San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin Supporters Launch PAC To Thwart Recall Effort
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- The fight between critics and supporters of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is heating up as those spearheading a recall movement are now facing off against supporters of Boudin who have launched a new political action committee.
Recall organizers will submit their latest campaign finance figures Monday. They point to sharp increases in property crimes like burglaries in 2020, the first year in office for the former public defender.
"People like Mr. Boudin are actually protecting the criminals and that's what a public defender does and that's what his expertise is," said Recall Chesa Boudin organizer and former San Francisco mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg.
But Boudin's supporters highlight how most violent crimes have dropped since this time last year.
"Violent crimes such as rape assault and robberies have all gone down in San Francisco and overall crime has dropped by 30% the last year, so I do think that we have to look at the whole picture," said San Francisco Rising Action Fund Director Emily Ja-Ming Lee.
In 2020, violent crimes overall dropped by double digits, but the same data from the San Francisco Police Department show property crimes like burglaries jumped by more than 50%.
"The proponents of the recall are kind of cherry-picking very specific things to say like this increases because of DA Boudin, but we actually have to look at the entire picture that overall crime is down in San Francisco," said Lee.
"This is unfathomable in previous years, that we would ever have to do this and that someone who has no experience at all in prosecuting criminals has actually gotten elected, and now we have to go through a process to remove him," said Greenberg.
San Franciscans against the recall of Chesa Boudin and Real Justice recently launched a website seeking donations and support.
"Setting up this anti-recall campaign is really about saying voters voted to elect Chesa Boudin as our district attorney. Let's actually let them carry out the will of the voters," said Lee.
Recall organizers say they've now raised more than $130,000 before they officially submit records on Monday.
They need more than 50,000 verified signatures for the recall to qualify and be put on the ballot by early August.
