BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, who is facing the likelihood of firing for corruption, told the county supervisors Tuesday (Sept. 23) that she’s tired of getting “dirty looks” from Supervisor Noelia Corzo.
“It is unprofessional of you as a board of supervisor to be doing that to me. Have some respect,” Corpus told Corzo as Supervisor David Canepa tried to move on.
When Corpus was elected in 2022, Corzo supported her candidacy and knocked on doors for her.
Corzo said that as a supervisor, she knows how to take criticism. She asked County Attorney John Nibbelin if the county was paying for the attorney that Corpus attended the meeting with, concerned about taxpayer money. Nibbelin said the county was not paying for the attorney at that meeting.
Corpus’ comments came at a meeting yesterday where the supervisors decided to put the county’s chief financial officer in charge of overseeing the sheriff’s budget due to overspending, such as her purchase of a $74,000 conference room table.
County Executive Mike Callagy said Corpus’s false statements about why her budget is out of control have to stop.
Corpus sent a letter to Nibbelin on Sunday, asking to remove the item from the agenda due to a lack of transparency and fairness. Corpus said the reason why her office is below the budget is because the county decided it would pay deputies double overtime to deal with vacancies and attract new employees, and Callagy promised to cover the cost. Callagy said that statement wasn’t true.
“It has been debunked at every turn with evidence, and it has got to stop,” Callagy said during yesterday meeting. Callagy said there are many emails that prove Corpus was involved in setting up the double overtime, and she was the one who wanted to extend it. When overtime got out of control, Corpus said she took full responsibility for not providing more oversight, Callagy said.
Who caused the shortfall?
Callagy said Corpus created a big hole in the budget, causing the county to give the sheriff’s office $8.4 million and offer a loan. Callagy said he never followed up on the loan because the sheriff’s office has no money.
“In the 2 1/2 years this sheriff has been there, we have never contributed this much funding to any other department,” Callagy said.
The county has supported Corpus with many of her requests, like a transition team, a criminal tech lab and increasing positions, Callagy said. The fact that Corpus’s budget is at a low is due to mismanagement, Callagy said.
Big purchases
Corpus’s decision to purchase a $74,000 conference room table, two $6,670 massage chairs and two soft-serve ice cream machines for employees in the county jails are the reasons for the need to oversee her budget, Callagy said.
Callagy said Corpus doesn’t attend his monthly meetings where budgets are discussed. Corpus said Corzo said that the sheriff’s office is not the only department held accountable for how it uses its budget.
Roberto Manchia, the county government’s chief financial officer, will be monitoring the sheriff’s office monthly budget and will see how money is being spent. Manchia said it will not affect the sheriff’s office operations or drag out contracts or requests.
It’s what the board does Supervisor Jackie Speier said it’s the board’s job to be watchdogs over the county government.
“Two of the most important responsibilities of the board are oversight of county programs and prudent expenditure of taxpayer money. We need to get con- trol of this situation now, not later,” Speier said.
The sheriff’s office has depleted its budget surplus, going from $36.7 million in fiscal year 2022-23 to $3.2 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The sheriff’s office has used the majority of its $324 million budget for the current 2025-26 fiscal year, according to Speier.
Must See TV
Speier said that in one of the first meetings she attended, she pulled an item where Corpus was requesting over $1 million for more audio and visual equipment. One of the purchases was a $700,000 TV for the headquarters conference room.
Another purchase that has caused issues in her budget is the $35,687 monthly lease Corpus signed in August 2023 to turn a building at 690 Broadway in Redwood City into a day care center and sheriff’s substation for the North Fair Oaks neighborhood. However, the plans were stopped a year later, and the building has stayed vacant.
Corpus is facing removal by supervisors after they voted to fire her and held a 10-day hearing to give her a chance to answer the allegations. She’s accused of retaliating against employees, arresting one of them, having a close relationship with former chief of staff Victor Aenlle and negligence in her job duties. In a separate action, the county’s civil grand jury has filed accusations against the sheriff that will result in a trial to determine if she should stay in office.
After being the Sheriff for over 2 years she has yet to take responsibility for anything that has gone wrong. She constantly finger points to other people or gas lights the public with childish nonsense to distract from what is really happening- ie the supervisor is giving me dirty looks… so then she focuses on dirty looks and blames Callagy for budget issues. All of her attempt to side step major issues is disrespectful and unprofessional .
She offers no resolution and only creates conflicts and confusion.
Pathetic is not strong enough of a word to describe this MONSTER of a so called completely incompetent Sheriff. She has and continues to destroy peoples lives. Any one who questions her corrupt behavior is now under an Internal Affairs Investigation. She pulled the same nonsense in court! “He is looking at me! Make him stop looking at me.” Eye roll!!!! Get her the hell out…NOW
Have some respect….are ya kidding me?? What audacity! Christy, has noone EVER told you that real respect is earned, not demanded? You must be furious that you can’t place Noelia Corzo on admin leave and start an IA against her. The long arm of your despotic administration just doesn’t quite reach far enough, does it.
Many of the oppressed S/O staff are still afraid to speak up because of the continued retaliation, but once you’ve been dragged kicking and screaming from your office, you can expect to feel their full wrath coming at you in waves.
Oh wait, that’s right, you haven’t been showing up to work, have you? In that case, we all look forward to the day (coming soon!!) when empty boxes are placed outside the doors of all the offices of you, your corrupt and despicable command staff and contract employees, just like YOU did when you started your reign of terror and chaos. You can bet that there will be a line of volunteers who would love to pack up your s#*t and carry it out to the curb! It’ll be more fun than serving a search warrant and arresting the whole lot of you…where’s my popcorn?
As for your little Banty rooster boyfriend, if he thinks he’s going to hang on to his Reserve status, he will be surprised to be on the receiving end of a smackdown that will be heard throughout the County. Maybe he can go appeal to SMPD for a job…oh, that’s right, he already failed trying to become an officer there AND had a criminal investigation against him! Good times!