Notes, quotes and chaos motes

After the unanimity the board demonstrated in removing Corpus, cracks are beginning to show.

A FORCED HAND: The prospect of reelecting former Sheriff Carlos Bolanos, who confirmed here — perhaps too soon — that he was considering running in a possible special election, appears to have turned off some on letting “the voters decide.”

Which they are not going to do.

The eloquence of supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller notwithstanding, the three-vote majority decided to favor their judgment over the small number of voters who might show up at an off-brand election. Mueller compared it to a city council picking a police chief; three board members — Lisa Gauthier, Mueller and Canepa — are former councilmembers. Gauthier, participating remotely from Rome in the middle of the night, was visibly supportive of the comparison.

Mueller’s most pointed remarks echoed those of Julie Lind, head of the San Mateo County Labor Council, who said Sheriff’s Office personnel at every level favor appointing a sheriff as soon as possible to end the considerable and exhausting stress and pandemonium that has characterized the office for two years. Mueller said more than once that the office needs “healing.”

HEAL THYSELF: Then there is the hoo-ha in Millbrae over “sleeping quarters” at the police station, which, incidentally, is said to have been there for 20 years, including when Corpus held the title of police chief. There is widespread suspicion that Corpus had a hand in this controversy, spurred by the fact that the story was broken by her main news media mouthpiece. Add to the weirdness the conduct of Millbrae City Manager Tom Williams and Mayor Anders Fung, who used the occasion to undermine Millbrae Chief Eamonn Allen, who is accused of “commuting” from Idaho and using the sleeping quarters as a bedroom. All this is caught up in a spillover of other disputes between the city and the county, and some currently unfocused ambitions.

Beyond the specifics, it demonstrates how vulnerable the Sheriff’s Office remains to mischief, so long as there is no one in charge at the top.

CODE OF, UM, CONDUCT: In the midst of an agenda all about picking a new sheriff, Corzo decided to take a seemingly unrelated shot at Canepa for his outraged remarks to the news media about the Millbrae stuff, most notably, “If someone is living out of county or out of state, they have to pay for their own lodging, meaning San Mateo County is not a Holiday Inn.”

One of the undercurrents in the board’s personal and professional interrelations is Canepa’s evident hunger for news media attention.

Corzo took him to task, saying he misrepresented the circumstances. “Don’t continue to fall for that tabloid-style of reporting,” she said. Canepa tried to interrupt her. She stopped him. He tried again and Mueller stopped him. Later, as Canepa made a convoluted attempt to defend or explain himself — his face reddening, his voice rising — Mueller told him to move on. “I’m chairing the meeting,” Canepa said. “Then please chair it,” Mueller said.

It would appear they do not like each other all that much.

Speier and Gauthier stood by like witnesses at a car wreck.

INTO THE BREACH: But here they go, picking a new sheriff, as Robert B. Gunnison used to say, “under the meanest of deadline pressures.”

The board has until Nov. 13 to recruit applicants, vet them, interview them, have them hold some kind of public forum, narrow the field to some finalists, and then pick one. Just to ratchet up the timeline, County Executive Mike Callagy said the deadline for applicants will be Nov. 5. Or as Speier kept saying, as she argued for an election, “Six days.”

What kind of applicants will turn up in such a tight window?

No one knows how many — or whether even one — will meet the formal qualifications.

Then, as any job applicant knows, there are the more-challenging informal requirements that have been tossed into the mix — including a refusal to cooperate with ICE, a record of community relations and modern policing, experience running a jail, accepting oversight from an inspector general.

It took the board eight months to fire the sheriff. It will pick a new one in two weeks.