For the first time, a California county removed its sheriff over misconduct allegations

https://apnews.com/article/barack-obama-john-nibbelin-jackie-speier-
christina-corpus-california-6de595de7e7ea7cbb7c39a083ce8750d

For the first time in California history, a county sheriff has been 
removed from office.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to remove 
Sheriff Christina Corpus from office Tuesday, nearly a year after a 
damning report from a retired county judge found that she likely violated 
the county’s policy on nepotism and conflicting relationships.

Removing her wasn’t as simple as firing someone. It took a successful San 
Mateo County ballot measure that asked voters to choose whether to amend 
the county charter to grant the board that power.

“Today is the end of a tragic, destructive and grossly expensive chapter 
in San Mateo County history,” said Supervisor Jackie Speier, a former 
member of Congress. “I had high hopes for Sheriff Corpus. I voted for her, 
I held a town hall with her on crime prevention. She had great ideas to 
modernize the office.

“So it’s tragic to see her time as sheriff come down to this.”

Corpus still has 14 days to appeal her removal. San Mateo County Attorney 
John Nibbelin said the county’s undersheriff will serve as sheriff.

Corpus, appearing in a blue suit at the board meeting, argued adamantly 
against her removal. She said she was elected as a reformer, and the 
changes she tried to push through the sheriff’s office were met with first 
resistance, then outright hostility, when the old guard in power in San 
Mateo County began working to undermine her.

“I have sacrificed my peace, my marriage, for this job,” Corpus said. “If 
I lose my position today, I will walk out with my head held very high. I 
never bowed to intimidation.

“You may remove me from office but you will not erase the truth.”


Corpus’ legal team, which now includes a one-time member of President 
Barack Obama’s cabinet, made a half-hour presentation arguing against the 
legality of her removal.

“Culture change is hard,” said Tom Perez, who was labor secretary under 
Obama and former chair of the Democratic National Committee. “From Day 
One, there were folks who didn’t want her to succeed.”

The county of San Mateo, one of the wealthiest in the country, has been 
paying Corpus’ legal bills. If she is removed in two weeks, she will be 
responsible for her legal costs from that point.

Last week, retired Superior Court Judge James Emerson found cause to 
remove Corpus after a two-week trial that included a cascade of 
allegations portraying a chaotic picture of her two-plus years in office.

Emerson found that Corpus had “a close personal relationship outside the 
boundaries of a professional working relationship” with a subordinate, 
unlawfully ordered the arrest of the president of the sheriff’s deputies’ 
union and retaliated against a captain who refused to conduct the union 
president’s arrest because he believed it violated state law.

If Corpus is not removed, she will return to a unique six-year term 
afforded to elected members of law enforcement in 2022 when the state 
moved county sheriff and district attorney races to the presidential 
election year calendar.

About 25 people spoke during the board’s public comment period. Some came 
to praise Corpus, others to bury her, none more so than the daughter of 
the sheriff’s deputies’ union president, whom Corpus ordered arrested last 
year – something Judge Emerson found was retaliatory.

The sheriff’s office alleged that the union president, Carlos Tapia, was 
doing union business on company time and falsified the record of his 
working hours. But an investigation by the San Mateo County District 
Attorney’s Office found no reason to charge Tapia, determining that the 
errors on his time cards were clerical and concluding that Tapia “should 
not have been arrested.

A captain in the sheriff’s office resigned rather than arrest Tapia, and 
Tapia alleged in a lawsuit filed against the county that Corpus demanded 
his arrest as retaliation against him for complaining about her 
leadership.

Vanessa Lemus-Tapia, Tapia’s daughter, said at the meeting that Corpus was 
incorrectly claiming credit for reducing crime in San Mateo County when 
the rate for most major crimes statewide has fallen.

“That was not her doing,” Lemus-Tapia said, before addressing Corpus 
directly. “Stop fighting this. Restore trust, dignity and integrity to 
this department.”

___

This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through 
a partnership with The Associated Press.


-- 
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