In a shocking end to the melodrama that has consumed San Francisco City Hall for the past nine months, the Board of Supervisors bucked Mayor Ed Lee late Tuesday night by giving suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi his job back.
Four members of the board rejected Lee's call that Mirkarimi be permanently removed for committing official misconduct, an allegation that stemmed from a New Year's Eve fight with his wife for which he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of false imprisonment.
Lee needed nine of the 11 supervisors' votes to oust Mirkarimi. Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, Jane Kim and - in a major blow to Lee - the mayor's appointee, Christina Olague, voted to reinstate Mirkarimi.
As soon as the vote became official, the crowd of Mirkarimi supporters in City Hall burst into whoops, cheers and applause. Domestic violence victims advocates looked downcast and made a beeline for the exit.
Mirkarimi appeared shocked and blinked back tears as he told a crowd of reporters that he would show up for work Wednesday and was ready to work with Lee.
"Now is the time to move forward, and I look forward to displaying why people elected me as sheriff," Mirkarimi said. "We have work to do, and we both need to rise above the politics and get the job done."
Outside the board chambers, Mirkarimi had his arm around his wife, Eliana Lopez, as supporters cheered.
"This process has been so long and so stressful," Lopez said. "It has been so painful for me and my son and my husband. To see the boys that I love being apart was really bad. But thanks for giving me the strength to keep fighting, to say this is wrong."
Response from the mayor
Lee promptly issued a statement saying he "strongly disagreed" with the supervisors' vote.
"The board's decision returns a convicted domestic batterer to lead the sheriff's office," he said. "Domestic violence has no place in our city, will never be considered a private family matter and will never be tolerated."
Avalos, Campos, Kim and Olague said they condemned Mirkarimi's bruising of his wife's arm, but that it didn't amount to official misconduct.
"I don't believe that we should do anything to minimize how serious this was," Campos said. "There is simply no justification for anyone grabbing another human being's arm and bruising that arm.
"But that egregious misconduct does not fall within the definition of official misconduct," he continued. "We must interpret this provision narrowly or open the door, open the door wide, for potential abuse."
At the beginning of the nearly nine-hour hearing, the supervisors quizzed attorneys from both sides on that issue, trying to boil the matter down to a simple question: When and under what conditions does an elected official commit official misconduct?
Attorneys for Mirkarimi said the sheriff's actions didn't amount to official misconduct because it occurred before he was sworn into office and wasn't related to the sheriff's on-the-job duties.
Warning to supervisors
Shepard Kopp, an attorney for Mirkarimi, warned the supervisors that under Lee's overly broad definition of official misconduct, any one of them could be the next official to be suspended without pay for committing an action unrelated to their jobs.
"What if you declared bankruptcy? You made contracts with people and you haven't paid the money you owe them?" he asked the board. "Under the mayor's theory, that could be official misconduct - if you file your tax returns late, if you default on a loan."
Deputy City Attorney Sherri Kaiser said it is ludicrous to think that domestic violence is unrelated to the sheriff's duties because he oversees domestic violence programs and maintains the jails in which batterers are held. Mirkarimi is on three years' probation and enrolled in domestic violence classes as a result of the false imprisonment plea.
She likened reinstating Mirkarimi to having a tax collector who cheats on his taxes or an animal care and control officer who runs a dog-fighting ring on the side.
"No one wants Michael Vick in control of the Animal Care and Control Department," she said, referring to the NFL quarterback who was convicted of felony charges of running an illegal dog-fighting ring.
A vast majority of those offering public comment - which went on for hours - spoke in favor of reinstating Mirkarimi. The first was former Mayor Art Agnos, who allowed Mirkarimi to stay at his house during part of the months-long period when the sheriff was forbidden by the courts to see his wife.
Agnos, a mentor to Mirkarimi, told supervisors that "most of all, this case is about unprecedented mayoral power." Other elected officials could face the full force of the mayor's office before the checks built into the system - the Ethics Commission and the Board of Supervisors - came into play, Agnos said.
"As a former mayor, I know extraordinary power," Agnos said. "During the Loma Prieta earthquake, I used a state of emergency to close neighborhoods, hold people without charges, put the Army on the streets of our city. But I never had this kind of power. And no one should."
Mirkarimi's supporters ran the gamut from Agnos to regular City Hall gadflies. Among the colorful cross section, one called Lee "a big fat liar," another suggested Mirkarimi was presidential material, and another railed about a crackdown on medical marijuana before leaving the lectern saying she was off to find a roommate.
Sheriff's backers boo
The crowd at times booed anybody, mostly domestic violence advocates, who spoke in favor of removing Mirkarimi from office. Beverly Upton, executive director of the San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium, said "the facts matter" and took to task some on the political left for trying to cast the case as a political witch hunt.
"Committing domestic violence is not a progressive issue. It is not a value of my community or your community to turn a blind eye when someone we know commits domestic violence," Upton said.
"Our conduct is a reflection of our character 24 hours a day, not only when we're in City Hall, not only when the cameras are rolling but every single day," she continued. "Our sheriff should be our sheriff 24 hours a day."
After the vote to reinstate Mirkarimi, Upton looked dejected and said, "It sends the movement back decades. Clearly we have more work to do."
Hundreds of Mirkarimi supporters - including Agnos, former District Attorney Terence Hallinan and former Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver - rallied on the steps of City Hall before the hearing.
'An amazing ordeal'
Mirkarimi and Lopez arrived at the rally, both wearing gold wedding rings and big smiles. They said they had come straight from a hayride at a local pumpkin patch.
Mirkarimi carried their 3-year-old son, Theo, on his hip and bounced him in time to the chants of "Reinstate Ross!" Theo was carrying a toy sheriff's car that his father had him show the television cameras before he left for a nap.
"This is a nice welcome after 10 months of what has been an amazing ordeal - agonizing - to my family and the San Francisco family," Mirkarimi said.
But the Mirkarimi saga could continue. Some supervisors, including those who voted to reinstate him, pointed out that voters could remove the sheriff in a recall election as soon as next year.
S.F. supervisors' words
Members of the Board of Supervisors explain their votes on the official misconduct charges against suspended Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi.
"It is a dangerous precedent to set and a slippery slope to open up as a political tool."
"I believe that we must interpret this provision (of official misconduct) narrowly or open the door, open the door wide for potential abuse."
"Tonight's decision is going to communicate a message to our city and beyond as to how we as San Franciscans view domestic violence."
"I do think the sheriff-elect is responsible for his actions."
"I believe that the sheriff must be capable of expressing emotional control and good judgment in all circumstances."
"I believe the sheriff violated his official duties and he's guilty of official misconduct."
"To me, the terms of the plea deal significantly impact Mr. Mirkarimi's role as sheriff."
"I think it wasn't shown that when the sheriff grabbed his wife that he used the power of his office to commit violence against her."
"I don't believe it's right for someone with an admitted record of domestic violence to serve as sheriff."
"To declare that public officials don't deserve second chances goes against who we are as a city."
"You can have redemption, and that does not mean you are entitled to continue to hold that position."
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Neal J. Riley contributed to this report. Heather Knight and John Coté are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.org Twitter: @hknightsf, @johnwcote