Chester
01-21-2004, 07:46 PM
That whole thread about the San Mateo ban of private karaoke rooms reminded me of this, because San Mateo's police chief is one of the top candidates for San Francisco's police chief position. (The scuttle I've heard is that her son has done a lot of fundraising for Newsom.)
Anyway, Newsom seems to be trying to run the city, as much as he can, by-the-book. So the new chief will be selected after a comprehensive nationwide search.
Until then, the acting chief is Heather Fong, who has a reputation as being as by-the-book as is humanly possible in what is commonly known as a ridiculously-political department. If she can make a strong mark on the department during the selection process, she has a very strong chance of staying on as permanent chief.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/18/MNGB44CH6K1.DTL
New San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has asked controversial Police Chief Alex Fagan to step aside and will name Assistant Chief Heather Fong as the troubled department's new acting chief.
The move, which will send Fagan to the city's Office of Emergency Services, is "effective immediately, as soon as the Police Commission is able to meet and secure the positions,'' Newsom said Saturday.
At the same time, Newsom said the national search for a new chief, being conducted by Robert Murray and Associates -- the same firm that helped select Los Angeles' new chief -- would continue apace, although it was clear that Newsom expected Fong to be in the running.
Newsom is hoping that the transfer of power will bring stability to a department that has been on a roller coaster since the nationally covered indictment of the department's top brass in the "Fajitagate'' scandal. Although the obstruction of justice charges were thrown out, they exposed an underbelly of personal tensions and political rivalries within the department that continue to plague it.
The selection of Fong is the second major promotion of a woman in the new administration -- on Friday, Newsom swore in the city's first female fire chief, Joanne Hayes-White.
As head of the city's Office of Emergency Services, Fagan will continue to draw an assistant chief's salary of $195,290 -- about $80,000 more than the salary paid the former director, who recently resigned.
But Newsom said the move will not cost the city any money. In fact, it's estimated to save about $115,000 because the assistant police chief's job will not be refilled.
The downside -- at least for Fagan -- is that he will not complete the year he needed to qualify for a full chief's pension.
Still, Newsom said, "Fagan has accepted the position.'' Fagan, who was seen Saturday going into the mayor's office, did not return phone calls when word of the staffing changes came out.
Newsom, who for weeks has been grappling with how and when to replace Fagan, emphasized that the Fong-for-Fagan swap "was not just a lateral political move. And I want to make it clear that I'm not putting Alex over (at emergency services) for five months for some type of pension move. There is a lot of work to be done over at emergency services, and from what I've seen of his input and knowledge and contacts with the FBI and national security, he's clearly the man for the job."
Newsom said the orders are clear for new acting chief Fong, who has a reputation for being by-the-book.
"Heather has my authority to immediately begin making the changes needed from top to bottom to put this department back on track," the mayor said. "I've told her what I'm expecting from her -- and she'll do it. She also knows what the public is expecting -- and she'll do that as well.
"Either way, we're going to start laying the foundation of change so that it will be ready for the new permanent chief -- whoever that may be.''
Fong could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The decision to replace Fagan has been percolating for months. Even before the recent election, Newsom had said he wanted a new chief.
In large part, Fagan's fate may have been sealed long before Newsom was elected last month -- even before Fagan was officially made chief in March - - thanks to the so-called Fajitagate scandal, in which the department's top brass was accused of covering up an off-duty drunken police brawl involving Fagan's own son.
The episode in November 2002 -- which was allegedly triggered when one of the cops tried to take a passer-by's fajita dinner -- led to the criminal indictments of Police Chief Earl Sanders, the elder Fagan and three police command staff members. Within days of the indictments, Sanders went on medical leave -- paving the way in March, after the indictments were quickly dismissed, for then-Mayor Willie Brown to name Fagan to run the department. He was officially elevated to the post in September.
But Fagan's short tenure was mixed. He had won high marks -- inside and outside the department -- for his handling of two days of major anti-Iraqi war demonstrations in the spring that saw relatively little violence, despite more than 2,300 arrests and some property damage.
Fagan also earned high marks from the likes of former Assistant Public Defender Peter Keane for getting the department to move on police misconduct complaints.
"He put real teeth into the process,'' Keane said recently, adding that ironically, because of his past troubles, "Fagan was seen by some reformers as the best man for the job.''
Fagan -- who is known as a go-getter -- made it clear that he wanted to stay on, and continued to work earnestly to institute reforms within the department.
In the end, however, the internal wars brought about by the police brawl scandal appear to have just been too much for Newsom.
Newsom was also taken aback by tidal wave of lobbying by supporters of both Fagan and other candidates on the police command staff.
The over-the-top politics both within and outside the department was the key reason that Newsom broke with tradition and asked for a national search for police chief.
For a while, there was talk of Fagan staying on until April, when the national search was expected to be completed and the new Police Commission sworn in, but the backbiting within the department showed no signs of letting up.
It all came to a head earlier this month when Newsom picked up The Chronicle and read that Commander Rick Bruce -- who had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Fagan -- was being accused of having voted in San Francisco (using his mother's address) while claiming that his primary address was in nearby San Bruno, where his family lives.
The feeling down at the Hall of Justice was that Bruce had been "done in'' by a rival for the chief's job -- a feeling that quickly spread to the rank and file. Bruce said he never intended to commit the alleged voter fraud but was just trying to comply with Mayor Brown's edict that command staff live in the city.
"I was just sickened by the whole thing,'' Newsom said.
In short order, meetings and discussions began in earnest, with the capper coming Friday when Fagan met with the mayor at City Hall.
According to those in the know, Fagan told the mayor to "can me if you want to'' -- but Newsom insisted that he still valued Fagan and wanted him to take the new job.
"It was something that needed to be done -- and I'm glad it's done now, '' Newsom said.
Reaction from the Police Officers Association was quick.
"We're happy that the chief is going over (to emergency services) , and we're happy with the selection of Heather Fong as the new acting chief,'' POA union president Chris Cunnie said.
"We've had what, two chiefs, one big indictment and two mayors, all within 18 months? It's good to see some stability return to the department. I think the rank and file will be supportive.''
As for what's next, that remains to be seen, but as one source close to the negotiations said, "Chief Fong now has three or four months to show everyone her stuff. If she makes the needed changes and proves herself, then she'll be a top candidate for the permanent job in everyone's book.
"If she doesn't -- well, no one can say she didn't get a chance.''
Anyway, Newsom seems to be trying to run the city, as much as he can, by-the-book. So the new chief will be selected after a comprehensive nationwide search.
Until then, the acting chief is Heather Fong, who has a reputation as being as by-the-book as is humanly possible in what is commonly known as a ridiculously-political department. If she can make a strong mark on the department during the selection process, she has a very strong chance of staying on as permanent chief.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/18/MNGB44CH6K1.DTL
New San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has asked controversial Police Chief Alex Fagan to step aside and will name Assistant Chief Heather Fong as the troubled department's new acting chief.
The move, which will send Fagan to the city's Office of Emergency Services, is "effective immediately, as soon as the Police Commission is able to meet and secure the positions,'' Newsom said Saturday.
At the same time, Newsom said the national search for a new chief, being conducted by Robert Murray and Associates -- the same firm that helped select Los Angeles' new chief -- would continue apace, although it was clear that Newsom expected Fong to be in the running.
Newsom is hoping that the transfer of power will bring stability to a department that has been on a roller coaster since the nationally covered indictment of the department's top brass in the "Fajitagate'' scandal. Although the obstruction of justice charges were thrown out, they exposed an underbelly of personal tensions and political rivalries within the department that continue to plague it.
The selection of Fong is the second major promotion of a woman in the new administration -- on Friday, Newsom swore in the city's first female fire chief, Joanne Hayes-White.
As head of the city's Office of Emergency Services, Fagan will continue to draw an assistant chief's salary of $195,290 -- about $80,000 more than the salary paid the former director, who recently resigned.
But Newsom said the move will not cost the city any money. In fact, it's estimated to save about $115,000 because the assistant police chief's job will not be refilled.
The downside -- at least for Fagan -- is that he will not complete the year he needed to qualify for a full chief's pension.
Still, Newsom said, "Fagan has accepted the position.'' Fagan, who was seen Saturday going into the mayor's office, did not return phone calls when word of the staffing changes came out.
Newsom, who for weeks has been grappling with how and when to replace Fagan, emphasized that the Fong-for-Fagan swap "was not just a lateral political move. And I want to make it clear that I'm not putting Alex over (at emergency services) for five months for some type of pension move. There is a lot of work to be done over at emergency services, and from what I've seen of his input and knowledge and contacts with the FBI and national security, he's clearly the man for the job."
Newsom said the orders are clear for new acting chief Fong, who has a reputation for being by-the-book.
"Heather has my authority to immediately begin making the changes needed from top to bottom to put this department back on track," the mayor said. "I've told her what I'm expecting from her -- and she'll do it. She also knows what the public is expecting -- and she'll do that as well.
"Either way, we're going to start laying the foundation of change so that it will be ready for the new permanent chief -- whoever that may be.''
Fong could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The decision to replace Fagan has been percolating for months. Even before the recent election, Newsom had said he wanted a new chief.
In large part, Fagan's fate may have been sealed long before Newsom was elected last month -- even before Fagan was officially made chief in March - - thanks to the so-called Fajitagate scandal, in which the department's top brass was accused of covering up an off-duty drunken police brawl involving Fagan's own son.
The episode in November 2002 -- which was allegedly triggered when one of the cops tried to take a passer-by's fajita dinner -- led to the criminal indictments of Police Chief Earl Sanders, the elder Fagan and three police command staff members. Within days of the indictments, Sanders went on medical leave -- paving the way in March, after the indictments were quickly dismissed, for then-Mayor Willie Brown to name Fagan to run the department. He was officially elevated to the post in September.
But Fagan's short tenure was mixed. He had won high marks -- inside and outside the department -- for his handling of two days of major anti-Iraqi war demonstrations in the spring that saw relatively little violence, despite more than 2,300 arrests and some property damage.
Fagan also earned high marks from the likes of former Assistant Public Defender Peter Keane for getting the department to move on police misconduct complaints.
"He put real teeth into the process,'' Keane said recently, adding that ironically, because of his past troubles, "Fagan was seen by some reformers as the best man for the job.''
Fagan -- who is known as a go-getter -- made it clear that he wanted to stay on, and continued to work earnestly to institute reforms within the department.
In the end, however, the internal wars brought about by the police brawl scandal appear to have just been too much for Newsom.
Newsom was also taken aback by tidal wave of lobbying by supporters of both Fagan and other candidates on the police command staff.
The over-the-top politics both within and outside the department was the key reason that Newsom broke with tradition and asked for a national search for police chief.
For a while, there was talk of Fagan staying on until April, when the national search was expected to be completed and the new Police Commission sworn in, but the backbiting within the department showed no signs of letting up.
It all came to a head earlier this month when Newsom picked up The Chronicle and read that Commander Rick Bruce -- who had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Fagan -- was being accused of having voted in San Francisco (using his mother's address) while claiming that his primary address was in nearby San Bruno, where his family lives.
The feeling down at the Hall of Justice was that Bruce had been "done in'' by a rival for the chief's job -- a feeling that quickly spread to the rank and file. Bruce said he never intended to commit the alleged voter fraud but was just trying to comply with Mayor Brown's edict that command staff live in the city.
"I was just sickened by the whole thing,'' Newsom said.
In short order, meetings and discussions began in earnest, with the capper coming Friday when Fagan met with the mayor at City Hall.
According to those in the know, Fagan told the mayor to "can me if you want to'' -- but Newsom insisted that he still valued Fagan and wanted him to take the new job.
"It was something that needed to be done -- and I'm glad it's done now, '' Newsom said.
Reaction from the Police Officers Association was quick.
"We're happy that the chief is going over (to emergency services) , and we're happy with the selection of Heather Fong as the new acting chief,'' POA union president Chris Cunnie said.
"We've had what, two chiefs, one big indictment and two mayors, all within 18 months? It's good to see some stability return to the department. I think the rank and file will be supportive.''
As for what's next, that remains to be seen, but as one source close to the negotiations said, "Chief Fong now has three or four months to show everyone her stuff. If she makes the needed changes and proves herself, then she'll be a top candidate for the permanent job in everyone's book.
"If she doesn't -- well, no one can say she didn't get a chance.''