Why ouster of San Francisco DA Boudin is troubling

I'm not exactly sad to see Chesa Boudin go, but I'm deeply troubled by the way he's going.

The progressive firebrand has been fearless in his pursuit of criminal justice reforms, such as ending cash bail and essentially doing away with misdemeanors, regardless of whether it overstepped the traditional bounds of his job or even had public support.

That incautious approach earned him no shortage of critics, like me, who supported the spirit of the reforms but not the slapdash, unsustainable way they were being implemented. It also earned him a few powerful enemies, from law enforcement associations to lobbying groups.

These opponents may have gotten the ball rolling on a recall, but the genuinely outraged citizens of San Francisco were more than happy to keep it moving, voting against Boudin 55%45% in a recall largely seen as a referendum on the city's out-ofcontrol crime. Minority voters even backed the recall in greater numbers than college-educated whites, with reports noting that lower income areas were more vulnerable to the rampant crime problem in recent years while enjoying less police support.

Well, that's democracy in action, the will of the people made manifest, right? Wrong.

Recall elections are supposed to be an ace-in-the-hole for voters, a method of last resort against an elected official whose ongoing actions threaten democracy and undermine the will of the people. A recall might be proper if Boudin was radically and routinely abusing his powers in defiance of the electorate or if he was so mired in criminal charges and controversies that he couldn't reasonably do his job.

That wasn't the case here — voters just weren't happy with Boudin, they weren't content to wait for another election cycle to move on from him. Make no mistake: The man got screwed.

He's not alone, given that the number of attempted recalls in the United States doubled from 2019 to 2021, according to a report from The Atlantic.

“The boom is real,” the author writes. “Voters seem to be eager to kick out incumbents, ticked off about COVID, inflation, gun violence, spiraling rents and countless other factors.”

The United States saw its largest number of recall elections in history in 2021, with 529 officials facing recalls. Less than 5% of these recalls succeeded, though each one of them cost taxpayers millions, a high price that could have been avoided if they'd waited for a proper election. It's costly, financially and democratically, for us to keep breaking the emergency glass like this.

In either case, for better or worse, the voters made their voices heard. They've made clear that they value criminal justice reform, but that no amount of lawlessness is a part of an acceptable solution; that people who riot, loot and burn need to be held accountable; that second and third chances for criminals should only be given when they're earned; and that cash bail, while flawed, cannot simply be flung out the window. Recalls may not be the proper course, but officials should recognize how easily they can become subject to one.

Statewide elections indicate that Boudin's ousting isn't some canary in the coal mine for progressive criminal justice reformers. Jeff Rosen, the district attorney of Santa Clara County, easily cruised to reelection on the June ballot. Diana Becton, the progressive district attorney of Contra Costa County, also warded off challengers with a majority vote

Becton, Rosen and others took a more balanced approach to their campaigns, championing their causes while making public safety and the rule of law a priority. Boudin likely should've followed suit, and I'm sure it's something he'll be thinking about a lot with his suddenly abundant free time.

But voters should do some soul-searching of their own. No recall should be pursued joyfully — it's an attempt to overturn the outcome of a legitimate election, a second guessing that erodes the faith of voters who expected the outcome to stick.

I may not have been the guy's biggest fan — I've written plenty of columns for various publications critical of his policies — but this ousting doesn't feel to me like a representative democracy functioning as intended.