Sheriff Corpus takes stand as San Mateo County removal hearings close

San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus testified for the final time Friday as her two-week removal hearing concluded defending her leadership and denying misconduct assertions that could cost her the position she has held since Corpus who became emotional while describing the pressures of leading an -person agency stated she remains committed to her work despite calls for her resignation What brings me to work every day is the commitment to the office incarcerated people area members and people who don t have a voice she mentioned in response to a question from her attorney Thomas Mazzucco The sheriff faces two efforts to remove her a civil grand jury accusation filed in June alleging misconduct and abuse of power and Measure A a voter-approved initiative passed in March that gave the Board of Supervisors authority to remove a sheriff through The hearings have examined her leadership style personnel decisions and department values with much of the scrutiny stemming from a -page investigative document disclosed last year by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell Corpus has repeatedly denied alleges that she retaliated against critics misused her authority or fostered a toxic workplace arguing instead that entrenched resistance to adjustment and political interference particularly from County Executive Mike Callagy have undermined her leadership She reiterated that she fired Assistant Sheriff Ryan Monaghan not for cooperating with Cordell s inspection but because she had lost confidence in him citing his lack of candor about his relationship with Callagy whom he considered a friend and mentor She described Monaghan as insubordinate and stressed that in a paramilitary organization like a law enforcement agency orders must be followed unless they are unlawful Her attorneys accused Callagy of working to undermine her citing the release of the Cordell review without her knowledge keeping Monaghan on payroll for months without requiring him to work and later creating a position for him in the district attorney s office while shifting Measure K funds away from the sheriff s office Callagy has denied those assertions Corpus also testified that she now supports an independent civilian inspector general to help monitor the office due to testimonies of colleagues she described as liars She mentioned former investigator Matthew Fox resigned because he couldn t take the gang mentality and acknowledged she does not have the sponsorship of her top brass Questions about promotions and transfers were raised as well including her decision to promote and transfer Lt Jonathan Sebring to corrections a former professional standards bureau staffer despite his lack of a bachelor s degree She defended the promotion saying the degree requirement was not a strict rule and that her predecessor had made similar exceptions She added that Lt Dan Reynolds who was transferred from the Professional Standards Bureau to the civil division of the jails had requested the move himself countering states that it was punitive The hearings repeatedly revisited the arrest of Deputy Sheriff s Association President Carlos Tapia on charges of timecard fraud Corpus noted she acted on Fox s recommendation which indicated there was enough probable cause for the arrest Conflicting testimony from Corpus Fox and the district attorney s office emerged over what was truly communicated but Corpus denied that she ever rushed the circumstance She also rejected accusations of an inappropriate relationship with former Chief of Staff Victor Aenlle challenging the credibility of Valerie Barnes a key witness who claimed firsthand knowledge of the affair Earlier this week Millbrae City Manager Tom Williams testified that Barnes once commented I m going to get that b after being passed over for a promotion In closing arguments Corpus attorney Tom Perez a former White House official focused heavily on Barnes credibility calling her the lynchpin of the relationship charges and accusing her of having a vendetta against Corpus Voters voted on the Cordell document that was on the website Somebody lied it was Tom Williams or Valerie Barnes Perez reported urging the hearing officer to consider Barnes alleged motive County attorney Jan Little countered that Corpus amendment agenda could not excuse misconduct In any profession good works don t excuse unlawful conduct correct Little petitioned during cross-examination It does not Corpus replied The sheriff closed her testimony with an emotional account of the toll the job has taken on her and her family describing the pain of hearing people criticize her in front of her children and emphasizing the importance of her physical condition care for her son s biological requirements Corpus portrayed herself as a -year constituents servant trying to bring much-needed change to an agency resistant to reorganization County spokesperson Effie Verducci commented Measure A was designed to provide a formal process for the Board of Supervisors to investigate complaints about an elected sheriff not as a pretext to remove her Investigations revealed that she misuses her authority created a high-level position for a close associate without qualifications and fosters a workplace beliefs marked by retaliation Verducci announced She added that testimony and evidence from the hearings will be reviewed by the hearing officer retired Judge James Emerson who has days to submit a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors The board would then have days to act with removal requiring a four-fifths vote at a constituents meeting After the hearing Perez advised reporters the proceedings were reverse engineered and predetermined saying We will cross that road when we get there when urged if he deduced Emerson would side with Corpus If Corpus is removed the board would have days to appoint a replacement or call a special electoral process If it fails to act the county elections office must schedule one