A city Building Inspection Commissioner alleged that Mayor Ed Lee committed perjury Friday when he testified that he had not consulted with members of the Board of Supervisors before deciding to charge Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi with misconduct.
During a recess in the suspended sheriff?s official misconduct hearing, Commissioner Debra Walker said Supervisor Christina Olague told her that the mayor had asked whether Mirkarimi should be charged with misconduct. The mayor began Ethics Commission proceedings to remove the sheriff from office in March, following Mirkarimi?s guilty plea to one count of false imprisonment in a domestic violence case involving his wife, Eliana Lopez.
The controvery arose Friday as Mirkarimi's attorney Shepard Kopp cross-examined the mayor.
"Mayor Lee, before you decided to file charges for misconduct here, did you talk to any members of the board of supervisors about whether or not you should do so?" Kopp asked.
"I did not," Lee replied.
Minutes later, a bomb threat delayed the hearing for nearly two hours.
During that recess, Walker, a Mirkarimi supporter who was attending Friday?s hearing, alleged that her discussion with Olague occurred sometime between the conclusion of Mirkarimi's domestic violence case and when the mayor moved to suspend the former sheriff.
"Mayor Lee stands by his statements,? his spokeswoman Christine Falvey said.
Olague was appointed by Lee to take Mirkarimi?s seat on the Board of Supervisors, where he had served for nearly eight years before being elected sheriff.
?When the mayor said he hadn?t talked to any supervisors, I know that to be not the fact,? said Walker, who is aligned with San Francisco?s more left-leaning political faction. ?I was told by Christina Olague that she was meeting with the mayor about things and he had asked her specifically about whether or not he should remove Mirkarimi from office. And at the time, Christina told me that she had opined that he should ask for his resignation and if Mirkarimi didn?t resign that he should just let it go.?
Walker said Olague told her that other people also knew about the conversation.
Shortly after the mayor testified that he didn?t speak with supervisors, the Ethics Commission hearing was abruptly brought to a temporary close at 1:30 p.m., due to what Sheriff?s Department spokeswoman Susan Fahey described as a bomb threat at City Hall.
The mayor was whisked out of the fourth-floor City Hall hearing room as staffers and security officials scrambled about his second floor executive offices. Although Lee departed, the other people in attendance remained behind and were not told about the threat. The building was never locked down or cleared and the threat, which delayed proceedings for more than an hour, was later deemed to be baseless.
Walker cast suspicion on the meeting?s abrupt interruption.
?Why did they stop the meeting?? she asked. ?I think he was going to be led down the road of what an official should do if someone is lying under oath. That?s what I think was happening.?
Reporters swarming City Hall confronted Olague, who denied speaking with Lee about the matter and retreated to inside her office. She later emerged, telling reporters she had no further comment.
?I think she?s denying saying it now,? Walker said later. ?But we had the conversation.?
Walker said Lee might have a motive to deny he spoke to Olague about the misconduct proceedings.
?It challenges his case,? he said. ?It would be like talking to a judge about what they thought about a case before it went to a judge.?
Walker also recently accused the mayor of forcing the resignation of Vivian Day, director of the Department of Building Inspection. The mayor denied any involvement.
The Board of Supervisors will have the ultimate decision over whether Mirkarimi is reinstated as sheriff or is permanently removed from office. If Olague were to oppose Mirkarimi?s ouster, it would only take two more votes for the suspended sheriff to keep his post.
As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, the Ethics Commission hearing was still ongoing.
dschreiber@sfexaminer.com
jsabatini@sfexaminer.com
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