Dennis Herrera: "Watchdog" and attack dog

Dennis Herrera

The Chronicle's Heather Knight devotes a column to Dennis Herrera:

Like C.W. Nevius before her, Knight is a megaphone promoting City Hall policies. Not surprising that she doesn't challenge Herrera's valuation of his 20-year tenure as city attorney:

City Attorney Dennis Herrera has fought for gun control, same-sex marriage rights, universal health care and climate change protections. He’s taken on everyone from President Trump to bad landlords.

Those of us who sued the city for illegally rushing the ambitious, 500-page Bicycle Plan through the process with no environmental review had a different Herrera experience. (See also The city that knows how...)

Herrera's office fought relentlessly in court to allow the city to violate the most important environmental law in California to implement the Bicycle Plan with no environmental review, even though the plan proposed eliminating traffic lanes and street parking on busy city streets to make bike lanes, an obvious environmental impact.

Herrera thinks his record as City Attorney qualifies him as "the city's top watchdog," which makes him a good choice to lead The Public Utilities Commission:

“What better way to show San Francisco’s commitment to ethical, clean government than to put the city’s top watchdog in charge of this agency,” he said....

Recall that Herrera admitted that he told the city it would have to do the "ethical"---and legal thing eventually by doing an environmental review of the Bicycle Plan. 

After he and the city lost the Bicycle Plan litigation, Dennis "Watchdog" Herrera filed a vindictive cost motion against us that was quickly rejected by the  court.

See also Mission Local's Putting Dennis Herrera atop the PUC is weird. But San Francisco is a weird town.