Rumors of recall swirling around Sheriff Mirkarimi

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Reinstated San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi won't be back on the job until Monday, but rumors of his recall are already swirling around city hall. Any recall effort though, will not be easy.

Less than 48 hours after Mirkarimi got his job back come rumors of recall. "This is just another challenge we'll have to deal with and I hope that I just continue to demonstrate why the people elected me to be sheriff," Mirkarimi said.

On Tuesday, four of 11 supervisors voted to reinstate him after he was suspended last March following a New Year's Eve fight with his wife. The sheriff would plead guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence charges. Supervisor Jane Kim voted to keep Mirkarimi, but now supports a recall. "It's certainly in the right of the voters to support a recall and you know Ross has certainly lost my vote in the future," she said.

Recall buzz started months ago when a Facebook page went up but as of Thursday, only 405 people like it. The unidentified person behind it promised to visit to the election department Thursday but officials say so far, there have been no recall inquiries.

A recall effort would need 10 percent valid signatures of all the registered voters in San Francisco. That's about 48,000. "There's a lot of steps involved in any recall process," says San Francisco Elections Chief John Arntz, In the last six years, there have been failed attempts to recall supervisors Jake McGoldrick, Aaron Peskin, and Sophie Maxwell. Not enough valid signatures could be gathered.

Domestic violence victims' advocates are reluctant to support a recall yet but believe something needs to change. "It just doesn't make sense that you would have a convicted domestic violence abuser leading the sheriff's department," said domestic violence activist Kathy Black with La Casa de Las Madres.

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ross mirkarimi, eliana lopez, domestic violence, ed lee, san francisco board of supervisors, san francisco city hall, san francisco news

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