Opinion: Removing Sheriff Christina Corpus isn’t oversight. It’s a coup.

At a moment when masses trust is already fragile that precedent would be especially damaging In San Mateo County voters elected Christina Corpus as the county s first Latina and first woman sheriff after she campaigned on a platform of amendment Less than halfway through her term that choice is about to be overturned In the coming weeks the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will decide whether to remove Sheriff Corpus from office The vote could come as soon as next week and the supervisors have emphasized speed over thoughtful consideration Related Articles From brothels and Batmobiles to removal hearings San Mateo County Sheriff s Office has a long line of scandals Judge orders partial release of spending records in Sheriff Corpus corruption probe Sheriff Corpus takes stand as San Mateo County removal hearings close Sheriff Corpus allies defend her in high-stakes San Mateo County removal hearing San Mateo County executive testifies in sheriff removal hearing They will act under a provision of the county charter that they drafted after her polling and placed on the ballot as Measure A in March In doing so they kept final authority for themselves They control the procedures select the hearing officer and ultimately decide the outcome False promise Measure A was promoted as a way to save millions by avoiding lawsuits Its supporters leaned on a assessment by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell an independent probe that accused Corpus of mismanagement But the reality was different The vote itself cost at least million The Cordell description has since been discredited missing transcripts factual errors and even confusion of key viewers When hearings began county lawyers admitted it was irrelevant and refused to use it A measure sold on false promises and a flawed analysis now provides the tool to erase a voter-mandated outcome The supervisors then wrote the rules for the procedures leaving little room for fairness Deadlines are compressed Hearsay is admitted Two supervisors publicly signaled their positions before hearing all the evidence The hearing officer acknowledged he cannot adjust the rules even when justice demands it This is not impartial oversight It is a rushed process designed to ratify a decision already made Money union power The push to remove Corpus cannot be separated from entrenched financial and political interests Just before she took office the Deputy Sheriffs Association secured a raise making San Mateo County deputies the highest paid in the region Soon after the county reopened the contract to allow double overtime driving overtime costs to million in one year By the county s highest-paid employee was not a judge or specialist it was a sheriff s deputy whose overtime pay exceeded all others These arrangements were overseen by County Executive Mike Callagy and supported by supervisors who depend on union backing for political power Sheriff Corpus questioned whether this system was sustainable That put her in direct conflict with entrenched law enforcement union interests aligned with the supervisors and dependent on their political power Measure A gave those interests the means to silence her If the board removes Sheriff Corpus it will establish that a countywide electoral process can be undone by five politicians under rules they wrote themselves The precedent will not stop with the sheriff It can extend to other independently elected representatives the district attorney the assessor the controller anyone whose independence makes them inconvenient The line between legitimate oversight and the nullification of elections would no longer hold Beware California This is not just a local dispute If the San Mateo County model stands other counties could adopt the same framework granting supervisors power to void electoral process results mid-term whenever politically useful At a moment when society trust is already fragile that precedent would be especially damaging The decision before the board is not solely about Sheriff Corpus It is about whether San Mateo County honors the choice its voters made in or substitutes that choice with insider control The removal of an elected sheriff should be an extraordinary act undertaken only in the largest part serious circumstances and with full safeguards If removal occurs here under rules drafted by the very officers who benefit from them rushed forward without limits it will be remembered not as accountability but as self-preservation Attorney Matthew J Frauenfeld represents Sheriff Christina Corpus