SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 4.8.2025
There is one solid piece of political news coming out of the California State Bar take down of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Her hopes of being elected California Attorney General in November 2026 has just taken a major hit. It was just over a year ago that this opportunistic political hustler was playing coy when asked about her political ambitions.
What will she say now? Shameless as she is, Brooke will pitch herself as the aggressive prosecutor who looks out for the interests of the crime besieged average citizen.
Brooke’s apologists will continue to spew forth nonsense. The takedown by the State Bar is just more sour grapes from supporters of Chesa Boudin. The DA she worked for and politically stabbed in the back on her way to calling herself a ‘volunteer’ while earning over 150K to lead his Recall in June 2022. Then being chosen to replace Chesa by now former Mayor London Breed.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 4.8.2025
The State Bar of California is preparing to close out a series of ethics complaints against San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins without reaching a formal decision on whether she did anything wrong, despite finding evidence that she improperly handled a defendant’s rap sheet.
“It’s ironic that District Attorney Jenkins, who often opposes diversion in court — and thereby closes off an avenue for our clients to better their lives — has now been ordered to complete professional diversion,” San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said in a statement.
Rather than continuing to investigate the allegations brought against Jenkins by supporters of her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, the state bar has decided that the best way to resolve their complaints is by requiring Jenkins to participate in a diversion program, according to letters that the watchdog agency sent to her accusers in recent weeks, which the Chronicle obtained.
The program is not unlike those offered by the criminal courts to give people accused of small-time crimes a second chance. Jenkins has frequently criticized the overuse and abuse of such programs by people who she has said are taking advantage of them. She has scaled back the use of diversion compared to her predecessor, the Chronicle previously found.
Jenkins ascended to her post after quitting her job as a prosecutor under Boudin to become one of his most vocal opponents in the 2022 recall campaign against him. She was hit with a series of complaints in the aftermath of the election, including from retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin, a San Francisco resident who donated to keep Boudin in office.
Among the numerous allegations that Goldin brought against Jenkins was that she misrepresented herself as a volunteer for the recall campaign, and only later disclosed — when legally required because Mayor London Breed appointed her as interim district attorney — that she earned more than $120,000 as a consultant for three nonprofits tied to the effort.
Goldin and another complainant, Alexandra Grayner, who worked as a prosecutor under Boudin, also accused Jenkins of improperly sharing a rap sheet containing the confidential criminal history of a defendant in a high-profile case highlighted by the recall campaign.
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