Photo of Ross Mirkarimi by Dylan Entelis of the San Francisco Chronicle
An editorial in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle said that newly sworn-in San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi should take an immediate leave of absence if he is charged in a domestic violence case that is now under investigation.
The emergence of allegations that Mirkarimi may have abused his wife, Eliana Lopez, cast a pall over his inauguration and consumed the public attention on his first week in office. The questions about his character and fitness for the job will not go away until either the district attorney's office decides there is not enough credible evidence to bring a case, or Mirkarimi is exonerated in a court of law.
Mirkarimi has not done his stature as a top law enforcement official any favors with some of his spare public comments and behind-the-scenes actions since the allegations have arisen. His suggestion that "this is a private matter, a family matter" evoked less enlightened eras in this society's response to domestic abuse.
