SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – San Francisco Mayor London Breed is chalking up new District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' reportedly "icy" first meeting with staff last week as a reality of turnover in the top prosecutor's office, rather than a reflection of potential discord.
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During an interview with KCBS Radio's Patti Reising and Kris Ankarlo on Monday afternoon, Breed downplayed SFGATE’s report from last Friday detailing Jenkins' "horrible" first meeting with about 25 senior staffers.
"Well, previous DAs have always had challenging starts to their term," Breed said of the meeting. "I will say that this is not about one particular individual. This is about trying to maintain public safety, and part of that is going in – which is what the DA did, went in with an open mind and having a conversation with the senior staff to talk about ways to move the office forward. And sadly, there are some people there who aren't very interested in doing that."
One attendee told SFGATE Breed's deputy chief of staff attended as a "chaperone," and the mayor's office told the outlet that Andrea Bruss was there to provide "basic transitional support" without contributing to "any policy making or discussions in the office."
Recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin appointed many of the staffers in attendance, some of whom reportedly felt Jenkins "crossed a line" with her sharp criticism of Boudin when campaigning for his recall. Jenkins, a former prosecutor in the district attorney's office, resigned last October and promptly joined the most prominent committee seeking Boudin’s ouster.
Jenkins met with staff for about 20 minutes, and the attendees – requesting anonymity due to fearing retaliation – told the outlet that the new district attorney "did not offer many specifics on how she would run the office" until a staffer asked for "any concrete directives."
The 40-year-old then reportedly told staff to review every case in which a suspect was offered but had not accepted a plea, narrowing it to drug cases – without differentiating between cases of misdemeanor possession and felony possession with intent to sell – after a staffer said the initial instruction would involve reviewing thousands of cases.
Jenkins, according to the attendees, opened her remarks by saying she still cared for the Boudin hires despite campaigning against him and ended it by announcing plans to meet with some staffers soon for a "reshuffling" of the district attorney's office.
"I think she's gonna do a really great job for the city," Breed added. “And what that’s gonna require is for her to have various meetings and to have different conversations with folks, and hope that they are willing to not make this about one person, but more so about the job and public safety in San Francisco. And I know she is bringing that to the table for sure."
Breed said in a press conference last Thursday that Jenkins, who has labeled herself a progressive, would "strike the balance" between reforms and accountability. Jenkins said then that she hadn’t decided which of Boudin's policies she wanted to extend or end. She previously said that prosecutors should be able to use cash bail, charge minors as adults and implement gang-related and "three strikes" sentencing enhancements, all of which Boudin ended or actively opposed.
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