To the Editor:

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White got away with breaking a beer bottle over her husband's head, causing injury. They were having a Bar-b=Que at their house and the cops were summoned. The whole trashy incident was hush-hushed immediately! I know she is not physically fit to perform her job. She couldn't pull a fully charged fire hose to save anyone's house in San Francisco, and she is an abuser, still on the job! How did she get away with it? There's an unequivocal Double Standard! She had just started in her Chief position, just like Ross Mirkarimi, and she should have been suspended and terminated as well. If she had been a Latina she would have lost her job, that day. Her side of the story would have been discredited, just like Ross' wife account of the incident. But, NO, not with Joanne Hayes-WHITE.

Louisa Villacorte
Emeryville, CA



To the Editor:

Your assessment of Sheriff Mirkarimi is profoundly flawed and reveals your ignorance and contempt for Black and Brown people. I do agree that there were some mis-steps, and that the message/media strategy was atrocious, but if you think that Lee and Gascon are not abusing their authority for political reasons, they want to remove the only elected progressive, then you are just as racist as they are.

Make no mistake about it, Ross's advocacy for Black and Brown infuriated many people, and he/we are paying the price. I agree that this was a moment of family crisis, no crime occurred and family therapy was the only remedy called for, but once Eliana's fabricated hearsay tape was turned over to your buddy Phil Bronstein, or he heard about it anyway, there was no way to stop the attack on Ross!

Your publication is so stale and boring, I even forget to read it anymore. I only saw this because of the email. Once you supported the lying and unethical appointed Mayor, I knew that you were not "BeyondChron," but SFGate Light!

Tami Bryant
San Francisco



To the Editor:

Talk about out of touch, Beyond Chron is missing the biggest story of the decade by focusing narrowly on the minutiae of the Mirkarimi saga and blaming the victim for imagined missteps. We currently have an ongoing attempt at a soft coup aimed at replacing the one progressive politician elected citywide in the last election and all you can talk about is the proper or improper media strategy and whether Ross timed his mea culpa properly, etc. You cannot see the forest for the trees and I have noticed that you have shown this defect before, most notably in the last election with your self-serving endorsements.

You've disappointed me,revealing your true nature as just another interest group ready to sacrifice principles to advance your own narrow agenda, however praiseworthy that agenda might be. The end does not justify the means and you should have learned that in grade school. Perhaps you would be more honest by renaming yourself Alongside Chronicle because I fail to see the difference between your unprincipled stance and theirs insofar as endorsement or at least blind tolerance of the machinations emanating from City Hall re the Mirkarimi circus. If you are Beyond anything, it is Beyond reason.

Barry Eisenberg
San Francisco



To the Editor:

To say that Ross Mirkarimi should have told his story much earlier or right at the outset ignores the fact that from the outset he was facing a criminal indictment. His legal counsel, as any competent lawyer would, advised against talking to the press.

David Elliott Lewis
San Francisco



To the Editor:

I am puzzled as to how Randy Shaw understands anything about Labor given he has never been a labor leader or involved in labor in anyway shape or form. Unless you have somewhere in your career turned a screw, you are clueless. This strikes me as clueless. I know both of these men and if anyone thinks that Leon Chow is not viable again, they are clueless.

I can see why this happens because I have been a delegate to both the San Francisco Labor Council and the San Francisco Building Trades for more than thirty years. Leon Chow has integrity and that should never be swept aside. Shaw begging the international to step in tells me how ignorant he is about Labor. Shaw thinks putting a wick on the powder keg is helping. What a joke!

Jim Salinas
San Francisco



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