Notes, quotes, special election dust motes

In case you just joined us, Measure A is the only item on the March 4 ballot — an amendment to the San Mateo County Charter proposed put on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors that would give them the authority to fire Corpus by a four-vote supermajority of the five-member board.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the impending campaign, I am compelled to comment on one dubious argument against the charter amendment, promulgated most recently in an editorial in another newspaper: That the charter amendment is the wrong way to oust Corpus, and she should be recalled instead. This is an opinion I once expressed. But it has become a moot point.

This measure is unequivocally and unmistakably a referendum on Corpus. Approval of the measure can be understood only one way: The voters want her gone. To think there should be some other way to do this is to wish for a set of circumstances that does not exist. What will a recall tell us that this charter amendment would not? It is, in the precision of the cliché, a distinction without a difference.

This is the election. There is no other election.

A recall election might not end up on the ballot for a full year; it is clear the Corpus crisis of leadership exists now, and that there is genuine concern that the Sheriff’s Office is adrift, lacking actual leadership from the top. And it is worse than you may have thought.

Over the past several days, interviews with staff throughout the Sheriff’s Office paint a picture of a sheriff who has been a virtual absentee. It is a problem that arose long before the dozens of complaints percolated to the surface, resulting in the report by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell that described an office replete with intimidation, retaliation and sordid misconduct by Corpus and her sidekick, the good doctor, Victor Aenlle.

Ordinarily, the sheriff meets twice a month with management staff — captains, lieutenants and top civilian staff. She has not held a management meeting since May of 2023, according to internal sources who agreed to talk about the office management with a guarantee of anonymity. There has not been a meeting with the command staff — captains and above — since Corpus fired Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan in September, sources said. The sheriff customarily attends meetings of the rank-and-file groups — the Organization of Sheriffs Sergeants and the Deputy Sheriffs Association. Corpus has not attended meetings with either group since July.

While the daily functioning of the office continues, policy and planning priorities are lagging, including training requests and internal investigations. “Things are grinding to a halt,” one source said.

I spoke last week with Sheriff Corpus to ask her about the allegations that she had stopped holding key command meetings. She said it was “not accurate.” She said she would provide a list of meetings she has held over the last several months. I reached out to her again this week to inquire about the follow-up material she said she would provide. She did not respond.

About an hour after our initial interview, Corpus did issue an internal memo announcing she would hold a command staff meeting Feb. 5.

Meanwhile, the Yes on A campaign will be dropping a mail piece next week, timed to coincide with the arrival of the ballots.

The committee, led by the DSA, raised more than $75,000 in the two weeks since it was organized, with more to come from throughout the state.

Corpus has raised no money in her campaign committee, reported $18,000 in outstanding debt, including $10,800 she is owed personally, and reported having $517 in cash in her campaign treasury.

And the San Mateo County Central Labor Council will weigh in independently of the DSA committee with digital ads and its always-impactful phone banking. The Labor Council, through various committees, has more than $1.6 million in funds available for campaigns, including this one.

So, it begins in earnest. The campaign strategists think turnout could be as high as 40% — extraordinary for an off-year special election.

A motivated yes campaign versus a nonexistent no campaign: The betting here is that the yes vote will exceed 70%.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.