Politics

Politics

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is Running For Re-Election Despite Domestic Violence Charge

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is fucked. While some think of him as a victim of an Ed Lee-driven witchhunt against progressives, most see him as a wife-beating monster unfit for office. Voters wanted to see him removed from office by a 2-to-1 margin, political insiders shun him, and tech billionaires are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remind voters of the charges once filed against Mirkarimi.

Yet in spite of being politically finished, Mirkarimi is running for re-election, according to papers filed earlier this year with the city’s Ethics Commission.

Perhaps even more bizarre than the fact Mirkarimi is bothering with running is that he’s keeping the campaign a secret. Typically, politicians celebrate filing re-election paperwork with a rally on the steps of City Hall, hoping to drum up some media attention and campaign donations. But for Mirkarimi, it was just boring old paperwork. In fact, he hasn’t even mentioned the campaign to the press since The Chronicle interviewed him about a prospective run last October.

And when it comes to money, Mirkarimi’s future looks even more grim. Financial data for Mirkarimi’s 2015 campaign committee hasn’t yet been posted by the Ethics Commission. However, his January filing indicates he raised no money in 2013, and his campaign account balance is so low that Wells Fargo is charging him a monthly service fee.

According to The Chronicle, domestic violence advocates are already looking at potential challengers. As Beverly Upton of San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium put it, “I don’t believe that San Francisco will have amnesia.”