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tv   [untitled]    August 25, 2012 6:00pm-6:30pm PDT

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this is how i felt about the initial press coverage and the charges against the mayor. seeing something that was not there, demanding vengeance, shocking to watch as they made every effort to destroy family, a career, not unlike some 16th century witch hunt. i believe this has been a witch hunt and a scary time for our community. if what can happen between them can be front-page news, many citizens should be run out of town. he was being tried in the court and then in the news and then before the ethics commission. people are outraged, but what about the assassination of the abortion doctor in colorado?
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how many articles are there about the rape of women in chicago? [tone] has anyone brought up the fact that women are second-class citizens? or that 13 congressmen have recently voted against the reissuing of the violence against women act. this is the oldest trick in the book. ecuador today gave julien has launched asylum. -- julian a staunch asylum. [tone] [no audio] >> good afternoon, members of the commission. my name is arthur. i am an hispanic transgender woman. i am also an elected delegate to the 2012 national convention.
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i am here today to express my support for sheriff ross mirkarimi. i believe the evidence presented against tampa does not warrant -- against him does not warrant his removal from office. the public elected him overwhelmingly. he is a very popular shared in our communityñilp, and he is the kind of shares that makes me feel safe. given that there is a lot of trafficking of women in united states and, some say, in san francisco, i would ask that all of his efforts that have been put toward ross be put toward all of these crimes against women, much more serious human crimes. i would ask that we reevaluate the situation and hold hearings
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on matters of severe concern to the city and county of san francisco. thank you and have a great day. [applause] >> money ms. lindsay. -- my name is lindsay. my son and lies in the san francisco police department and he thinks this is a travesty, because he knows of many instances that are much more severe that are not prosecuted. this is a very minor domestic violence case. i can only see it as a consolidation of power, political power kind of effort. the last hearing, there was very instructive testimony by a lesbian woman, who was credentialed as much as a domestic violence worker. in her case, she was one of the first people to talk to ms.
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lopez. you could hear in the background begging them not to call police. this is a case that has been blown out of proportion and has cost the taxpayers a lot of money. it is not about domestic violence. it is destroying a family, and a child, too. i hope you consider that in your vote. thank you for your time. [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is jeff myers. i have not prepared any remarks. i hope you will be refreshed to know that. i do not want to repeat any of the accusations, critiques of procedure, or interests that have been represented. i merely want to be here to testify as to the absolute
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probity of ross under every single circumstance that i have seen him engaged. he has always been the perfect advocate for women's rights, for the sensitivity to all minority and disadvantaged people. and i have seen that borne out in a long time as i have spent alone with him in the field. i have seen the note do things that did not please ross. it -- theo do things that did not please ross. and i've seen how perfectly calmly calmlytheo -- perfectly calmly theo accepts the
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judicious discipline of its parent. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is kathrin. i have no rocket -- ross mirkarimi for years and -- i have nallen ross mirkarimi ifor years -- i have known ross mirkarimi for years and i think he will make a very good cheer. this has been a witch hunt. i hope we will put this much energy into other matters that have been referred to this commission, as the civic league sunshine complaint 11-049, the parks and rex department, notice of willful for guerrier -- willful failure and its conductor this was referred to
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you by the 2011 sunshine task force and has yet to be aired by this commission. i respectfully ask you why that is. i ask you to show everyone you are not today following a political agenda. please, follow up on the complaint i mentioned, 11-049. this will show that you're trying to follow your heart. and please reinstate ross mirkarimi. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is michael o'connor. i am a small business person. i just finished two terms on the small business commission and i'm a resident of district 5. i witnessed the above and beyond call of duty that -- approach
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that then supervisor mirkarimi took to our district. we saw him shoring up nightly in the middle of the night -- shelling out nightly in the middle of the night to homicide scenes because he wanted to put these incredible passion into our district up to the front. he worked as hard as anyone in this building. as a former commissioner, i would ask that all five of you really look at yourself. you cannot call in this vote. you cannot go upstairs -- you have to go with your conscience on this. this man is a good man. he made a mistake. none of us are perfect job but under no circumstance candies votes be called in. -- canby's votes be called in.
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i quit my commission because i and another commissioner, we both great, because we saw on our commission votes being called in. he has a right to stay as our sheriff. >> my name is jim. i've had the privilege of knowing ross for over seven years. he was my supervisor and i aggressively supported him in his run for sheriff. when i walked into the room, there was a woman speaking very passionately on his behalf. i could say did go on everything that she said. instead, i would like to take a slightly different point of view. i also serve on the district attorney's community board on low-level crimes and getting
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restored a justice process. we brought in a speaker from oakland who gave a very informative speech about how restorative justice is really what we are after. not only with misdemeanors and infractions, but they should be front and center in our minds with more important crimes. after lunch, i asked the district attorney, isn't this almost a poster child case of -- clearly, something happened here, and now we have a wonderful person who loves his wife and child, is well suited to this job. it shouldn't we be seeking restorative justice so we move forward constructively? he said, yes, as soon as ross plead guilty to something, then we can have the restorative process began. [tone] i would look to you to think about where there is
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restoration. his wife clear they want him to keep his post. the public is very strongly behind him. look to the restorative thing. here we have a fabulous public servant who is very dedicated. we look to you so that this can move forward and be instructive. [tone] >> i will speak as an individual and as a member of the san francisco green party. throughout the years, efforts have been becoming more green. on the day that the u.s. decided to invade afghanistan, i've worked on many campaigns, including ross's in 2004. i was in his office in 2004 and
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in 2005. we eventually became aware -- as the previous gentleman said, restore give justice. it was his hallmark in -- restorative justice. it was his hallmark on a lot of the legislation that he worked on. ever since the incident happened between him and his wife, i have seen the party going from a position of doubt -- especially among the female members of our party and those who are advocates for domestic riots. you basically have two separate issues. the issue of domestic violence, which me and most of the doubters now believe that he has taken due course.
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[tone] but most of all, i believe that in terms of the green party, we would like to see ross reinstated to his position. we believe that is the way their processes unravel. we believe the process is two separate issues. that is, the domestic violence park, which we believe he is dealing with. and the fact that -- [tone] [no audio] >> i am a civil engineer practicing in san francisco. i do not know mr. mirkarimi personally, but i have followed what happened. the question is of ethics. i am sure you are all ethical persons. even an unethical person thinks
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that he or she is an ethical person. the question of ethics is not what you think. you have to be in a position to act as an ethical person. i watched mirkarimi during the whole process. i have seen him be very ethical, very gentlemanly through the whole process. i have not seen anybody even coming close to him as his actions being ethical. i hope that you can see him in action. follow what he has done during the whole process. he has seen a lot of injustice, but acted very ethically. ithanks very much. >> good afternoon.
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my name is barry. i live in san rafael, but i have been following these hearings on line. and at the same time, looking at your background. on the web site you have your biographees. each of you were appointed by a different entity. three of you were appointed by parties that have a very important concern in this process. i think it is important, whenever your decision, that you talk about the fact that the person who appointed you may decide that you may not be wanted it to stay on this commission. i have filed a couple of complaints about a former mta board member, who is no longer on the board. who actually helped bring a lawsuit against the city as a
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result of some of his participation in the process. he was sticking his nose where he should not. and i asked for your help in this, and i got some help from staff, but it should have gone further. my concern is, you're supposed to deal with ethics and not with politics. that is the truth. and if you do, you need to a knowledge that is in your opinion. [tone] in the yiddish we have a word. i watched ms. lopez during the trial. she is a beautiful face. she can take care of herself. if you do not believe that, it
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becomes a political ploy because people were disappointed in the election. [tone] thank you. >> commissioners, my name is debra walker. it i stand here in support of ross mirkarimi, ms. lopez, and theo, the family that has been most affected by this process. i paid attention. i watched as the questions were asked by europe -- by you all. this is a process that never should have happened. and everything after that fact has been created to justify a bad act. initially, there should not have been harshness between people love each other. as people who have families, you probably understand it gets to that point. but this process, especially the removal of an elected official, it should never have begun. i feel for you because it was begun and you have had to go
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through the process of wading through the mountains of evidence. i understand that you have the lot to look at here. and that is what i suggest you do. the facts from the people who were there, ross and ms. lopez arte all the people whose testimony matters here. what we are seeing now, and what we saw from the beginning of this case is the highly on to justify, i think, the responsible act of putting this forward. as a voter in san francisco and someone who voted for ross mirkarimi every time he has run -- [tone] i ask you to honor my vote and a vote of over 85,000 people who asked for this man to be our sheriff. certainly, this process has punished not just ross, but
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ileana and audio -- theo as well. you have the power to stop it. [tone] thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. my name is michael. i am a city resident and supporter of ross mirkarimi. thank you for letting me speak and the work that you're doing on this. it has not been an easy process. i have watched these proceedings from the beginning. just as a side note, i was here during the bomb threat for the mayor. it would have been nice if you could have told some of us about it, just so we did not get blown up, but whenever. what is going on here is that two people had a personal problem that they did not want
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turn into a personal reality show. the share of mercury me was elected by the people. -- share if mirkarimi was elected by the people. as you can see it today by having to listen to the testimony, you can see as many supporters. i urge you not to uphold the charges. thank you very much. >> that afternoon, commissioners. >> you can raise the microphone. it moves. >> i come here for truth and justice for all. and i think i stand for ross mirkarimi on this matter. i want to read something for you here.
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i think that mr. ross mirkarimi having already pled guilty of the lesser crime of domestic violence. and he met the payments and sanctions. to think that he should be pleading for his position as an elected official, in my opinion, that constitutes double jeopardy. no one should be tried -- tried twice for the same crime. if it is a crime. as a reminder, just a few requirements for moving an official, which i learned from the books. gross negligence, [unintelligible]
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and gross incompetence. i think we should not try the family here. [tone] we should promote family unity. if the wife stands for the has been -- for the husband, then no one should jeopardize that interest for the sake of justice and truth. thank you. [applause] >> my name is michael. i live in district 5. i am a 35-year resident of san francisco. i would like to ask the people on the ethics commission weather during their lives they have never done anything that they regret.
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something that happened out of anger, possibly, or something that happened out of greed, or even out of stupidity. i wonder if there is anybody on the ethics commission that will answer that. i feel this is a political case. i know there are other factors involved, but to me, this boils down to a political case. there are people within city -- the city, whether it is the mayor, williexdlp brown, rose p, etc. who have been foreseen this as an issue from the get go. the chronicle editorial every day for the first couple of weeks -- i knew there was something fishy going on and much more than just the case of
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the share collect -- the sheriff's elect getting into an argument with his wife. [tone] i do not know your background. i do not know the background of the commission and what politics are involved in the commission. i just hope that you make the right decision, because if you do not, i believe there will be a very strong movement against the mayor and against the policies that have brought this on. thank you. >> i will be brief. i really like ross mirkarimi and i like the work he did as a supervisor. but in the position of one of the lost law enforcement
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officials in the city, i wonder as a woman if i said to my husband, if he were an abuser, i'm right to get out. and he said to me, the sheriff, they let him keep his job. do you think anyone will listen to you? you need to think about the position that the ads and the message that sends to our city. >> can i ask for a status update as to how many people out outside? eight more. can we bring everyone who is in line right now into the room?
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>> i would like to say that i appreciate the comments of the public. it is the public's right to participate in this process. it is an important and integral part of the process. the comments, of course, are not evidence. and i have noticed that some of the comments have become fairly repetitive. of course, we are not in any way going to limit your right to participate. but i would urge, if there are some who feel that their comments have already been made
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through the voice of others, you would help us in our efforts to hopefully bring an end to this process today, if some of you would consider forgoing the opportunity to speak. again, ii want to be crystal clear that i'm not limiting your right to participate here. just in light of the link the -- the link the -- lengthy proceeding that we have today, please consider your participation. and please be brief. >> i came here today on behalf of a grass-roots organization here in the city of immigrants. i will not take any more of your
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time repeating what you know already. i'm here today to appeal to the sense of justice that you might have been cited you. you are here today because you were rightfully elected for us, the citizens of the city. it is the same as we did with our sheriff. we need him back to work. we need you and to start working for us. -- we need him to start working for us. i want you to consider that. because next time, it might be one of you and we will have to stand here for you, too. we are going to come and say, this is unfair. please, do not do this. i'm here to support ross mirkarimi because we need him right there. at his post. i hope you do something about that. as a latino immigrant, i feel
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highly this respected by all of these people, all of these different organizations here in san francisco supporting families. [tone] this is not a case of domestic violence. we need all of this to be done in a right and just way. thank you for your attention and consideration today. [applause] >> criss evening. my name is michelle. i'm here to stand for not only ross mirkarimi, but for the family and any of you that may go into a situation like this. i think he has done incredible work. i really appeal for you to consider his