The shameful Mirkarimi case

Photo: Leah Mills, SF Chronicle

Heather Knight revisits the Mirkarimi fiasco in yesterday's Chronicle (Former SF Sheriff Mirkarimi, wife recall the bad old days):

After all, The Chronicle documented the saga’s many twists and turns in a way Mirkarimi made clear he found unfair. Mirkarimi, always a loner at City Hall, alienated much of the city, particularly women, by initially dismissing the domestic violence incident as “a private matter, a family matter.” After that, he never found his footing and seemed to blame everybody else for his troubles.

That he's blamed anyone else is untrue, though Mirkarimi may have been a "loner" in City Hall, which is irrelevant. 

I wrote here about the domestic abuse charges issue against him more than 20 times, as the whole bogus case against Mirkarimi unfolded. That fight with his wife should have been treated as "a private matter." Instead, City Hall and the media hounded Mirkarimi for months and nearly destroyed his young family.

Nor do I recall Mirkarimi blaming "everybody else"---or anybody else, for that matter, though he rightly deplored the extraordinary campaign against him and, in effect, his family. 

The Chronicle was leading the media mob against Mirkarimi from the beginning, especially Knight's colleague C.W. Nevius, who wrote a bunch of anti-Mirkarimi columns. Only the conservative Debra Saunders was consistently on task (here, here, and here), though Knight herself wrote a good column on the issue early on.

More from Knight:

Surprisingly, Lopez and Mirkarimi are friendly with District Attorney George Gascón and his wife, Fabiola Kramsky. The district attorney charged Mirkarimi with the crime, but the men made amends after their wives starred in “The Vagina Monologues” together. Gascón and Kramsky attended a baby shower for Lopez and Mirkarimi a few months ago.

Yes, that is surprising, since Gascon was particularly obnoxious leading the "progressive" City Hall mob against Mirkarimi. 

It's a tribute to Mirkarimi and his wife's generosity of spirit to be willing to overlook how Gascon mishandled the case.

To put the Mirkarimi fiasco in political perspective, see Sore losers and dumb winners.

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