A start at cleaning up City Hall
After a year of federal excavation of the City Hall swamp, San Francisco officials face the formidable task of persuading the public that local government will not continue to be greased by gifts of overseas vacations and expensive jewelry. City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s exclusion of suspect contractors from future business begins to contend with that challenge.
Herrera issued firstoftheirkind orders this week targeting people and companies charged in the federal corruption investigation that burst into public view with the January 2020 arrest of longtime Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who was accused of attempting to bribe an airport commissioner. The orders prevent alleged participants in the corruption from seeking or receiving contracts or grants from the city while the criminal cases proceed.
The suspensions became possible under legislation introduced by the city attorney and approved by the Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed last fall. Compared with an older process known as debarment, which allows the city to disqualify contractors for willful misconduct, the suspensions can be imposed more quickly in response to charges that have yet to be adjudicated.
Granted, one hopes the sheer notoriety of the cases against the contractors would preclude the city from giving them more money. But the scandal has left confidence in San Francisco officials’ judgment at low ebb, making the formal orders worthwhile.
The suspensions affect Nick Bovis, owner of Lefty O’Doul’s sports bar who was charged alongside Nuru with trying to bribe his way into an airport concession; Alan Varela and William Gilmartin, whose efforts to open an asphalt recycling plant on port property allegedly extended to buying Nuru a $40,000 tractor; Florence Kong, who was sentenced to a year in prison last month for giving Nuru a $36,000 gold Rolex in exchange for recycling and other business; and Walter Wong, a “permit expediter” who pleaded guilty to fraud and moneylaundering charges last year related to his alleged bribery of Nuru and former city Public Utilities Commission General Manager Harlan Kelly with overseas travel.
The federal investigation, along with a parallel probe by Herrera and City Controller Ben Rosenfield, has driven a figurative tractor through the city government’s reputation and its upper ranks, leading to the resignations not only of Nuru and Kelly but also of the latter’s wife, former City Administrator Naomi Kelly, who was not charged; former Department of Building Inspection Director Tom Hui, who city investigators accused of taking improper gifts from Wong; and former FixIt team head Sandra Zuniga, who was charged with helping Nuru launder illgotten gains.
Those who haven’t been convicted or pleaded guilty are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But the scope and gravity of the allegations justify excluding them from further commerce with the city — and require more such measures to rebuild the public’s trust.