By the close of business Monday, the city of San Francisco will no longer have a top cop. As soon as Kamala Harris is sworn in as Attorney General for the state of California during a 1 p.m. ceremony in Sacramento, the job and the office back in the City will be officially empty.
The job of filing the position is left to outgoing mayor Gavin Newsom, who has delayed taking his own new position of lieutenant governor in part so that he has time to make an informed decision on the replacement.
The Examiner reported over the weekend the announcement could come as early as Monday so stay tuned.
Newsom said he is consulting Harris on the options to be the City's top prosecutor until the voters have their say next November. No telling how many criminal cases will be prosecuted (or not) in the next ten months, but the person who becomes district attorney will clearly have a lot to say about the number as well as the choice of cases.
The job of mayor of San Francisco is also "up for grabs" and that means two of the City's top elected positions will be held by appointees for most of 2011.
The DA candidate list is not public, but Newsom has talked about the people he thinks would do a good job in his office.
The Chronicle said Newsom's list of "suitable caretakers" includes:
- City Administrator Ed Lee
- San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Ed Harrington
- Sheriff Michael Hennessey
- Newsom's current chief of staff Steve Kawa
