Arguing over the arguments

So, this seems like a good time to go over some of the arguments being made by the handful of opponents to Measure A, a proposal to amend the county charter temporarily to empower the Board of Supervisors to fire Corpus.

As noted, the most common comment is that the charter amendment is undemocratic — it negates the vote of the public in 2022 to elect Corpus; the only proper way to oust the sheriff would be a recall. As one commenter put it, “Reversing the outcome of an election is a serious step that should be done directly by voters at the ballot box.”

Yes. Well. If that is the standard, the vote on Measure A will be a specific and unquestionable action “done directly by voters at the ballot box.” More than two years after Corpus was elected, when an entirely new set of facts is available, this vote does not cancel the previous election. It is a subsequent vote of the public that supersedes a prior vote of the public.

The next item is that all this hoo-ha is backlash from the “old boys’” network that is, as Corpus wrote in one of her recent screeds, “driven by union leadership and their ranking allies resistant to change and tied to the previous administration.”

Yes. Well. Many of the sheriff’s personnel who are objecting to Corpus’ leadership, often implemented by her close, personal friend, the good doctor, Victor Aenlle, were supporters of Corpus in 2022. They signed up for a change in the status quo. And she brought in well-credentialed outsiders and put them in key positions. But she ceded most of her authority to Aenlle, and, one by one, these outsiders — hardly part of the club — have left, driven to resign or fired for failing to follow unethical, improper and possibly illegal, orders from the sheriff and Aenlle.

Corpus has said the attacks on her are attempts to bully her, intimidate her and even retaliate for the changes she has been making.

But just such conduct has been the unfortunate hallmark of the Corpus regime. Those who have raised ethical and organizational concerns have been transferred, subjected to internal charges and even harassed. Most notably, Corpus directed the arrest of Carlos Tapia, the president of the Deputy Sheriffs Association on charges that were swiftly backhanded away by District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. More recently, despite an order barring him from the Sheriff’s Office, Corpus personally escorted Aenlle into the building. Photos showed he was wearing a pistol at the time. This created an atmosphere of intimidation among employees in the office, some of whom had cooperated with an independent investigation into the Sheriff’s Office. Indeed, it looks as though it was calculated to intimidate the staff.

When Corpus ran in 2022, she promised unprecedented transparency. She has been transparent, but not in the way she probably wanted us to think.

After I asked her about staff meetings she repeatedly failed to hold, Corpus held a meeting with command staff. I am told it lasted well over an hour. Immediately after the meeting, Corpus issued a memo announcing widespread changes in assignments. Given the ongoing environment, it is easy to conclude the memo is a precursor to retaliation against those who have been critical of the sheriff. Meanwhile, Corpus has ordered an investigation focused on Tapia, despite the district attorney’s opinion about the dubious basis for his arrest.

What is profoundly evident is that if Corpus remains in office, we can expect more of the same and, quite likely, worse. This is the fundamental issue at hand in this election.

Meanwhile, looking beyond the results of Measure A, it may not be too soon to ask what happens once the public votes to send Corpus on her way. Everything about her conduct to date — her relentless defiance, her inexplicable loyalty to Aenlle, her self-identification as a victim — strongly suggest she might refuse to leave.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He co-hosts a podcast/videocast that can be found at TheGamePeninsula.com, and he can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.