San Francisco Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi may keep his job after pleading guilty in a domestic violence case.

 

It's the climax of a story that began last New Year's Eve, when an argument between Mirkarimi and wife left her with a bruise on her arm.

 

The Sheriff pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, and Mayor Ed Lee charged Mirkarimi with official misconduct. The city’s Ethics Commission upheld those charges.

 

Professor Corey Cook of University of San Francisco's Public Affairs and Politics departments says today’s decision will have a lasting effect on city government.

"There are some short term consequences, obviously, if he’s retained," Cook says. "How does he go about organizing the sheriff’s office and building support and then working with the police department and district attorney? And conversely if he's removed from office what does that entail and how to we rebuild, again, those relationships in our institutions?"

 

This is the first time in 80 years that San Francisco Supervisors have considered removing an elected official for misconduct. The supervisors will meet today at two p.m.