|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
San Mateo County’s first female and Latina sheriff, Christina Corpus, made history for a third time on Tuesday, when she became the only sheriff in California to be removed for misconduct.
The last leg of a months-long process, the County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to oust Corpus at a special meeting Oct. 14, leaving San Mateo County without an acting sheriff. Effective immediately, Undersheriff Dan Perea will assume her duties until a successor is appointed or a special election is called.
“This has been horrific as an elected official,” County President David Canepa said Tuesday. “Under her leadership, it’s been an absolute disaster.”
Supervisors said their decision was based on a “preponderance of evidence” that Corpus had a romantic conflict of interest, unlawfully misused her authority and retaliated against her employees.
Corpus spoke ahead of the vote.
“I was offered the chance to walk away quietly, to take a payout and disappear,” the ex-sheriff said at the special meeting. “Leadership isn’t about convenience, it’s about conviction.”
She later told the board: “Truth cannot be buried and integrity cannot be silenced… I have sacrificed my peace, my marriage and precious time with my children and family for this mission because I believe in justice.”
The supervisors’ final vote capped a process that began in March, when 84% of voters approved Measure A, a charter amendment granting the board the power to remove an elected sheriff for cause. Support for the measure, over 90,000 yes votes, was about 8,000 votes more than that of Corpus’ 2022 election.
District 3 Supervisor Ray Mueller, before the removal vote Tuesday, didn’t offer any personal commentary and defended his decision as “solely and entirely” based on administrative record.
He asked County Attorney John Nibbelin whether he or Supervisor Noelia Corzo were in legal conflict to take action on a decision on Corpus, to which Nibbelin replied that no.
Corzo, along with Mueller, was among one of the first supervisors to speak out against Corpus in 2024.
On Tuesday, she said that she had given Corpus the “benefit of the doubt” and called the removal process a “fair procedure.”
“Corpus has had more than enough time. She was not able to provide anything but empty words,” Corzo said. “I want to acknowledge the deep harm this has caused in our community.”
“Repugnant and corrupt”
Several supervisors delivered scathing remarks before the vote.
Supervisor Jackie Speier outlined Corpus’ missteps as sheriff, calling them “nothing short of repugnant and corrupt.”
Similarly, Supervisor Lisa Gauthier said the ex-sheriff’s actions “fall short of the standards we expect.”
While voting, Supervisor Corzo publicly asked Corpus’ attorneys to return the “challenge coin” Corpus gave her years ago as praise.
The supervisor noted how she and Corpus “made history” as the first Latinas elected to their offices in the county, but that she now takes responsibility for “misguiding our community” in supporting Corpus.
Despite “delaying, deflecting and denying,” Corzo added, the former sheriff and her attorneys have been unable to provide “anything beyond empty words.”
In Canepa’s speech, he asserted that the months-long removal process has been “transparent” and “fair.”
Corpus and her attorneys insinuated before the board’s official removal vote that they would appeal it. However, Corpus retired after the meeting to try and keep medical benefits for her children and her.
If Corpus can still appeal, she’d be operating in a personal capacity, instead of as county sheriff, according to Nibbelin.
Findings and fallout
An independent San Francisco law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP investigated Corpus in May, finding evidence of her conflicts of interest, misuse of authority and retaliation against employees within the Sheriff’s Office.
Following a 10-day hearing in August that involved 36 witnesses and 174 evidentiary exhibits, retired Superior Court Judge James Emerson issued an advisory opinion on Oct. 6 finding cause for the removal.
Emerson said Corpus used her position to create and fund high-paying positions for ex-Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle, with whom she had “a close personal relationship outside the boundaries of a professional working relationship.” Because she “vehemently denied” the highly suggestive evidence that she shared a “romantic extra-marital relationship” with Aenlle, Corpus had “already lost credibility” in the eyes of Emerson.
The judge pointed to more causes for Corpus’ removal: She ordered the arrest of Carlos Tapia, the sheriff’s labor union president, without probable cause and retaliated against Cpt. Brian Philip, who refused to deliver a notice Philip believed was improper.
“A precedent that’s very dangerous”
One of Corpus’ seven attorneys, Tom Perez, motioned that racial and gender discrimination underlie the targeting of the ex-sheriff, while highlighting her merits in reducing crime and investing in mental health treatment at the county jail.
Perez also noted the supervisors modeled their removal process off of San Bernardino County’s, which calls for the removal of an elected county officer “in only the most egregious of circumstances.” He alleged that the board “lowered the bar” and are proceeding with a vote in which “the community doesn’t get a voice.”
Santa Clara County, he added, removed their sheriff in 2021 using a Civil Grand Jury. Failing to do so could establish a precedent that’s “very dangerous.”
Among the 20 or so public commenters, several came from Corpus’ church to reference her character.
A Hispanic father from the community said he grew up “afraid of the sheriffs,” but when he said Corpus spoke at mass to say “you’re welcome here,” he felt she helped marginalized residents feel safer.
Mariah Cooks, one of Corpus’ attorneys, noted how Corpus and her son got baptized recently. She proceeded to read a passage from a Bible Corpus gave her “in a moment she should be thinking about herself,” Cooks said.
The verses from the Book of Micah convey how Corpus “has waged war” and “should be broken, but she’s not,” according to Cooks.
Many speakers also called for her ousting.
Representatives from citizen-led organizations like Fixin’ San Mateo County and the American Civil Liberties Union requested heavy public input and process transparency to fill her shoes. Many commenters also demanded greater oversight of the Sheriff’s Office moving forward, with several calling for the hiring of a permanent inspector general.
Speier echoed these sentiments at the press conference following the Tuesday vote.
“I think there has been a good old boys network,” she said of the history of the Sheriff’s Office. “I’m getting more and more convinced that we do need an inspector general.”
Special election
In his press conference after the vote, Canepa said that he’d like the county to arrange a special election “as soon as possible” to fill the now vacant position of sheriff.
Corpus would have had an unusual six-year term because state legislators changed a law in 2022 to synchronize the elections for sheriffs and district attorneys with presidential elections. Because Corpus was elected in 2022, her tenure would have lasted until 2028.
Per Government Code Section 24105, the undersheriff has temporarily discharged the duties of the sheriff, following her removal.
In a statement he shared shortly after the vote, Perea said that the Sheriff’s Office will “continue to serve as guardians of our communities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with dignity, compassion and respect.”
Any new information related to the process to fill the vacant sheriff position will be posted on the County Board of Supervisors website.
Aenlle filed a separate, federal civil rights lawsuit against County Executive Mike Callagy, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and others on Sept. 18. In his 114-page complaint, he asserts that the county is responsible for a campaign of retaliation, wrongful termination, defamation and unconstitutional abuse of power against him.
He was not seen Tuesday at the board’s meeting to remove Corpus.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct difference of votes between Measure A and Christina Corpus’ election.
Sheriff Corpus definitely has cost the RWC and San Mateo County taxpayers waaaay too much time and $$$! Let’s hope this is the end of it.