At any other time Nancy Tung, an Assistant District Attorney in neighboring Alameda County, would have passed muster and been voted to sit on San Francisco’s Police Commission.
She is definitely qualified to sit on the Commission based on her long time legal experience.
These are not normal times. Tung, who ran a spirited campaign for District Attorney in 2019, was arguably the most conservative of the four candidates regarding her views of criminal prosecution.
That said, Tung is very honest and forthright in expressing her views. True, she would have been an advocate for strong law enforcement. She also would have brought her integrity, background and knowledge to the Commission.
Tung would not have been swayed by rhetoric and posturing. She would have taken up each matter on its merit. Tung is yet another casualty in the ongoing political trench warfare in San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle 6.10.2020
Both of Mayor London Breed’s nominees for Police Commission are officially out.
The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday rejected the nomination of Nancy Tung by a 10-1 vote, with many saying the prosecutor did not possess a desired track record of advocacy or action around police reform. Attorney Geoffrey Gordon-Creed withdrew his candidacy for the police watchdog group earlier in the day, correctly predicting that he too wouldn’t win a majority of the votes.
The denials came amid a national uprising over police use of force and accountabilty, as communities around the globe reel over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on May 25. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
George Floyd and his accused killer ex-cop Derek Chauvin
Tung, who is supportive of police using Tasers and accepted a donation from the San Francisco Police Officers Association during her run for district attorney, was the wrong person to lead this charge, supervisors said Tuesday.
Supervisor Shamann Walton said it would be disrespectful to the black community to support Tung’s appointment.
“That comes from my heart as a black man,” he said.
Supervisor Catherine Stefani cast the lone vote supporting Tung. She said the board ought to give careful consideration to a candidate put forward by a black mayor with a personal family history studded with incidents of violence and involvement with the criminal justice system. Breed’s bother is serving a 44-year sentence for a manslaughter conviction and, as Breed has recently revealed, her cousin was killed by San Francisco police in 2006.
In a statement, Tung said she was “disappointed” that some of the supervisors mischaracterized or failed to familiarize themselves with her record.
“I am proud to have been nominated by Mayor London Breed for the Police Commission,” she said. “While the outcome of the Board of Supervisors’ vote is not surprising to me, I stand firmly behind my professional record as someone who is independent, fair, and willing to challenge authority to do what is right.”
The board also tacitly rejected Gordon-Creed, another Breed nominee. Gordon-Creed, a former deputy city attorney, withdrew his nomination in a letter to Breed Tuesday, saying he lacked “sufficient support” from the board to confirm him.
Breed will now be tasked with recommending two more nominees.
“The mayor has spent her career leading on the issue of police reform and she just announced that she will be leading the effort to redirect funding from the San Francisco Police Department to support the black community,” Lynch said. “This is the type of action this moment calls for, and the board needs to stop holding critical commission seats vacant when we have real, important work to do.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/SF-supervisors-reject-London-Breed-s-nominees-15328824.php
Lee's Perspective 