Ross Mirkarimi: Mayor Says Suspended Sheriff Should Not Have Beaten His Wife

Well now he's been called worse

The hearings that will decide whether Ross Mirkarimi is fit to remain our sheriff began yesterday afternoon, with Mayor Ed Lee giving reporters his blunt opinions of Mirkarimi, and let's just say he didn't call him a tyrant.

Instead, the mayor went straight for the jugular, using the words "beating" and "wife" in the same sentence when talking about the sheriff-in-limbo.

Here's exactly what Lee said:

"I think that as one of the top law enforcement officials for the city, he ought not to have engaged in the beating of his wife.... I just think that the violence against a spouse was not appropriate for occupying that office."

Of course, Mirkarimi wasn't going to let the mayor get away with bashing him outside the hearing without a comeback; Mirkarimi told reporters again that the mayor was smearing his name with a bunch of sensationalist talk.

Regardless of what the two said to reporters outside the hearing, the only words that will matter is what they say to the Ethics Commission, which is to decide whether Mirkarimi is guilty of official misconduct after bruising his wife's arm during a New Year's Eve dispute. Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to a charge of false imprisonment in March.

But the guilty plea didn't satisfy the mayor, who later suspended Mirkarimi and asked him to resign from his post as sheriff -- permanently. Mirkarimi, who was elected in November, refused to step down, and that's how we got to where we are today.

Things should get really heated next week, when both Mirkarimi and Lee are scheduled to testify.

Stay tuned.

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