SF MAYOR NEWSOM APPOINTS POLICE CHIEF AS DA TO FILL KAMALA HARRIS VACANCY

As anyone from the San Francisco Bay Area is aware, the City-by-the-Bay has up until now had a district attorney that was stunningly ineffective as a prosecutor—enjoying the worst trial conviction rate of any prosecutor in California—that is when she did not simply dismiss serious felony charges outright or deal them down to a month or two in jail. And as a staunch opponent of the death penalty, Kamala Harris refused to seek the death penalty in San Francisco—even for cop killers.

Therefore, when Kamala Harris ran in November for California Attorney General she did not get our vote, and when she won the office by a narrow margin, we cringed.

Of course, as a longtime resident of the City and County of San Francisco—where trespassing homeless people just laugh at property owners who threaten to call the police, and serious repeat offenders suffer the briefest of brief detentions—we also realize that California’s loss is San Francisco’s gain. We are well rid of the worst prosecutor in recent memory.

All of which sets the stage for this week's bombshell headline: Outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom (who was elected in November as Lieutenant Governor) as just announced his replacement to fill the vacancy in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office created by Harris’ recent departure.

Who did he appoint?

The (former) incumbent San Francisco Chief of Police George Gascón (who happens to be a licensed attorney) is now San Francisco’s newest district attorney.

In view of the dismal state of San Francisco law enforcement, and the negative effect that has had on quality of life and safety issues for all San Franciscans, we applaud this “outside the box” appointment by outgoing Mayor Newsom.

As far as we know, no sitting police chief has ever become a district attorney anywhere in the country.

But San Franciscans are in dire need of a top prosecutor who will enforce the law, and San Francisco’s finest need to know that if they make an arrest, they are not wasting their time.

It would appear that George Gascón fills the bill.

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