County Board Responds to Sheriff's Scandal

After weeks of discussion, according to an article in the San Mateo County Times, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will soon discuss placing a measure on the November ballot to endow the Supervisors with the authority to discipline other county elected officials.

The proposed measure is in response to the April 2007 incident in which San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks was detained at a Las Vegas brothel by local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Munks was not arrested but beyond a brief written statement released to the local media, Munks never addressed the incident and never fully explained his presence at the brothel.

Following a series of articles in the San Mateo County Times and the Daily News a year after the incident, renewed interest in the Sheriff’s misadventures compelled the Supervisors to react.

Supervisor Jerry Hill proposed a potential county charter amendment to endow him and his colleagues with the power to discipline county officials. But the proposal is already running into choppy waters as such powers are few and far between, shared only by San Bernadino County and the City and County of San Francisco. Neither county has ever actually attempted to use such powers although San Francisco came very close this year with the suspension of disgraced San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew who was indicted for attempting to extort money from local businesses in his district. Jew was suspended from his position as a supervisor and was to face a quasi-judicial proceeding to remove him from office but Jew resigned before that process was undertaken.

Without any precedent, the San Mateo County board may be able to acquire such powers through a ballot measure but whether or not it could be effectively utilized and hold up under court review is another question.

The real question, however, is whether or not the Supervisors will actually attempt to remove Munks from office or compel the embattled Sheriff to better explain his brothel visit.