San Francisco voters to decide on Prop C — aimed at rooting out corruption

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco voters will decide on whether to create new oversight in the city aimed at rooting out corruption. 

Supporters of Proposition C say it will help stop corruption, but opponents say it would add another layer of bureaucracy.

President of the Board of Supervisors and San Francisco mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin proposed Proposition C, creating an inspector general position in San Francisco government. 

"This is an office with an elevated mandate to root out corruption with the power of subpoena and the power of search warrant," said Peskin. "So that if we see smoke we can determine if there is actually fire."

Peskin says all of his fellow members of the Board of Supervisors support the idea. 

The proposition would grant the inspector general powers to investigate city government and also city contracted non-profits like SF Safe. The leader of that organization was arrested earlier this year on charges she misused more than a half million dollars in funding. 

"This is actually going to be a very effective tool to root out corruption not only within the government," said Peskin. "But, with third party vendors that the government contracts with would also be subject to search warrant and subpoena."

Prop C faces opposition from many of San Francisco's voter groups, including the San Francisco Democratic Party, the techie-founded and backed GrowSF And Together SF, who is endorsing Mark Farrell for mayor. 

Together SF, financially backed by billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz, uses social media to explain that while the idea of more oversight might sound good, it would ultimately add another layer of bureaucracy in a city already wrapped up in red tape. 

"The new position would have insane unchecked power. They can investigate anyone, issue subpoenas and execute search warrants with little oversight and, guess what, we already have city officials fighting corruption, like the Ethics Commission and City Attorney," the social media post claims. 

The progressive San Francisco Bay Guardian's voter guide says this office wouldn't do criminal prosecutions as that authority by law lies with the district attorney. They say the cost would be fairly minor at no more than $775,000 a year. 

If voters approve Prop C, the inspector general would first be picked by San Francisco's Controller, and approved by the Board of Supervisors and the mayor.