On a warm, sunny afternoon this past Saturday, several dozen people squeezed into the back yard of a modest home in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco to listen to a 41-year-old idealist fighting to save his political life.
Embattled District Attorney Chesa Boudin is often labeled as one of most progressive DAs in the country, with an agenda that includes reforming the criminal justice system, prosecuting police misconduct cases, and attacking the root causes of crime.
All of that might normally play well inside the 49-square-miles of traditionally progressive San Francisco, but it has drawn the fierce opposition of major right wing forces all across the country, from big Republican donors to Fox News commentators, especially Tucker Carlson.
That opposition has successfully financed the collection of enough signatures to mount an unusual and expensive recall effort to drum Boudin out of office in a special off-year election barely halfway through his four-year term this June.
At the Glen Park gathering, Boudin, who is a well-spoken, slight man with a neatly trimmed beard and receding hairline, appealed to a crowd of mostly baby boomers to help him ward off this national reactionary assault on their collective progressive ideals and policies.
Serious crime rates are down on his watch but Boudin also faces the usual local opposition from the police union and certain reactionary elements of the political establishment. That, combined with the national GOP drive, has him behind in the only poll I’ve seen to date, which was funded by the pro-recall forces.
But the DA also has another problem, one stubbornly familiar to anyone who thinks about why we never seem to achieve much real progress on the long-term problems that plague our society.
And that is that voters rarely act in their own long-term interest because short-term issues always seem to find a way to dominate the operative narrative of the moment.
Thus Boudin is confronting an electorate that is openly upset at a rash of non-violent street crimes such as car thefts (mainly for parts like catalytic converters), drug overdoses and homelessness — social problem he is virtually powerless as a prosecutor to do anything about — but which dominate conversations in cafes around the city.
Increasing numbers of San Franciscans are fed up with the mess in the streets and having to worry about having their cars getting broken into at night. This disquiet is partially fed by the changing demographics of a city that over the past 15 years has become home to the largest Silicon Valley firms, as well as startups and their legions of workers who are much better paid than the struggling artists and writers and singers and dreamers and immigrants who traditionally have been attracted to the city.
Accordingly, Boudin may now find it difficult to find enough support from voters in a low-turnout, off-year election when so many seem to be more worried about punishing the current cast of petty criminals than doing something about preventing them from becoming criminals in the first place.
The cruelest irony, of course, is that unless the types of reforms Boudin is trying to implement come to pass, the endless poverty-crime cycle everybody hates will continue unabated into a future when the current residents’ children are then the ones being victimized.
In addition, when it comes to the present tense, the DA cannot prosecute criminals who are not apprehended by the police and there are indications the San Francisco Police Department is, shall we say, not trying overly hard to make arrests in the types of crimes that are upsetting local residents right now.
That’s probably because Boudin pursued the (unsuccessful) prosecution of a police officer in a misconduct case recently and he has also engaged in a well-publicized spat with the police chief over the use of a woman’s DNA collected from a rape kit to charge her in an unrelated property crime.
Boudin successfully argued that the use of the DNA was a violation of the woman’s constitutional rights — certainly a bedrock issue for anyone concerned with preserving our democracy in this age of authoritarian impulses here and around the world. But it may also be another example of an issue that is too abstract to connect with most voters’ short-term attention spans.
Whether this young, idealistic DA can overcome the out-of-state, big-money campaign to unseat him under these circumstances remains to be seen. But at least on one sunny Saturday afternoon in Glen Park, he had a genuinely supportive crowd cheering him on and handing in small-dollar checks to help him continue the fight.
NOTE: As a former resident of San Francisco, I have close friends and family members who are working on behalf of Boudin’s effort to defeat the recall and remain in office.
Today’s Headlines (41):
Ukrainian troops have retaken full control of Kyiv region, says deputy defence minister (Reuters)
Ukrainian forces take back territory around Kyiv (BBC)
Zelenskyy: Mines in wake of Russian retreat keep Kyiv unsafe (AP)
Ukraine Assesses Damage After Russian Pullback Near Kyiv (WSJ)
Moldova denies Ukraine’s warning that Russian troops are massing on border (Financial Times)
As Mariupol Residents Flee, Russian Forces Hunt for Ukrainian Fighters (USA Today)
ICRC to attempt new Mariupol evacuation (Al Jazeera)
Mariupol Mass Evacuation Falters as Red Cross Judges It Too Dangerous (NYT)
West, Russia mull nuclear steps in a ‘more dangerous’ world (AP)
Peace in Ukraine will be elusive until one side makes a military breakthrough (Financial Times)
Ukraine forces retake areas north of Kyiv as Russians look eastward (Reuters)
Russia to halt cooperation over International Space Station (Guardian)
Russia accuses Ukraine of rocket attack on oil depot in Russia (BBC)
Ukraine denies responsibility for attack on Russian oil depot (TND)
Pope blasts Russia’s ‘infantile’ war (The Hill)
Why Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine's east (BBC)
Poll: Putin's approval rating surges above 80% (NHK)
Shaken at First, Many Russians Now Rally Behind Putin’s Invasion — Polls and interviews show many Russians now accept the Kremlin’s assertion that their country is under siege from the West. Opponents are leaving the country or keeping quiet. (NYT)
In targeted Russian economy, businesses operate without Western products (WP)
Ukrainians Count Dead, Assess Damage After Russian Pullback Near Kyiv (WSJ)
Putin is making the same mistakes that doomed Hitler when he invaded the Soviet Union (CNN)
Pentagon announces $300M in aerial systems, military weapons for Ukraine (The Hill)
As Russian shells fall, a race to get children with cancer out of Ukraine (WP)
Long Delays for Afghan Resettlements Serve as Warning for Ukrainians (WSJ)
How the 2024 Election Is Being Stolen (Reveal)
Republicans squirm as Trump presses Putin for dirt on Bidens (NBC)
Putin’s Ukraine quagmire carries echoes of Soviet failure in Afghanistan (WP)
See how almost a quarter of humanity ushered in Ramadan, their holiest month (NPR)
Seabed regulator accused of deciding deep sea’s future ‘behind closed doors’ (Guardian)
How 2 Industries Stymied Justice for Young Lead Paint Victims — The U.S. insurance and real estate industries have waged a decades-long campaign to avoid liability in lead cases, helping to prolong an epidemic. The cost for millions of children has been incalculable. (NYT)
UK hits record COVID-19 levels; nearly 5 million infected (AP)
The sun let out another flare and the photos are stunning (Space.com)
The SAT Isn’t What’s Unfair — MIT brings back a test that, despite its reputation, helps low-income students in an inequitable society. (Atlantic)
Chesa Boudin’s strategy to remain San Francisco district attorney: Run against the recall (SFC)
Will Smith Resigns From Academy After Slapping Chris Rock at Oscars (NYT)
‘Back to the Giuliani era’: Adams’ order to clear homeless camps ignites fury in New York (Politico)
Look Up Who Was Living In Your Apartment In 1950 Via Newly Released Census Records (SFist)
New U.S. Census Records Reveal a Time Capsule of Life in 1950 (WSJ)
Driver Kind Of Bummed To See Other Car He Been Driving Behind For A While Take Exit Off Highway (The Onion)
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