Ross Mirkarimi Dresses Like General Eisenhower

Luke Thomas

A sharp-dressed man...

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and District Attorney George Gascón aren't exactly seeing eye to eye these days. But if a common bond could be forged, perhaps the first step to take would be uniting the warring city officials over their shared sartorial senses.

As police chief, Gascón was far more likely than not to wander into police headquarters dressed like a lawyer. Gascón is a lawyer, and Mirkarimi is not -- but, in the limited amount of time the sheriff has been permitted to do the job he was elected to do, he's often outfitted like one.

So, it was a bit jarring to see Mirkarimi clothed in full sheriff's dress regalia during the weekend's Veteran's Day March. Decked out in a forest green uniform complete with gold-starred epaulets and gold bands on an Eisenhower jacket, the progressive sheriff looks like he ought to be leaping off a Jeep and warning us about the perils of the Military-Industrial Complex.

Yet while this uniform might be a head-turner, it's actually something of a California template.

Sheriff's department spokeswoman Susan Fahey said the "Class A uniform" -- worn to inaugurations, funerals, and other high-level events -- is essentially "standardized" throughout the state.

Even the longest-serving sheriffs couldn't remember wearing anything much different, other than a sea change in 1999 or 2000 when the department pulled the trigger and made the shift from British green to forest green. Those were heady times.

Calls to the California State Sheriffs' Association querying why sheriffs' duds look like a cross between military officers and park rangers have not yet been answered.

A quick glance at the association's board of directors, however, reveals that Fahey is right -- there is a fairly standard template of sheriff's dress uniforms.

More when we know more about this most pressing situation.

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