BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
It could take months before San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus is removed by the county’s Board of Supervisors, according to a list of next steps the board will review on Tuesday.
“This is gonna be a process that has to take a long time,” Supervisor David Canepa said. “We want to make sure this is a fair, transparent, open process.”
However, not all of the hearings related to the removal process may be open to the public, according to the proposed timeline and series of next steps laid out by law firm Hanson Bridgett that the board will review Tuesday and solidify on April 22.
It will start with at least four of the five supervisors approving a written “Notice of Intent” with the reasons the board wishes to remove Corpus. She must respond in five days and determine if she will appear at a “Pre-Removal Conference” — where she will have the opportunity to respond to the reasons set out by the board. The hearing would be run by Assistant County Executive Iliana Rodriguez or whoever she designates. This hearing sounds similar to a Skelly hearing, a proceeding required before a public employee is fired, which one of Corpus’ attorneys has said she would seek out. This “Pre-Removal Conference” would be recorded unless Corpus or the board objects, it was not clear Friday if the public would be able to attend.
After the conference, the person who presided over it will write a recommendation to the supervisors. The board will have to vote on whether it agrees with the recommendation. After making a four-fifths decision, the board will have to send Corpus their decision.
Corpus then has five days to request a formal appeal hearing. If she misses that five-day deadline, whatever the board decides will be final.
But if she appeals, another hearing would occur and it would be presided over by a neutral third party. The board would select three possible hearing officers and Corpus would select someone out of those three, according to the proposed rules.
Upon selecting a third party, the hearing must occur within 60 days. Corpus is required to attend each day of the hearing and the county reserves the right to call her as a witness, according to the proposed rules.
The hearing would be public unless Corpus requests to close the hearing. The sides would be able to have limited discovery related to the specific allegations against Corpus, an initial evidence exchange between the two sides and testimony will be given during the hearing.
Either side can request that the hearing officer to issue subpoenas. Witnesses will testify under oath. Both sides will be able to cross-ex- amine witnesses.
The witness list will have to be submitted to the hearing officer five days before the hearing begins. After the hearing ends, the hearing officer will have 30 days to form an opinion and present it to the board, who will then have another 30 days to review it before holding a final vote to remove Corpus.
That vote must pass with at least four votes from the five-member Board of Supervisors. Supervisors on Tuesday will accept the certification of Measure A passing after the Chief Elections Officer Mark Church certified the results from the special March 4 election. In that election, 84% of voters gave the board power to remove the sheriff.
“We still believe that this was based on a report that had a number of flaws and inaccuracies,” Corpus’ attorney Brad Gage said. “The actions against Sheriff Corpus are discriminatory and improperly motivated. Measure A has never been used against any of the male sheriffs before.”
Supervisors placed Measure A on the ballot after Corpus refused to step down when a 400-page report was released that alleged she was corrupt along with her former chief of staff, Victor Aenlle. The board commissioned the report from retired Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell, who interviewed 40 past and current sheriff’s employees, many of whom filed HR complaints against Aenlle and Corpus.
Gage represented Corpus in March when she filed a $10 million claim against the county alleging retaliation and discrimination because she is the county’s first Latina female sheriff.
Corpus, who took office in January 2023, is accused of nepotism, arresting a critic, intimidating her employees, making racist and homophobic slurs, relation and running jails that have had an unusual number of deaths.
Corpus has been represented by Gage and Thomas Mazzucco of the San Fran cisco firm Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney.
Good. And how does one know for sure the Sheriff will be removed? Do those who are trying to remove her have skeletons in their own closets? If so, will that come out in discovery?
At some point people like you need to just STOP! This is the doing of one person- Christina Corpus. This is about her terrible decisions that have terrorized employees, the people of the county and county leaders.
This has nothing to do with what happened with Bolanos years ago or any other supervisors . If anything the supervisors tried to resolve this and your Sheriff decided to make her position about herself and that disgusting human Aenlle she hired. What a worthless year of travesty this woman has created.
The end is inevitable for her based on everything coming down- a normal person would resign and stop these games. So sick and tired of her lies and secrecy- someday her small group of followers will have to believe she is corrupt. No respect for a single thing Corpus has done this year- she is a tool!
You think the actions of people like DJ Wozniak, who is suing her and who is cited in the sexual harassment case filed by Carry Barker against the Sheriff’s off won’t come out? Press covered that case and she won it. Her complaint is posted online and it talks bout deputies who were looking at pornography on the office computer. Go look at the Barker lawsuit.
You’re very naive if you think the skeletons of others, and the past misconduct of people like Bolanos and how the Supervisors did nothing is not going to come out
Ethel, you can deflect all you want . This is about Christina Corpus .
She brought in her creepy heinous married wannabe cop boyfriend and literally let him loose to cause complete chaos.
This woman ‘s unethical, and corrupt behavior goes way beyond any actions of those who came before her. Bring out the skeletons of others and so what ? Is that supposed to wipe clean the destruction Christina has caused? Maybe others should go in the future but the biggest loser is Christina and she needs to go NOW.
Ethel- you don’t even know which allegations are going to be cited against the Sheriff in the removal process. I can assure you with 100% certainty that it will have nothing to do with the resolved& closed Barker caser or Wozniak. Barker case was under a different Sheriff. Wozniak has a retaliation suit in the works.
What you seem to be failing to see is that there are serious allegations about to be unfolded. You have seen the Cordell report on HR violations. This Measure A process will have to cite reasons for removal and likely the removals reasons cited MOST will not be from the Cordell HR report. There will be testimonies under oath and responses from the Sheriff.
Noone knows YET what the ACTUAL removal reasons are. The reasons have to fall under the listed issues in Measure A to even be a reason for removal:
(1) Violation of any law related to the performance of a Sheriff’s duties; or
(2) Flagrant or repeated neglect of a Sheriff’s duties as defined by law; or
(3) Misappropriation of public funds or property as defined in California law; or
(4) Willful falsification of a relevant official statement or document; or
(5) Obstruction, as defined in federal, State, or local law applicable to a Sheriff, of
any investigation into the conduct of a Sheriff and/or the San Mateo County
Sheriff’s Office by any government agency (including the County of San Mateo),
office, or commission with jurisdiction to conduct such investigation.
Gaslight all you want, but you sound like an unethical career criminal yourself.
Wait and see what unfolds, it may be eye opening to you. Or maybe you will defend anyone that is your friend ad nauseum.
Again, you are naive. Corpus was NOT sheriff when Barker case came out — but hey go read the lawsuit from Brian Phillips detailing Corpus using that employee for the benefit of becoming Sheriff to make Bolanos look bad and — wait for it — oh right Corpus didn’t recommend to file a HR complaint as a supervisor. Interesting abuses of power.
And yes Bolanos should deal independently with his own issues. Barker case is resolved. Batmobile case resolved. Old executive team left years ago so why are you stuck in past years under a former sheriff?
So be it. Corpus should be dealing with the consequences of her OWN actions while being sheriff. She’s not being called out for other people’s behavior and makes no sense why it is relevant to her current staff and current decisions.
The Board of supervisors has 3-4 people on it since Corpus became Sheriff. Personal that walked door to door with Corpus. County Executives that helped Corpus and guess what happened? Sheriff Corpus got elected and hired her buddy Aenlle a realtor into a SHERIFF OFFICE executive team member. Corpus allowed this man to overstep authority and is completely unqualified. Anyone Aenlle doesn’t like the Sheriff then decides to put them on an unfriended list and behave like a high school bully to them. Its unethical, unprofessional and against policies and procedures to pay this woman.
This sounds like gas lighting at its best- you are suggesting to ignore current events under the current sheriff and we should focus on events that happened under a different sheriff and different executive team and different hoard of supervisors? Why? Skeletons in who’s closet- do you even have an example of what that means or you just don’t like the board and county executives because they are trying to resolve this ongoing dysfunctional , soon to be public safety threat that is CURRENTLY going on in the Sheriff office?
What do barker and bolanos have to do with how the CURRENT sheriff hired and promoted or demoted her current staff and current behavior ? The state of the sheriff office currently is under corpus and is going to be laid out how utterly disgusting of a human this sheriff is and how unqualified aenlle is – unless of course you would prefer the county of San Mateo to be run like you live in a dictatorship of cuba run by a realtor aenlle . This is a law enforcement agency treat it like one.
Christina, I guess your attonneys haven’t explained this to you, but this Skelly hearing is just about you. You won’t be allowed to accuse others. No secrets will come out except yours. The case will focus solely on your actions. You’re stupid if you believe anything else.
I voted on this months ago,why is this corrupt person still not fired?
This is a public safety issue!
If she won’t leave, handcuff her. From everything reported thus far, these two are criminals.
Great question! Think about this: people that filed HR complaints in 2023 and early 2024 that were ignored and the County Board of Supervisors had to hire an independent judge to look into numerous ignored complaints. That took until November 2024 for results. Then the Sheriff repeatedly treated the unions and staff terribly and lost confidence by all political leaders. The elected Sheriff still ignored all issues.
The problem lies within politics corruption. The Sheriff has the power to be corrupt and legally there is no recourse except a recall or the Attorney General. Measure A had to get on the ballot and passed to start a removal process. Legally measure A isnt part of the county legal ordinance until the votes are certified and the board of supervisors accepts this- April 22
In the meantime, what should be an ethical Sheriff , would acknowledge 90000 people that voted for Measure A and step down. A recall cant happen until 2026.
The corrupt Sheriff continues to not work, not acknowledge her unions issues and has the most power of any elected official in the State. When she finally gets criminally charged or the allegations against are sworn under oath she will deserve the severe penalties criminally, financially and hopefully lose her 30 years of pension to pay back her victims. She is an absolute soulless selfish morally and ethically lacking human. Noone in their right mind would be staying in office to only waste county funds, time and resources ro remove her for corruption.
Let the cards unfold but this situation has caused so much damage to personal be thankful you don’t work there. Many people in the county haven’t even followed the news and don’t have to deal with this. Goes to show you that when situations don’t impact your life, most people don’t get involved.
There should be public marches every weekend for her to resign. Picketers in front of the sheriff office and county courts. Removing an elected sheriff for misconduct should not take 1-2 years to enforce removal. Protest until Corpus resigns!
I agree. Now that the voters have spoken we need to organize and picket calling for the Sheriff to resign now! Our deputies are suffering and public safety is being impacted. Why? because the selfish Sheriff wants a big pay day and is being led by none other then the wannabe cop Aenlle. It is all about her Vindictiveness ,Greed and Lies.
And shame on Jackie Speier for not standing up for her constituents. Friendship with a corrupt female sheriff is apparently more important.
I’ve been following pretty closely bc it’s like a smaller version of what’s happening in our Federal Government. This is shameful, criminal, and morally corrupt.
I don’t wish bad on anyone, but I wish people what they deserve.
The mind reels over how many people she’ll retaliate against in the time she has left.
Of course it will be long drawn put and cost the county millions- the selfish Corpus way- directed none other than the local unqualified realtor Aenlle
Of course it will be long drawn put and cost the county millions- the selfish Corpus way- directed none other than the local unqualified realtor Aenlle
I’d like to know what she os getting paid to do right now? If it’s avoiding every county board meeting, avoiding to work in person and ignoring every person in the county how is that not misappropriating funds and negligence and failing to do her job? Noone wants to work with her and she obviously doesn’t want to work why won’t she just resign?
Most sheriffs in California are elected officials so generally it’s the purview of voters to replace them.
generally yes. San Mateo County is a charter county and there is corruption happening. So there are laws being implemented that other charter counties have also implemented.
A recall election can still happen but legally can’t happen until 2026. What you are proposing allows this unethical sheriff to continue for over a year possibly 2 after being made public there is corruption and needs to stop. Measure A stops this perhaps 6 months to a year before a recall. Waiting is negligence. Negligent to ignore and continue as if everything is ok. The elected sheriff has turned her voters against her- 80000 elected her in and now 90000 support measure A a recall will likely
Corpus is going to ride this out as long as possible to keep receiving that fat paycheck. As DA Wagstaff is on the SAL board, he is most likely conflicted from investigating Corpus and Aenlle. Therefore, the Attorney General needs to step up, do his job, and conven a grand jury already. The BOS better reserve a convention center for the public hearing, because it will most likely be standing room only.
The county DA and Sheriff office work hand in hand and they know how to properly investigate employees. Unlike the sheriff who gets hell bent on arresting employees who speak out without following protocols
In fact, the County should be working together not on separate teams- see a problem?
I can tell Christina is desperate because she poses on social media and comments sections under another name, but she makes the same spelling and grammatical errors she does in her office emails. Christina (and Victor) you’re not fooling anybody.
I wonder if Governor Newsom is watching ? Is there no high ranking official that has the authority and guts to speak up? They need to publicly or privately ask Christina to step down. Our local government is doing the best they can but the process is too long . Public safety is at risk. Christina knows her reputation is destroyed and she has nothing to lose. I have never witnessed such a classless selfish Sheriff in my lifetime.
Well, just like when the board sent the batmobile case to the atty general they punt it back to the county DA- who then has to thoroughly investigate the matter and then send it back where months pass.
In the meantime Bonta can spend all his time posting about his disapproval in the current US president. Local matters in CA don’t matter to the AG- it’s all about gaining traction for personal promotionk gains
A HYPOTHETICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF SHERIFF CHRISTY:
Show up to work, depending what day of the week it is, and always late.
Scurry up to the fifth floor where access has been restricted to only a few people.
Lock herself in the office and put the Victor on speakerphone for the whole day.
Make sure plenty of feel-good social media posts are sent out to show that everything is ok.
Check on the Undersheriff and make sure he’s awake.
Send out happy birthday emails to staff.
Meet with Manjit and practice blaming everything on the old administration and unions.
Make zero decisions and call it a day by 3pm.
3pm seems a bit generous of predicting the current actual day she works- heck most days are 0 hours.
Don’t forget filling up extra time at karate studios and love cafe tea time on weekends and maybe some evening talks on what a good woman leader she is. Next up- I wasn’t aware of any issues pertaining to me speech. I only thought this was about Aenlle and he is amazing.
Wonder if she’s going to cry during the firing hearing. A lot of women start pouring out the tears when they get bad news.
Depends on the day and time- her moods float up and down from smiling and laughing to melancholy and crying.
What a shame the Board of Supervisors waited a year to do this. They certainly were told about all the problems in the SO in 2023. But they were reluctant to do anything about a fellow woke politician. Now it’s a crisis.
You must not have been watching. The board did what they could in their power to resolve this and when the sheriff flexed her power and ignored it they hired an independent investigator to expose hr violations. Next step is a recall or in this case getting measure A on the ballot.
What people fail to see is elected sheriff’s can’t be easily disciplined let alone removed. Who is failing to act most is the Attorney General- the one person that can discipline a Sheriff and remove them.
Wait and see if criminal charges are brought up- only takes months to years to bring those to the surface to. Corrupt people get away with wrongdoing for far too long.
The sheriff could have avoided all of this by stepping down. Instead she persists waiting to point fingers at the mistakes of someone else. Everyone else is pretty good despite the defamatory BS being spewed by Corpus. Everyone else can’t be bad except her. What a shame people trusted this disgrace of a woman.
How unethical can someone be- now you will find out. Laws broken have consequences- especially for single handedly causing millions in damages! For defaming people, for violating civil rights, for misappropriating funds, for hiring unqualified immoral command staff that broke laws. Just stop the bleeding, resign!