Ross Mirkarimi - Campaign For Sheriff

Campaign For Sheriff

In May 2011, scheduled to be termed out as supervisor, Mirkarimi announced he was running for sheriff of San Francisco in the November 2011 election.

Mirkarimi did not receive the endorsement of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriff's Association, the union representing sheriffs. In an endorsement election of members, Capt. Paul Miyamoto received 353 votes to Mirkarimi's 2 votes. "This was a very large turnout for us," said Don Wilson, president of the association. "Miyamoto is a very popular guy in our department. We want one of our own to be sheriff. We want someone with experience."

In an interview with the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), Mirkarimi said about his candidacy:

The challenges of our campaign are that I am running citywide. I have opposition, but with my name recognition as an elected official, it’s one of the first times that I’m seen as an automatic frontrunner, instead of the underdog posture that I'm more used to from my previous runs. The election is in November 2011, and it will be at the same time as the mayor and district attorney. Competing for resources and attention is always an inherent challenge with other high profile races.

Mirkarimi made combatting recidivism a centerpiece of his campaign:

We have to realize that what happens in the jail system directly affects public safety throughout all of San Francisco neighborhoods. That entwinement can’t really be denied anymore, and the money we throw at the Police Department to just re-arrest the same people really sort of is counter-intuitive without asking the obvious question, “What can we do so that when somebody comes out they will not repeat their offense?” And there are tested programs already existing in the Sheriff’s Department, ones that we could I think consider adopting and ones that deserve institutional support because most of the programs in the Sheriff’s Department aren’t general-fund-funded, they’re grant-funded, and so they live and die by the vulnerability of those grants. That says San Francisco is not frontburnering the importance of what it means to stand towards the development and accountability of those programs, and that needs to change. I’ll change it.”