OPINION:
Chesa Boudin, San Francisco’s newest district attorney, the guy once referred to as “communist” by city sheriffs, kicked off his new law enforcement leadership role by, get this, firing seven of the community’s experienced prosecutors — the ones, notably, known as tough on crime.
But it all makes sense. This is the city represented by none other than Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and Boudin, according to one past assessment, is practically a raging “communist.”
He’s the guy socialists cheered during campaign season; so, too, Sen. Bernie Sanders and noted anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, The Blaze reported.
He’s the type of guy George Soros buys. Literally.
“Soros Aims to Transform the Justice System by Funding D.A. Races,” Capital Research Center reported in December, explaining how the leftist philanthropist has contributed more than $17 million in district attorney races in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arizona, New York and California since 2015.
Now Boudin’s won and taken office. And as one of his first official acts, he’s given the boot to those who would probably oppose his agenda.
Make way for the crime wave, oh ye poor, huddled San Franciscan masses.
“I had to make difficult staffing decisions in order to put in place a management team that will help me accomplish the work I committed to do for San Francisco,” Boudin said, in a statement to explain the firings.
That’s code for: these guys aren’t aboard the social justice warrior bandwagon. They’re too law-and-order. So they gots to go, you see.
The firings can’t be too much of a surprise.
Boudin’s main platform, after all, was overhauling the status quo — and if that sounds familiar, it is. Hope and change, anyone? It worked for Barack Obama; it worked for Boudin.
And, it’s not like Boudin was quiet about his past.
Boudin’s parents, members of the radical Weather Underground, took part in a robbery that left dead two New York police officers, as well as a Brink’s truck guard. He was raised by Weather Underground founder and one-time FBI Most Wanted Bill Ayers.
So now, somewhat expectedly, Boudin wants an end to “mass incarceration,” based on theories that the incarcerated are often, very frequently, no, wait, almost always behind bars because of the colors of their skin, rather than the deeds they did. Right? And he knows this to be true because his mom pleaded guilty to murder and robbery, and his dad was convicted of murder and robbery, and he visited them in prison numerous times.
“My earliest memory,” he told NBC back in December, “is visiting [my parents] in prison. … Certainly, one lesson I learned is how … punitive it can be when your dad, arguably, was given an extra 55 years’ minimum sentence than your mother.”
Sad childhood to the side, politically speaking: the incarceration of Boudin’s parents had to influence his soft-on-crime, sympathy-for-the-convicts approach to prosecutions.
It had to play into the decision to let go some of the city’s most experienced prosecutors, including one, Mike Swart, who served or 10 years in the homicide unit.
Boudin said he wants simply “to restore a sense of compassion” to the justice system, including for “the people who, themselves, have caused harm.”
That’s nice.
But tough on law enforcement, soft on crime isn’t that compassionate to the victims. Or to the cops. Or to the victims’ families and friends and loved ones. Or to the whole condition of right versus wrong.
As NBC wrote: “The San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association posted a video [no longer posted] on its Facebook page titled ’Terrorist’s Son as SF District Attorney?’ and calling Boudin a ’communist radical of sorts.’”
It’s not a good sign when the key people in your law enforcement team call you a commie. It kind of throws some shade on the system.
But then again: this is Pelosi’s district, home of the homeless, land of the syringe. This is Soros land, where the right amount of money will buy just the right socialist guy for the job.
Boudin the “communist” should fit right in.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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