Lee Heidhues 8.12.2022
There’s a tried and true axiom in politics. “Follow the money.”
Puppet DA Brooke Jenkins assertion that she was simply a “Volunteer” in the Coup d’etat against her former boss, DA Chesa Boudin is a flat out lie.
The disclosure of Jenkins being paid over $100,000 to promote the Recall of her former boss ads fuel to the fire surrounding the chief law enforcement officer in San Francisco.
When Jenkins was a City employee she lived in Union City. After she quit her job and became a “Volunteer” Jenkins moved into a $6,000 a month Condo in San Francisco.
If this assertion is true the question is “How could a “Volunteer” afford such a pricey rent?”
This is just another of the questions swirling around Brooke Jenkins. Her record of prosecutorial misconduct as an Assistant District Attorney is a matter of public record.
The San Francisco Chronicle took a dive into the available public records. Jenkins quit her job as an Assistant District Attorney last October. Shortly thereafter Jenkins went to work on the campaign to oust Chesa Boudin.
Her salary as a City employee was approximately $170,000 yearly.
According to the public records Jenkins was paid approximately $115,000 between October 2021 and June 2022. That comes out to approximately $15,000 monthly. The same amount she made as an Assistant District Attorney.
None of this was reported in the months before the June 7 Recall vote.
Was “Volunteer” Jenkins promised financial compensation in return for working on the Recall before she quit her job with DA Chesa Boudin?
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 8.12.2022
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is under scrutiny after disclosing she was paid more than $100,000 by a nonprofit organization linked to the recall campaign of her predecessor and former boss, Chesa Boudin — a campaign for which she was the most prominent spokesperson.
Jenkins maintains she was a volunteer for the campaign.
Her critics say this characterization, and her prior failure to disclose the payment, amounts to a misrepresentation of her role in the recall.
This information was listed in a routine public document known as a Form 700 that Jenkins filed after her appointment by Mayor London Breed. That appointment, and Jenkins’ pledge to increase punishments for criminal defendants, has pleased many recall backers while infuriating many progressives who favored Boudin’s push to decrease reliance on incarceration.
Prominent city employees, including most elected officials, are required to file Form 700s, also known as Statements of Economic Interest, with the San Francisco Ethics Commission. The form contains multiple “schedules,” or sections, that cover the official’s personal investments (like stocks), investments or income from their businesses or trusts, real estate holdings, personal income and loans, gifts and travel payments and reimbursements.
The organization that attracted the most controversy for Jenkins was the third nonprofit, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, from which she reported more than $100,000 in income.
Neighbors for a Better San Francisco is a 501c-3 organization advocating for good governance and improved public safety. It’s related to but distinct from the similarly named Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Advocacy, a political action committee that spent millions on the Boudin recall effort. Jenkins was a key part of this effort, regularly appearing in advertisements and messaging campaigns and media statements.
The two groups were formed on the same day, share the same address in San Rafael, and are supported by the right-of-center San Francisco billionaire William Oberndorf, who is on the board of each group.
The revelation that San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was paid six figures by a nonprofit organization founded by a top donor to the Chesa Boudin recall has put a spotlight on the man behind the nonprofit and the campaign: San Francisco billionaire Bill Oberndorf.
Oberndorf made headlines as one of the big Republican donors who bucked the party in 2016 and supported Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. He donated more than $1.5 million to boost former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s bid for the Republican nomination that year, according to federal campaign contribution records.
He was registered as a Republican as recently as 2017 but has since registered without party party preference. Voter records from 2019 show he was registered with the the American Independent Party, a far-right political group that many people mistakenly select when trying to register as political independents.
(The American Independent Party was formed in California in 1968 by supporters of Racist Reactionary Alabama Governor George Wallace in support of his presidential campaign).
Representatives for Oberndorf initially declined to comment or did not respond to calls for this story, but his assistant, Kathy Daly, contacted The Chronicle after this story was first published and provided a record showing he is registered without party preference. She said he was never registered with the American Independent Party.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2022/brooke-jenkins-payment/
Lee's Perspective 