The media, City Hall destroy the Mirkarimi family

Larry Bush of CitiReport is doing some good work on the ongoing destruction of Ross Mirkarimi and his family by the city "family," aka the City Hall "political machine."

Some of the highlights of Bush's reporting:

In the first sixty days of the Mirkarimi case, the Chronicle ran 98 news stories, gossip column items, editorials and other materials. The Examiner ran 55 stories and editorials and gossip columns in the same period, and the SFAppeal and BayCitizen each ran just under 20 stories. 

The Chronicle, which led the coverage, never mentioned the District Attorney’s conflicts, never covered Mirkarimi’s longtime romantic partner’s claim that Ross was never violent, never covered the District Attorney’s failure to pursue nearly 1,000 domestic violence referrals in the past year, and never covered other issues such as the potential lack of impartiality on the part of the judge hearing the case. Unsurprisingly, the paper backed its coverage by rushing out a poll with an unknown client and with no reporting on the questions to say that public opinion has turned sharply against Mirkarimi.

The Chronicle doubled down on its contemptible behavior yesterday by trumpeting its effort to get the video of his wife's bruise released: "The Chronicle obtained the video Thursday through a public records request after courts and the city's Ethics Commission refused to order it kept from public view." 

How that serves the public interest is unexplained, but it probably got the Chronicle's website more hits.

Reading between the lines, one wonders if the Chronicle's editors made the public records request, but its reporters didn't necessarily approve. Mirkarimi's wife is quoted:

"Because of their actions, the images on that video will exist forever for anyone to see, including my son Theo, now and forever," Lopez said in the statement released through a representative. What they did to her, she added, "is far worse than anything they accuse Ross of doing. I hope they realize after reflection that what they have done is irreparable and perpetually damaging to me and my family."

Bush also reports that District Attorney George Gascon’s wife participated in a fundraiser to pay for a billboard that targets Mirkarimi.

That City Hall has a double standard in how it handles misconduct charges as shown in the Rippey-Tourk case and two incidents involving Public Works Director, Mohammed Nuru.

Ivory Madison's lunatic fringe feminism that she demonstrates---you can't make this shit up---in comic books!

Judge Breall apparently is an incompetent and unfit to sit on the bench.

Mirkarimi's political opponents paid for the six billboards.

On the District Attorney's handling of domestic violence cases:

At the District Attorney’s office, the report was one of hundreds that office receives. In 2011, the District Attorney’s office reported receiving 1,790 new cases. Fewer than 500 were charged as misdemeanors or felonies, with about another 150 discharges to probation or parole. That left over 1,100 out of about 1,800 cases with no further action in 2011. In 2012, the record appears to be about the same.

Hard to believe that Mirkarimi's marginal case---charges filed within a week!---was worse than the 1,100 cases not pursued.

Bush also provides a link to the official charges filed Friday with the Ethics Commission showing how thin the case against Mirkarimi really is.