To the Ten Blocks podcast, this is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. Joining me on today's show is

Erica Sandberg. She's been on the show before. She's a consumer finance reporter based in San Francisco,

and she has covered homelessness, crime, and public order in the Bay Area for City Journal. Today,

she joins us to discuss the ousting of San Francisco's progressive district attorney,

Chesa Buden, in a decisive recall election, and we'll talk about what it means for the city going forward.

So, Erica, thanks very much for joining us.

Thanks so much for having me on.

Putin was an unusually lax prosecutor, as became nationally recognized.

He systematically declined to pursue entire classes of crimes, including shoplifting.

He drastically curtailed fentanyl prosecutions, even as drug use and

overdoses were rising fast in the city. He sent all sorts of offenders to diversion programs,

as they're called, instead of jail time. And as you detailed in a story for the city journal website, voters have ousted

him by an overwhelming margin, 60 to 40 percent, I think, on the last count. So how did this come

about in what is widely recognized as the most progressive city in the country? Is this the

story of ordinary San

Franciscans just saying enough is enough? Or is it something that was really a kind of organized

campaign put together by civic leaders, donors, grassroots groups, grassroots groups to, you know,

remove an official who was, in their view, harming the city,

or is it a bit of both?

Yeah, it's interesting.

It has nothing to do with progressivism.

It has nothing to do with labels, has nothing to do with even politics.

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