BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County Supervisor Jackie Speier wants the board of supervisors to oversee Sheriff Christina Corpus spending, after learning that she wanted to spend $600,000 on a TV and $66,700 to buy massage chairs. Corpus also used county funds to buy a $74,000 conference room table and an unknown amount to purchase soft-serve ice cream machines for her jail employees.
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 year.
Speier says the sheriff has used most of her $324 million budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in 10 months on June 30, 2026.
“Given the low level of sheriff’s office reserves, this board would benefit from increased oversight of (the) sheriff’s office’s fiscal operations,” Speier wrote in a report to the other four supervisors.
The sheriff’s office and Speier didn’t respond to the Post’s inquiries about Speier’s proposal, which will go to the board for a vote on Tuesday.
Speier called out Corpus’s request to buy 10 massage chairs for $6,670 each at meetings in April and June. The total cost of the chairs would be $66,700.
Corpus said she didn’t know about the request. But an email obtained through a California Public Records Act request showed that Corpus had directed her employees to purchase 10 massage chairs. The records showed she tried to get the San Carlos bureau to use its funds to buy one of the chairs.
Speier also questioned a purchase request for a $600,000 TV for a conference room. Corpus said that she did not move forward with the purchase after Speier asked questions about it. Corpus said the department is trying to save money, so she decided the TV wasn’t necessary.
Corpus said she bought the $74,000 conference room table because of the size of her team and the size of the confer- ence room. She said that with an organization of 800 people and during staff meetings, it is important to have space for everyone.
The 22-foot by 10-foot table includes 12 “cooling fans” in the legs and 10 “lockable access doors,” according to documents the Post obtained through a California Public Records Act request.
At the time, Supervisor David Canepa said it may be the most expensive table in the history of San Mateo County.
The supervisors have voted unanimously to fire Corpus, but she has been allowed to stay in office while she appeals that decision. The appeal included a 10-day hearing in which the county’s lawyers and lawyers for Corpus litigated whether she should be fired for a variety of allegations including nepotism, negligence, retaliation and intimidation. When the hearing officer in the appeal proceedings submits his report, the board is expected to vote again to remove Corpus.
On a separate track, the county civil grand jury has recommended her removal from office, which will result in a trial. If she loses at trial, she would be removed from office and declared ineligible to ever hold public office again in California.
I was beginning to experience withdrawal from not seeing the Sheriff’s face plastered on the front page everyday. Retired Judge James Emerson’s decision cannot come soon enough.
The BoS is really turning the screw now. No more ice cream for those soft-serve machines, no more paying the electric bill for those massage chairs. They should establish a citizens oversight committee, too.
If she had any sense of honor she would resign.. I saw that that all five of her captains indicated no confidence in her leadership and asked for her to step down. Pathetic.
I do not understand for the life of me why this woman will not just step down and stop all this nonsense. The countless thousands and thousands of dollars being spend – could better serve other purposes. Furthermore, her trying to take the focus off herself and put it on the other high ranking officers is ludicrous. I happen to be a career criminal and I assure you Captain Mark Myers might as well be related to Snow White. I have nothing nice to say about the cops, but that’s one cop who’s not dirty!!! Please lady stop your nonsense – step down like a lady and move on….you’re done. Stop wasting everyone’s time, energy, and money. Enough is enough!
Corpus is seriously too stupid to see her ship is heading to the bottom of the sea. As if the captain of the Titanic was serving snow cones on the deck after the ship struck the iceberg, show us how it’s done Chrissy.
So some think the Sheriff is not good with money? Certainly that has been surfaced. Snooping around in the public records for the County management unit on the web about compensation, it seems to reveal that elected officials get a month of healthcare coverage, fully paid by the County, for each month of County service, if they retire from the county. The wording in the description is particular that separation from county service and retirement must occur simultaneously.
Corpus appears wholly uninterested in securing fully paid healthcare insurance for her disabled child, for roughly more than 25-years, if she does not seize the opportunity to retire before the Board of Supervisors (BOS) decide to complete her termination vote. If the BOS votes in support of her removal, that removal is immediate separation from service, permanently prohibiting Corpus’ ability to make the best of that benefit for her son. She may or may not be able to retire then, however the fully paid 35-year healthcare opportunity will be gone.
Chose wisely Sheriff Corpus, chose wisely. Give this great thought. Your mother was there for you in the final day of your hearing. What kind of mother will you reveal that you truly are in supporting your children? Everyone is watching whether you prioritize your career, which has failed, or the health and wellbeing of your own child. Remember your own words, service over self.
Why is she allowed to continue to be paid her high salary while she is being removed? Make it make sense.
If you know, you know…all the heat coming down on Corpus is a direct result of her ousting the previous Sheriff in the last election. San Mateo county is corrupt in a way, it’s a ‘good ol boy town’ and quid pro quo is the currency. Previous Sheriff still has a lot of friends in the department and knows the supervisors. He is a real weasel and has ingrained his web throughout all of SM county government. He was caught in a brothel in Nevada and didn’t get as much heat as Corpus. He also sent a hit squad out to Ohio because one of his millionaire buddies (now deceased/suicide) ordered a bat mobile replica and it was taking to long.
Gerbil, go back to your wheel. Your spinning has made you delusional. The former Sheriff has not created this circumstance, the current poor leadership did. Stop being a paranoid blamer living in the past! It’s time to move on!
Corpus’ problems were all created by Corpus herself, when hired that little weasel, Victor Aenlle, and gave him a job he was not qualified for, and power he did not deserve. Her troubles are totally self-inflicted.
I’d sure like to see the make/model/specs of a $600k TV.
Exactly! Like wtf, $600k for a tv??
Just one more corrupt official. She will get slap on the wrist,keep her pension and then it will happen again and again all at the expense of hardworking Americans.
Was
“Speier says the sheriff has used most of her $324 million budget for the current fiscal year, which ends in 10 months on June 30, 2026.”
That means that Corpus has spent almost an entire year of allocated funding in only the first two months of the fiscal year!!!
Director of Finance Stacey Stevenson, her Nepo Son, and the Controllers’ Office appear to be asleep at the check and balance oversight switch.
If this is how Corpus frivolously spends County money, how is she spending SAL donor and grant money?
Cancel Manjit Sappal and William Addington’s contract and you save $399,998 dollars right off the bat.
That statement is utterly false. The Sheriff’s Office has not spent most of its FY 2025-26 budget only two months into the fiscal year. A majority of the budget is allocated for personnel costs, which is distributed by pay period over the course of an entire fiscal year. Either the reporter misheard Supervisor Speier, or the Supervisor was given false information.
We the taxpayers are paying for her sharks. Who authorized that ?? What a waste . If she wants representation she can use her pension.