San Francisco votes overwhelmingly to recall progressive DA Chesa Boudin - CBS News
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 3 years ago • 67 commentsBy: Musadiq Bidar (CBSPolitics)


San Francisco residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin, one of the nation's most progressive top prosecutors.
Partial results from the San Francisco Department of Elections on Tuesday night showed the recall measure - also known as Proposition H - had the support of nearly 60% of voters, with 40% voting against it.
Boudin sought to reform the criminal justice system, ending the use of cash bail, stopping the prosecution of minors as adults, and focused on lowering jail populations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Boudin also became the first San Francisco DA to file homicide charges against city police officers.
At an election night gathering, Boudin told his supporters he is just getting started in the push for criminal justice reform.
"We have two cities. We have two systems of justice. We have one for the wealthy and the well-connected and a different one for everybody else. And that's exactly what we are fighting to change," he said.
"We know that this is a system that has systematically failed us, not just for decades, but for generations."
San Francisco Mayor Landon Breed will choose Boudin's replacement.
Whoever is appointed will have to run in the general election to fill the remainder of Boudin's term, which was to last through 2023.
Proponents of the recall claimed Boudin — a longtime public defender — wasn't prosecuting criminals aggressively and said his instituting progressive policies was putting the safety of residents at risk. They spent over $7 million blasting that message to voters in San Francisco throughout the course of the campaign.
"This election does not mean that San Francisco has drifted to the far right on our approach to criminal justice," Mary Jung, a chair of the recall campaign, said in a statement. "In fact, San Francisco has been a national beacon for progressive criminal justice reform for decades and will continue to do so with new leadership."
Momentum to recall Boudin picked up steam throughout 2021 as hate crimes against Asian Americans in San Francisco increased dramatically and victims blamed Boudin, saying he was siding with criminals. Recall supporters also pointed to car break-ins and viral smash-and-grab robberies at major retail stores, claiming they were becoming common occurrences as consequences of Boudin's policies.
Boudin's team maintained throughout the campaign that there was no direct correlation between the spike in some crimes and the DA's policies. But Tuesday night's results indicate voters didn't buy that message.
The recall in San Francisco could have implications for other progressive, reform-minded prosecutors across the country. Boudin narrowly won in 2019 as progressive prosecutors pledged to focus on alternatives to incarceration and hold police officers accountable.
In Los Angeles, organizers are now close to gathering enough signatures to force a recall vote for their district attorney, George Gascon. He was elected in 2020 and previously served as San Francisco's DA. His resignation and subsequent move to Southern California paved the way for Boudin to take office.
There are still votes to count and election results will need to be certified before Breed gets to appoint a replacement.
Breed has not officially weighed in on the DA recall. In October 2019, Breed appointed Susie Loftus, the former president of the San Francisco Police Commission, as the interim DA following Gascon's resignation.
During that November's election, Boudin got 36% of the support in the initial count, but San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system propelled him to victory over Loftus by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Last month, District Two Supervisor Catherine Stefani became the first elected official in the city to endorse the recall. Multiple political operatives involved with the recall effort told CBS News that Stefani would likely be considered by Breed as a potential replacement.

"Boudin was born in New York City to Jewish parents. [7] His parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert , were Weather Underground members. When Boudin was 14 months old, both were arrested and convicted of murder for their role as getaway car drivers in the Brink's robbery of 1981 in Rockland County, New York . [8] His mother was sentenced to 20 years to life and his father to 75 years to life for the felony murders of two police officers and a security guard. [9] [10]
After his parents were incarcerated, Boudin was raised in Chicago by adoptive parents Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn , who, like his parents, had been members of the Weather Underground . [11] Boudin reports that he did not learn to read until age nine. [12] Kathy Boudin was released under parole supervision in 2003. [13] [14]"
The liberals of San Fransisco elected him and even they couldn't endure their own ideology in action!
Last night Boudin observed that his recall campaign “exploited an environment in which people are appropriately upset. They were given an opportunity to voice their frustration and their outrage, and they took that opportunity.”
You think?
"Alex, I'll take 'Things That Biden Would Say' for $500."
It took somebody like him to sober up the indoctrinated voters of SF.
And it put Boudin in as it's DA. That's not a "beacon" anybody wants.
Just another tragedy for California. What a terrible state!
You have never been to California and you know absolutely nothing about California. It is the richest, most diverse, most beautiful state in the country with the most creative, hard-working and forward-thinking people.
You live in a state of denial and delusion.
Here is what I know:
California has the ninth -highest combined state and local sales taxes in the country. It may not effect you but it hits the middle class and the poor. Recently CA slapped an additional sales tax on goods that residents purchase on-line from out of state sellers. Those taxes brought CA a temporary budget surplus. Back in 2020 CA exhausted it's reserves and piled up the largest budget deficit in the country.
California is home to the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants and homeless people. The state secretary of state doesn't even know how many of them are voting!
California is among the worst states for education and infrastructure.
SF ranks first in the nation among cities in property crimes per capita.
The massive ruins of the state's partially built and now cancelled/postponed multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail system are covered with graffiti.
CA now has a massive water problem because it hasn't built a major reservoir in decades. It is totally dependent on massive transfers from the California water project. The far left ideology holds that dams and reservoirs are scars on the landscape. So the people are in need of water.
California has the highest gas taxes in the nation with further gas taxes scheduled for the next decade.
And last but not least, CA has lost it's once thriving middle class.
Pretty fucking presumptuous.
But will come crying for taxpayer money when the state burns to the ground year after year.
Are you implying the rest of the country doesn't have the same diverse people or are barren waste lands?
All from the state that gave us Harvey Weinstein.
It's a liberal shit hole. Really not surprising.
? That fat disgusting sexual predator was born and raised in New York, just like that other fat disgusting sexual predator Donald Trump.
I'll try and meditate about that when I walk down and have lunch on the beach this afternoon...
If this is a shithole, then I can't imagine what heaven must be like...
Just make sure you don't sit on the crackheads syringe.
Is the state still losing population like in 2020 and 2021? Are there any Black people left in San Francisco?
Ever been to South Central L.A.? How about East L.A? Hunters Point?
At least SF provides a poop app so you know were not to step on the crappy streets.
All of the above and lived in Boyle Heights in ELA for a number of years. One of my favorite restaurants, El Tepeyac on Evergreen, been serving fine Mexican food since the 1950s.
You ever spent anytime there guey?
I lived in Pico Rivera when I was a kid. .I know Whittier, Montebello and east LA MY BIL was born and raised east LA.
Pico Rivera, anywhere near the old Ford plant on Telegraph? On Sunday morning would head out to Whittier Blvd for some menudo to clear our heads.
Eres Mexicano?
Is his first name Cheech?
Love Cheech and Chong, but this is what it's all about.
Perfect.
[removed]
With 40,000,000 people, no one is the least bit upset if the population decreases a bit. Mostly, they are red state immigrants returning home.
Not true.
Many times.
One of mine, too!
Beautiful! That looks like Carmel. Heaven on Earth.
I lived like one block from Rosemead and Whittier.
jestem Polakiem
You must have never tried to drive there in the summer.
If you're interested I saw a 2 Bed, 1 bath, 992 sq ft on a 4,000 sq ft lot on Monte Verde for only $2.1M
Not a lot of Poles in PR. Do you know the Los Nietos area?
It's surprising then that they ever moved into the Bay area.
Didn't they lose their first Congressional seat?
Is income inequality still growing there faster than the national average? I saw that the state had the highest rate of poverty at 15.4%, as measured by the Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure.
I saw that housing affordability, as measured by the number of Californians who could afford a median-priced, single-family home, hit 23% in the second quarter of 2021, according to the California Association of Realtors. But why buy if you only staying there awhile.
Nearly one in six (16.4%) Californians were not in poverty but lived fairly close to the poverty line (up to one and a half times above it). All told, more than a third (34.0%) of state residents were poor or near poor in 2019. The share of Californians in families with less than half the resources needed to meet basic needs (the deep poverty rate) was 4.6%.
Did that get better or worse during COVID?
Most of them are in the central valley, northern CA, north of the Bay Area and the Inland Empire.
Yes
Great news, my townhouse in HB is worth millions now.
The poverty rates for 2022 are as follows
CA isn't close to the top.
Are you aware that the GNP of CA is $3.4 trillion no other state is close to that. Additionally, they are number one in agriculture, number seven in oil production. Number one is tourism and then there is Silicon Valley and the major international ports.
All and all they seem to be in fairly good shape.
That's great for you and bad for those younger.
Well screw them then, rednecks.
Nope. Never heard of it. We moved to Canoga Park after about a year. I was about 11yrs old
It's right on the edge of Whittier, it's one of the oldest Spanish land grants in CA.
Canoga Park, one end of LA to the other.
Yes, California is great place to be rich and the very poor. Its designed to be that be that way. Land use restrictions make sure not enough homes are built and so housing is always at a premium. Affordable housing is the street corner.
It's why California has the highest poverty rate is perennially among the leader in income inequality. Great for you, sucks for the middle class who are leaving the state in doves.
Native Son. That's me! Los Angeles is the greatest city in the world. I have traveled to many wonderful places around the globe, but there is no place like our town.
Love Los Lobos, too.
Mississippi...Number one again...
That it is. That spot on the beach is five blocks from my office.
I didn't know you were a Californian. Was there when I was really young. I just remember the water was cold. Haha
Fun with internet collected statistics.
I have heard that carrier pigeons really resent being called 'doves'.
/s
Good advice, don't swim in the Pacific above Monterey.
If the sharks or Orcas don't get you the hypothermia will.
Quickly
There was a vid a while back where some people on their boat filmed a seal that was being chased by orcas and the seal jumped on their boat. They started to freak out as the orcas circled the boat.
You are so lucky. Carmel is a place of unsurpassed beauty. I've thought about moving there many times. It may happen some day, except that I love where I live so much.
Technically I'm a buckeye, born and raised in Ohio but moved to CA about 30 years ago now.
Seems that they are having another type of problem as well:
It is happening here: Massachusetts has a growing neo-Nazi movement
So I take it you won't be moving to California but will stay with the cheeseheads.
Good to know.
Massachusetts is another blue state. I'm not like some people. I don't defend where I live like it's some kind of sports team.
So let's continue:
1. According to the Insurance Research Council, Massachusetts drivers really are the worst.
In RI they call them "Mass holes."
2. Massachusetts has the second highest suicide rate in the nation, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. New York is the only state with a higher rate.
Interesting.
3. Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to ban “happy hour.”
And we close bars in Boston at 2 AM. The T used to close at 1 AM.
4. Massachusetts has one of the highest concentrations of poor working women in the nation, according to a study by the Working Poor Families Project. The report finds that nearly half of the state’s low-income households are headed by single mothers struggling in low wage jobs.
It has to be up there with CA, yet MA has nowhere near the poverty level of CA. MA is one of the states with the highest levels of income.
5. A shocking 85 percent of crimes on Cape Cod are opiate-drug related. In fact, HBO recently released a documentary entitled "Heroin: Cape Cod, U.S.A."
I'll bet. And don't bother taking your little kids to Provincetown. There are some novel sights there.
6. Massachusetts has TWO of the Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in North America, according to an international animal protection organization. Buttonwood Zoo ranked 5th worst, and Southwick Zoo came in 10th place.
In the words of Norm Macdonald: "Oh Lord!"
7. According to the most recent data, almost 25 percent of adults in Massachusetts are obese.
MA is top heavy with professional people who sit on their asses all day.
8. The city of Boston ranks 8th in the nation when it comes to Googling depression-related terms, according to Google Trends.
How will the state live that down?
9. Of the top 50 most violent cities and towns in Massachusetts, nine belonged to Worcester County. This is according to the latest FBI crime statistics.
Worcester County contains Worcester (the states second largest city). Gee, I wonder what kind of population can be found there?
10. Forbes ranked recently Massachusetts as the 5th worst state in the nation for retirement.
It's very expensive, like all blue states.
11. Massachusetts has three of the worst highway the country, according to the The American Highway Users Alliance.
Right up there with CA's neglected freeways.
12. Massachusetts ranks among the lowest states in the nation when it comes to giving its citizens access to state documents and public records. This ranking comes from the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization.
Now there's something to ponder.
Let me clue you in: There are only two reasons why I haven't moved to Florida: One is 5 years old and the other 4.
One other thing: Your sorry defense of the peoples republic of California has failed dramatically.
A worked in the culture of California. I'll give you credit for trying.
You know it's a shitty city when they have an app like that.
It wasn't a defense. It was a lesson for your few devoted readers;
just like your asinine condemnation of a state you have never lived in,
all you did was collect bias political BS to bolster your evil opinions
of people you imagine to be defective.
It's easy. Anyone who can ask the question correctly, can find whatever
negative tripe they want on the internet to condemn another state.
It's easy. It proves nothing except your intolerance and lack of objectivity.
I am sure I proved that point pretty clearly.
At least I served my 3 years in California and have the memories,
good and bad and indifferent
Sounds like a weak excuse. Move to Florida, abandon the snow, the cold
and the greyness. You will do yourself and your family a service.
Break those old habits, you will be rejuvenated by both the weather and the
Floridians in spite of their politics.
I enjoyed that.
I spent TDY time in RI and found all of them to be Americans, first & foremost.
I read the article and at first I thought it said preparation H instead of proposition H. They did get rid of what seems to be a major pain in the ass though so maybe the former is appropriate.
Progressivism met reality and progressivism lost, again.
Utopian movements that deny human nature never do well at governing.
The progressive brand will be totally discredited for the near future.
The bad part is all the ruined lives left in it's wake.
This is the wikipedia page of his mother:
Kathy Boudin (May 19, 1943 – May 1, 2022) [1] was an American leftist terrorist and convicted murderer. She was a member of the radical left militant organization Weather Underground who was convicted of felony murder for her role in the 1981 Brink's robbery . The robbery resulted in the killing of two Nyack, New York , police officers and one security guard, and serious injury to another security guard. [2] Boudin was released from prison on parole in 2003 and became an adjunct professor at Columbia University . [3]
Explains so much about our country.
Thanks Kavika, my fault for believing a website called Public Policy Institute of California.