Angeles (George Gascon). By the way, George Gascon was Boudin's predecessor before the former ran off to southern California under public pressure before the end of his term.

No one disputes that the American criminal justice system, with its overcrowded prisons, high rate of wrongful convictions, and sometimes draconian punishments, is in need of reform. But how to achieve sensible reforms that are fair and don't lead to the reverse effect of rising crime statistics is a matter of much debate. In any case, Chesa Boudin's reform campaign in the liberal city of San Francisco received the necessary votes in the November 2019 election and he has been in office since January 2020. He won by only a 3000-vote margin, to the dismay of the police union, against their favorite Suzy Loftus.

Figure [3]: A resident demands to recall the city's district attorney.

Boudin's life story is quite interesting. Both of his parents spent years in prison due to their involvement in the left-wing radical group "Weather Underground" which was founded at the University of Michigan in the late 1960s. During a robbery of a money transporter, in which members of the group and Boudin's parents were involved, two police officers and a security guard lost their lives. Boudin's mother received a prison sentence of 20 years, while his father's sentence was set to a minimum of 75 years. However, recently, the outgoing Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, allowed for a hearing to be held for Boudin's father, David Gilbert, to discuss his early release on parole. Last week, the responsible committee gave its approval. At the end of November, he will be released on parole after 40 years in prison. Boudin was only 14 months old when his parents were arrested. He was then raised by the couple Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohm, who were also close to the "Weather Underground Organization". Boudin can't be held responsible for the crimes of his parents, but the experience shaped him greatly. He often talks in interviews about what it was like for him as a child to visit his parents in prison.

Figure [4]: This San Francisco resident reports two burglars in his apartment, which district attorney Boudin simply let go.

Boudin has come under criticism in San Francisco mainly because he is very lenient with repeat offenders and often is not willing to prosecute them, instead letting them off with probation. This has led to several tragic deaths. For example, at the end of December 2020, the multiple-convicted Troy Ramon McAlister killed two pedestrians when he was driving a stolen car, running them over at an intersection. He had been arrested in November and December for auto theft and drug offenses, but was immediately released, despite three prior convictions before 2015. Meanwhile, several prosecutors who worked for Boudin have thrown in the towel and also campaigned to start an impeachment procedure against their former boss. A judge in San Francisco also publicly expressed his dissatisfaction and in particular criticized the chaos under Boudin and the lack of willingness to do his job and prosecute criminals.

Figure [5]: Since thieves go unpunished, package theft has become a real problem..

Many people in San Francisco are now fed up with how casually the crime prevention official is dealing with crimes such as home and car break-ins, as well as shoplifting. These crimes have increased exponentially in San Francisco. Shoplifting is now so widespread here that supermarkets like Safeway are shortening their opening hours in the evening or drugstores like Walgreens are closing several branches after the shelves are emptied by thieves several times a day. Fairly, it must be mentioned that this situation is also related to the so-called Proposition 47. The voters in California voted in 2014 that theft of goods worth less than $950 is only to be considered a minor offense ("misdemeanor") (Rundbrief 06/2016) and even reform-resistant repeat offenders do not have to go to prison.

Figure [6]: Occasionally, one can still see stubborn supporters of the soon-to-be-dismissed District Attorney.

If it comes to the removal of Boudin, it is not the voter who will determine who will be the new district attorney, but our mayor London Breed will appoint a new district attorney of her choice, who will then take over the responsibility of the removed DA until the end of their term.

And that's not all. In the next newsletter I will report on who is to be removed from the school board in San Francisco. You see, things are quite lively around here!