On its face, the effort to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is a debate over how a relatively small, atypical city battles crime, a philosophical dispute over how often to lock up offenders and the relative success of efforts to divert nonviolent criminals into treatment programs that keep them out of jail.
In reality, the recall is a battle over facts versus feelings, a case study in the power of millionaires to set a political agenda, a lesson on the limits of enacting reform through progressive prosecutors and the difficulty of changing the status quo.
That’s why the June 7 referendum on Boudin holds significance far beyond the 47 square miles of San Francisco, where violent crime rates are near historic lows, viral videos of smash-and-grabs and the twin crises of homelessness and drug deaths notwithstanding.
