Time for Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to quit gracefullyThe mayor has suspended the sheriff, and is expected to appoint a replacement today.
Perhaps it was pride, or the arrogance for which he is seeking counseling, that kept Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi from meeting Mayor Ed Lee's deadline to resign by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Mirkarimi still has the opportunity to do the right thing and spare himself, his family, the sheriff's department and the city the indignity of a prolonged, ugly process to oust him for official misconduct.
The mayor should be commended for laying down the law to a "lawman" who has demonstrated so little regard for it. The case for Mirkarimi's ouster goes beyond his plea-bargained conviction for false imprisonment in connection with a domestic-violence incident.
From the moment the allegations surfaced, Mirkarimi's response has been laced with an aggressiveness and obliviousness that showed a disturbing lack of appreciation for the gravity of the crime or law enforcement's pursuit of the truth.
He initially tried to wave off the abuse allegations as "a private matter, a family matter." He hinted darkly about "forces at work that want to stop me from becoming sheriff." Neither he nor his wife, Eliana Lopez, cooperated with investigators.
I do not think that Mirkarimi has done anything wrong. He has not been allow to see his wife for 9 weeks, and he only gets supervised visits with his toddler son. Our society has gone mad. Gravity of the crime? He grabbed his wife's arm, and she has not made any complaint about it.
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