Yet I think that statement gets to the heart of what was being debated last night among the four aspirants to replace incumbent DA George Gascon who gave up instead on running for re-election, creating an opening for a new turn from a position taking hits from right and left.
Three conventionally qualified prosecutors -- Loftus, Leif Dautch, and Nancy Tung -- want the job as we've known it, and promise to do it better. They might.
Chesa Boudin, an experienced public defender, wants to redefine the job.
The adversary system of criminal "justice" necessarily fails for people whose lives and experience have placed them on the lower rungs of the system. When up against the force of the state, even with the help of our exceptionally competent public defenders, they just get ground up and discarded, occasionally brutally, but also simply as a matter of everyday procedure and without personal malice. Jail, bail, and ongoing criminal stigma don't heal individuals or communities.
Chesa Boudin thinks growing up with parents who were locked up and a career fighting for the dignity of poor people while exposing crooked cops qualifies him to turn the system upside down. He might.
If you think justice is not being done in San Francisco, Chesa is your candidate. He's not as smooth a speaker as the other candidates, though he's certainly passionate. But he knows from experience how the system works and who it fails. He deserves a shot in an office that's become so dysfunctional that the last guy just ran away. Let's give him a try in November.
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