Critics cry cronyism over police panel pick

Supervisor backs ally seeking to establish residency

A San Francisco supervisor’s bid to replace a longtime city police commissioner with a close ally — a union leader who sought to establish residency in the city just days before applying for the position — has prompted criticism from opponents who say the commission should be a strong watchdog free of politics.

Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who was elected last year and chairs the committee in charge of commission nominations, has thrown his support behind Olga Miranda for a Police Commission seat that will open up at the end of the month. Miranda, the president of Service Employees International Union Local 87, campaigned for Safaí, who once served as political director for the union.

Miranda registered to vote in San Francisco on April 6, four days before submitting her application for the sevenmember civilian commission, which sets Police Department policy and oversees discipline

for officers. Her backers want her to replace attorney Petra DeJesus, a progressive commissioner who has served for 10 years and has applied for another term.

Safaí said he is pushing for a fresh perspective on the commission. But supporters of DeJesus — and her fiery stands against arming the police force with Tasers — are charging cronyism, while seizing on Miranda’s residency. She had been registered to vote in Albany, where she owns a home and where her child attends school.

“It’s problematic,” said David Campos, a progressive former supervisor and police commissioner. “The Police Commission is one of those things that requires someone to really live in this city. It’s not just about having residency today; it’s about having residency for a while because that gives you a sense of how people interact with the police and how the police interact with the community.”

Opponents of the move said they worry that the commission — despite being at the center of reforms that followed a series of controversial police shootings and the discovery of bigoted text messages exchanged among officers — is losing sight of its purpose and becoming a political steppingstone to greater ambitions.

“We’re at the point where more than ever we need a commission that is independent, transparent and is there to singularly focus on police oversight,” said Asian Law Caucus policy director and former Commissioner Angela Chan. “Instead, there seems to be a fight over each and every position that seems to be purely over politics.”

The Police Commission is made up of four members nominated by the mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors, and three members nominated by the Rules Committee and approved by the full board.

The commission once had five members, all appointed by the mayor. But in the wake of the scandal known as Fajitagate, in which the city’s top police brass were indicted for allegedly covering up a November 2002 fight involving three off-duty officers, voters passed a measure expanding the commission’s powers. The indictments were eventually dropped.

Since the ballot measure passed in 2003, police critics have accused the mayor’s office of trying to usurp the commission’s power through board appointees. Some see Miranda’s effort to unseat the progressive DeJesus — and her backing by the moderate Safaí — as another example.

Mayor Ed Lee declined to comment. He recently nominated Robert Hirsch, a longtime mediator and labor arbitrator, to fill a seat left vacant by Suzy Loftus’ departure in January.

Miranda said in an interview with The Chronicle that she found the objections to her candidacy “insulting” — in particular that she was playing loose with the City Charter’s residency requirement. She said she wants to be part of the reforms that the commission is overseeing and is particularly interested in bettering police interactions with immigrants and communities of color — groups she has worked closely with as a labor leader.

According to the city attorney’s office, commission appointees must be “electors of the city and county of San Francisco” at the time they assume office.

The San Francisco home that Miranda listed on her commission application is owned by Roberto Canchola, a longtime union associate, according to public records. A woman who answered the door at the home last week said Miranda does live there.

“I moved here in February,” Miranda said. She said her husband and her son remain in Albany so her son can finish out the school year. “Because of my work, I spend most of my time in San Francisco,” she said. “My husband and I have discussed it very much, and my whole family will be moving here in the summer.”

Safaí said his support of Miranda had nothing to do with her previous support of him but was based on “injecting a fresh voice into the Police Commission. As supervisors, we know thousands upon thousands of people. Just because people know one another doesn’t make something shady.”

Safaí and Miranda both said Miranda, as a union leader who has worked with diverse constituencies, would bring a different perspective to a commission full of attorneys.

DeJesus’ supporters, meanwhile, said she is already a vocal proponent for underserved communities.

“What I appreciate about Petra is she clearly is part of the community, and that’s why she gets it so well,” said the Rev. Richard Smith, the rector of St. John the Evangelist Church and a community activist for police accountability. “We need that vocal progressive voice. Petra’s been wonderful. Why mess with success?”

For former commissioners Chan and Campos, the battle for DeJesus’ seat is reminiscent of Chan’s ousting in 2014. Chan was unafraid to question the status quo, even if that meant longer meetings and disgruntled fellow commissioners, before she was replaced by politically connected former prosecutor Victor Hwang, who had cochaired the “Run, Ed, Run” committee that set the stage for Lee’s 2011 election.

“They don’t want someone who will push the envelope, someone who will push the institution to reform itself,” Campos said.

DeJesus said she has “unfinished business” on the commission, which recently tightened the Police Department’s use-of-force policy, outfitted officers with body cameras and helped pick Chief Bill Scott. Ongoing is a slate of changes recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice.

She said she didn’t want to speculate on the effort to oust her but noted, “I know I have been vocal. I think that speaks for itself.”

“More than ever we need a commission that is independent, transparent and is there to singularly focus on police oversight.” Angela Chan, former police commissioner