Feinstein grandstanded on Mirkarimi

This morning's front-page story in the Chronicle explains why Katherine Feinstein refused to swear in Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff: she knew she would be out of work at the end of the year, and some political grandstanding---before Mirkarimi had even been charged---would get her some useful publicity when she started looking for another sinecure.

Speaking of opportunism, Mirkarimi and District Attorney Gascon have that in common: both switched political parties when it was opportune. Mirkarimi dumped the Green Party to become a Democrat before running for sheriff, and Gascon dumped the Republican Party when he came to a San Francisco that's dominated by the Democratic Party.

Looks like the domestic violence furies---who put up anti-Mirkarimi billboards in SF before charges were even filed---have either given up on the idea of recalling Mirkarimi or are floating the online petition as a trial balloon to see how much support it has.

The problem these zealots have is that if Ron Conway, who bankrolled their campaign against Supervisor Olague, pays for the recall he will become a bigger issue than Mirkarimi. Regardless of how progressives feel about Mirkarimi, they resent the conservative, fat-cat Conway's attempt to buy elections in San Francisco.