It has been slightly more than a week since the public disclosure of a boatload of previously sealed documents making the case for dismissal against San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus. Those of us who slogged through all this, um, stuff, can tell you the documents confirm what has been said up to now, and, in particular, what was in the report last year by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell.
One of the criticisms levied by Corpus was that Cordell’s sources were unnamed. Not anymore. There are dozens of people named in the documents as sources of and witnesses to the allegations of misconduct, mismanagement, retaliation and intimidation by Corpus and her hand-picked second-in-command, the good doctor Victor Aenlle.
The most noteworthy section was a transcript of a June 12 presentation by Corpus as part of the hearing conducted by Chief Probation Officer John Keene.
She presents herself as a long-standing victim, subjected to sexist and racist slurs from her earliest days in the office. Her victimization continued through her tenure as sheriff as the office hierarchy — captains, lieutenants and sergeants — resisted her efforts to implement change and undermined her at every turn. She repeated her claims that County Executive Mike Callagy meddled in her office, despite an independent report that debunks the claims. She said the rank-and-file deputies support her, which does not explain the overwhelming vote of no confidence taken by the Deputy Sheriff’s Association nearly a year ago.
And so it went. In the end, her attorney, Thomas “Tip” Mazzucco, led her through the assertion that this was all an effort to undermine the implementation of “21st century policing” practices. That is why she hired Aenlle as her chief of staff and executive director of administration, Corpus said. After all, she said, he had been a reserve deputy and had a doctorate. The accusation that Corpus and Aenlle were having an affair is alleged by five eyewitnesses, according to the documents. Corpus acknowledged that Aenlle had been a family friend for 18 years, but denied they were romantically involved.
It remains a puzzle why Mazzucco allowed the public release of these documents that had been sealed at his request on behalf of Corpus. He says this is all politically motivated, but nothing in the documents seems to buttress this case.
Yes, we know some of you — maybe most, maybe all — are sick of reading about the sheriff. But the sheriff is the leading law enforcement figure in the county, perhaps the most powerful elected official in the county. Salacious details notwithstanding, this is unprecedented — not just here, but anywhere in California. And it is far from over.
It could end, of course. Corpus could resign and save everyone, including herself, months of pain. This is not going to happen. As I have said before, if she resigns, I will eat this column.
THE LANDED GENTRY: County Assessor Mark Church issued his annual report on property values and — stand by for news — it is expensive to live here.
Here is the housing crisis in a nutshell: commercial projects accounted for 56% of all major developments in 2024-25; residential accounted for 21%; mixed-use projects accounted for 16%.
The Property Assessment Roll — the total assessed value of all the property in the county — increased by $17.7 billion to a record total of $325.5 billion. This is the 14th year in a row a record has been set; the combined assessment roll has nearly doubled in 14 years.
It is an upside-down set of statistics. Construction of commercial property is growing at nearly three times the rate of residential property, but the increase in assessed value is being driven by residential property. More office space means more jobs, which means more people looking for a place to live, which means higher housing prices.
BIG BILL: The Peninsula’s two members of Congress voted against President Trump’s signature legislative package. Rep. Sam Liccardo said in a news release he voted “hell no.” The customarily sedate Rep. Kevin Mullin said the bill “is a middle finger to the future.” Yep, that’ll do it.
OK. So what now? What next? Anything? We know what you are against, and that was a failure as a campaign message in 2024. What are you for?
As Clem de la Clem said the other day, it would be nice if the Dems were half as deft as the Reeps at succinct, unified messaging. He wanted them to call it the Big Billionaire Bailout Bill.
YIP YIP: Here is a newsy headline from the Interweb: “How to stay safe during coyote season.” I thought I was. There’s a coyote season?
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.
(3) comments
Thanks, Mr. Simon, for your continued “As the Sheriff’s World Turns” updates. At this rate, methinks many or all of SMC supervisors will term out before Sheriff Corpus’s term expires. And it wouldn’t be surprising if Sheriff Corpus serves her entire term. For elected folks who are accused of wrongdoing, apply the lessons Sheriff Corpus is teaching in how to confound SMC “leaders.” Perhaps Sheriff Corpus’s next career move is to be a consultant to elected officials accused of wrongdoing. And how they can delay the process for what feels like forever.
As for Mr. Liccardo’s and Mr. Mullin’s votes against the OBBB, we have to wonder why both of them are giving taxpayers the middle finger by essentially voting to increase taxes, considerably. Seems to me that that is the Dems unified messaging – hate Trump more than they love America, regardless of how it affects everyone else.
Mr. Y. You seem to keep yourself reasonably well informed on issues of social import and are eager to share your opinions. Today, you warn of cataclysmic the tax increases that would have ostensibly descended had the reconciliation bill not passed. Would you please quantify your assertion and let your readers know exactly how much your taxes would have increased in the case of such a dire circumstance? And doing so in the main Letters space would provide you a broader audience with which to share that information and bolster your case. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for your response, Mick. We know that if the One Big Beautiful Bill did not pass, tax rates would revert to levels before that of Trump’s original Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA). And that means income taxes would increase for all taxpayers, some considerably. The following link provides a summary of how the TCJA affected personal taxes (https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-did-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-change-personal-taxes) before and after the TCJA. For quick reference, the following link provides a summary of the new OBBB tax law (https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/one-big-beautiful-bill). As you can see from the link the SALT deduction cap was increased considerably, meaning homeowners will see a further decrease in taxes. For those with children, the Child Tax Credit was increased. There are also temporary provisions which provide further income tax reductions for those who qualify.
Each person will encounter different levels of tax savings but they will see tax savings. You can search for estimates of what percentage income taxes are reduced (from very high to very low) but the bottom line is they all agree income taxes are reduced thanks to the OBBB. To borrow from one of Obama’s favorite sayings, “make no mistake,” everyone’s taxes are decreased with the OBBB than without.
For kicks, one can use the Big Beautiful Bill Tax Calculator (https://www.bigbeautifulbilltaxcalculator.com/) to see their rough level of tax savings. If I enter my total annual income from last year, I would see tax savings of almost $6000 with the OBBB from the current TCJA (Most likely due to the SALT limit increase). Beware though, knowing California, I’m sure they’ll try to increase state taxes or restrict federal deductions to take some of everyone’s OBBB savings.
I appreciate the suggestion to submit a Letter to the Editor. My time is better spent responding to multiple letters and articles and correcting their fake news and lies, as needed, as well as debunking hysterical screeching/Dem talking points due to Trump Derangement Syndrome. To return the favor, I’d request you take the time to add more of your two cents to whatever issues you find interesting. Who knows, myself or others may learn something new about an issue or the respondent’s thought processes and frame of reference. Always a good thing, in my book. Have a great day! Looking forward, hopefully, to more engagement from you.
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