Monday was his first full day on the job following a 10-month battle to remain the sheriff and while he didn't always say the right things during his long fight to keep his job, at one point calling the arm bruising incident with his wife a "private matter," on Monday, he was very careful not to defend what he did and said he would very much like to put it behind him.
Mirkarimi sat in his office Monday afternoon still working on learning the job and eager to put the long political battle to rest. "I'll continue to eat as much humble pie, that I think, that I really want to eat, and continue to profess and demonstrate that I'll be the sheriff that people elected me to be," he said. But just down a couple of floors from Mirkarimi's office, supervisors Eric Mar and Malia Cohen introduced domestic violence legislation they plan to bring before the board.
"It asks the Department of the Status of Women to disseminate materials to city employees about domestic violence," Mar said. Mar denied the legislation was meant as a slap to Mirkarimi. Asked if he would support a recall of the sheriff, he equivocated. Cohen said she would support a recall but wouldn't lead it. "A recall election, to happen on the grassroots level, would take away the undertones that it's politically motivated," she said.
On Monday, Mayor Ed Lee was asked for his position. "I'm not going to comment on recall. That's a political thing. People want to talk about it, they can talk about it. I have to run city government," he said. For his part, the sheriff would like to move past what has to be the rockiest start in the history of San Francisco Sheriff's Department. "I believe that San Francisco does need to elevate it's response to eradicating domestic violence and violence of all kinds," he said.
Mirkarimi said he wants to be part of that solution and how much he's able to do that will depend on how well he's able to mend fences at city hall.
