Hennessy defeats scandal-plagued Mirkarimi in S.F. sheriff race

Former Chief Deputy Sheriff Vicki Hennessy won her bid Tuesday to unseat Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who cast himself as an innovator in the hidebound law enforcement community but was dragged down by a series of personal and professional controversies.

In the race to lead the agency, whose primary role is overseeing San Francisco’s jails, Hennessy ran a low-key campaign that drew support from the deputies’ union and nearly every politician at City Hall. She called herself an effective manager. Mirkarimi claimed she was too much of an insider to push through needed reforms.

With 42 percent of precincts counted, Hennessy had 63 percent of the votes, with Mirkarimi trailing at 31 percent. John Robinson, a former lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Department, was picking up 6 percent of the votes.

The outcome matched expectations as many doubted whether Mirkarimi could come back from the litany of controversies that emerged from the department under his leadership, as well as from his personal missteps.

Before he was even sworn in as sheriff, his standing in City Hall was shaken when he was charged in connection with bruising his wife’s arm in 2012. Hennessy was appointed interim sheriff as Mayor Ed Lee fought to remove Mirkarimi from office, making him political poison from almost the beginning of his term.


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Hennessy-leads-Mirkarimi-in-S-F-sheriff-race-6609175.php?cmpid=brknow