San Francisco mayor supports school board members' recall, undecided on Chesa Boudin

San Francisco mayor supports school board recall, undecided on Chesa Boudin

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has come out in support of recalling three San Francisco Unified Schools board members. But on the newly-approved recall of the city's D.A. Chesa Boudin, she says she's undecided.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco voters will be deciding on a pair of recall decisions next year. Now, the city's mayor is weighing in, throwing her support behind one recall effort, but holding off on another. Mayor London Breed says she supports the recall effort for San Francisco's School Board members, but is still weighing her decision when it comes to the district attorney.

The city's voters have a busy year ahead of them. San Francisco's Department of Elections has confirmed those looking to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin and a separate effort to oust three school board members have enough signatures to get on the ballot in 2022.

"They have become a distraction, and if they really genuinely cared about our kids they'd get out of the way and allow us to move forward with people who understand financial management and who understand the need to put children before anything, before politics," said Breed in reference to the school board members.

School Board President Gabriela Lopez says the mayor's support for the recall follows a pattern of disrupting the education system and amounts to a power grab. "Her support of the recall adds to these patterns of disruption and is a direct benefit to the mayor's own ability to appoint three new members," said Lopez.

Board Vice President Faauuga Moliga, who was appointed by Breed, also took aim at the entire recall process saying "I do not support the recall of any elected official. Recalls are not a function of representative Democracy."

Recall supporters say they can't wait until the school board election next November, they need to act now. "Our kids can't wait another year, you know," said Siva Raj who is spearheading the effort to recall the board members.

"They've already lost one and a half years. One year is an enormously long time in the life of a nine year old and these are not the people who can deal with it. Right? So, we need better leadership for our students and need them desperately. If possible, we'd love for the election to be held today."

Supporters of embattled District Attorney Boudin are also casting doubts on the recall process. The standwithchesa.com website reading in part: "Make no mistake: this effort to overturn an election is Republican-led and fueled by fear-mongering and dangerous misinformation."

The mayor didn't elaborate on why she's reserving judgment for now on the district attorney, simply saying, "Yeah, I haven't taken a position on that recall at this time."

When Boudin ran for D.A. as reform candidate in 2019, Breed threw her support behind the then interim D.A. Suzy Loftus, who lost that year.

San Francisco voters will decide whether to recall the school board in February, and will make a decision on the future of the district attorney in June.