New San Francisco DA Fires Chesa Boudin Staffers

Newly sworn-in San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has fired at least 15 staffers as part of a major, office-wide shakeup stemming from the recall of progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin.

Jenkins, who was appointed by Mayor London Breed and sworn in last Friday, originally worked for Boudin as an assistant district attorney. She resigned to lead the campaign to oust her far-left boss over his lax treatment of violent criminals and drug offenders, though many of Boudin’s progressive allies remained in top staff positions after the recall. The 40 year old announced the staffing overhaul in a statement one week after taking office.

“I promised the public that I would restore accountability and consequences to the criminal justice system while advancing smart reforms responsibly,” Jenkins’ statement read. “Today, I made difficult, but important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms.”

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Jenkins let go of most of the 25 staffers who worked for Boudin, including Managing Attorney Arcelia Hurtado, who acted as the office’s representative on the city’s Innocence Commission, and Kate Chatfield, who served as Boudin’s chief of staff. Tensions began on the day Jenkins was sworn in, when she went into her City Hall office to meet in-person with her staff.

Staffers present at that 20 minute sit-down left the meeting and immediately began shaming their new boss to the press, telling SFGate in a story published that same day that the meeting was “horrible,” “icy,” “uncomfortable,” and even “insane.” The staffers also told the outlet that Jenkins had concluded the meeting by saying that no one would be fired. Instead, Jenkins reportedly said that she planned on meeting with people in the near future for a potential “reshuffling” of the office.

The situation went from bad to worse on Wednesday, when the San Francisco Examiner published further reporting on the Friday discussion, which cited “a recording of the meeting obtained by The Examiner.”

The recording, according to the outlet, revealed that Jenkins had told her staff that she wanted to “calm the waters” and “extend a hand” to those hired by Boudin and his predecessor, George Gascón. She also said that she did not want the office “to be negative or to stay divided.”

“I just don’t think we can continue to function in a state that is pre-Chesa, post-Chesa. … I want you all to know that I’m committed to figuring out how we bridge that gap,” she reportedly told the room.

Jenkins released a statement on Wednesday condemning the secret recording and its release, saying: “The public expects and deserves that our office will operate with the utmost integrity at all times. The fact that someone, albeit an attorney or senior staff member, would choose to secretly record the contents of a senior staff meeting, knowing the risk such actions poses to our ability to serve the community and our victims, is very disturbing.”

It is illegal under California law to record a private conversation without all parties present giving consent.

After being fired, Hurtado told the San Francisco Chronicle that Jenkins didn’t keep her pledge to meet with managers and individually assess who she should keep on and let go.

“I was hopeful that she would be true to her word…and this seems to be a complete political massacre at this point,” Hurtado told the outlet. “She lined us up, essentially, one by one today, 15-minute phone calls, and fired us all without cause, and would not state any reason for why we were fired.”

Jenkins did not tie the media leaks to her firing decisions in her statement to the press.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

San Francisco voters opted to recall Boudin by a 55% to 45% margin. The progressive DA refused to prosecute drug and most property crimes, and he turned a blind eye to open-air drug markets, all of which contributed to a dystopian cityscape. Boudin was elected in 2020 on a platform that he would prosecute police officers in use-of-force cases and institute prison reform. In that time, San Francisco became one of the most dangerous cities in America, with a crime index of “4” — making it safer than just 4% of other cities in the U.S.

The effort to recall Boudin was organized and funded in large part by liberals who, although they voted for Boudin in the first place, eventually realized that his rogue approach to prosecution was pushing businesses to close; exacerbating the drug, homelessness, and crime problems; and emboldening criminals.

The ousted prosecutor has maintained, however, that the rampant rise in crime was not a result of his policies.