San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins paid $100K during recall effort: reports
SF D.A. Jenkins claimed she was volunteer, was actually paid $100K for recall effort
New filings show the appointed San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins was paid $100,000 to help recall her predecessor, Chesa Boudin. Some say Jenkins should have disclosed this, but instead she claimed she was a volunteer. A political consultant says what she did was not illegal but that she should have made a disclosure.
SAN FRANCISCO - Interim San Francisco District Attorney was paid more than $100,000 as a consultant to help recall her predecessor Chesa Boudin, raising questions about whether she should have been more transparent, The San Francisco Standard reported, citing newly filed ethics records.
This week, Jenkins officially declared she would run to hold onto her seat in November.
Jenkins earned the money for about six months, before Mayor London Breed appointed her district attorney on July 8, the SF Standard reported. During that period, Jenkins was volunteering as a spokesperson on the recall campaign.
She consulted for the nonprofit, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the records show.
The San Francisco Chronicle noted that the nonprofit bears a similar name to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco Advocacy, a 501c4 organization that spent millions to successfully recall the progressive Boudin in June.
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William Oberndorf, a wealthy conservative Silicon Valley hedge fund manager who bankrolled the recall, is on the board of each group, the Chronicle pointed out.
Both organizations show the same San Rafael address.
In a statement to the Chronicle, Jenkins said: "After I resigned from the District Attorney’s office, I provided consulting services for a few San Francisco based non-profit organizations. I leveraged my career and prosecutorial experience to help provide a new source of income to help support my family and small children. It was a tough decision to leave my dream career during a pandemic and rising economic uncertainty, but it was the right choice for my family and me."
Jenkins continued: "My work for the non-profit organizations focused on public safety and other legal work supporting communities ranging from formerly incarcerated women, to helping advise the business community on public safety concerns and issues. I compiled legal analysis, research, reports, and provided advice for all of these organizations and their respective issue areas."