Police association draws wide criticism for ‘ugly, hateful’ Boudin attack ads

San Francisco officials and supporters of district attorney hopeful Chesa Boudin are denouncing TV and mailer attacks led by the San Francisco Police Officers Association.

The day before voters decide who will become The City’s next elected DA, Boudin supporters held a press conference to condemn the SFPOA for spending $650,000 to attack the candidate with claims supporters say are simply not true.

Supervisor Sandra Fewer said the SFPOA should be spending money on its members and not on political attack ads.

Fewer said:

“I’m absolutely appalled that they would spend the money of their membership on this type of behavior.”

Fewer added:

“This is trying to buy an election.”

Cindy Alias, who sits on The City’s police commission, said the SFPOA’s use of funds was “disheartening.” 

Alias said:

“This money could be used to provide them services for the stressors that they face on a daily basis. It could provide them counseling and all of the other services they would need.”

Felicia Jones, founder of the Justice for Mario Woods organization, said this is not the first time the SFPOA has spent money or tried to “bully” city officials who do not support their stances or causes.

Jones said:

“This is how they operate. They’re threatening. They’re bullies.”

Supervisor Matt Haney hopes voters do their own fact checking before they head to the polls Tuesday.

Haney said:

“We hope that people see through these ugly, hateful lies.”

Supervisor Hillary Ronen hoped that relationships with city officials would change when Tony Montoya became the SFPOA president in 2018. In the time since, she’s visited the SFPOA office to discuss her Mental Health SF ballot initiative for March 2020.

Ronen sees the attack ads against Boudin as a setback to the progress they were making. 

Ronen said:

“This is the type of action from the POA that we’ve seen in the past.”