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Fired Adachi Fights Back

Jeff Adachi

By Neela Banerjee

Former public defender Jeff Adachi kicked off his campaign on Wednesday to take back the position he considers rightfully his.

“Jeff is someone who has earned his stripes, who knows his job backwards and forwards,” said Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano, the first of a series of speakers who underscored Adachi’s extensive experience as a public defender.

Adachi’s campaign event came just five days after the new head public defender, Kimiko Burton, fired him. Burton was appointed by Mayor Willie Brown the week before, when head public defender Jeff Brown was tapped by Gov. Gray Davis to serve on the state Public Utilities Commission.

Brown, who had served six consecutive terms as public defender, had appointed Adachi to be his second-in-command in 1998, and asked Adachi to run as his successor in 2002. The mayor’s appointment of Burton came as a surprise to many who saw the move as a political ploy.

Adachi, who was born in Sacramento, said that he had aspired to be a public defender his entire life. While a student at U.C. Berkeley in the late 1970s, Adachi became involved in community activism in the Asian American community. He volunteered to help in the high-profile legal defense case of Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was on death row for his alleged role in a 1973 Chinatown gang killing.

After graduating from Hastings Law School in 1986, he began his long tenure with the San Francisco Public Defender’s office. Over the years, Adachi has come to be known as a gifted trial attorney, and has handled over 3,000 cases.

Last week’s campaign kick-off event, held at the Japanese Community and Cultural Center, showcased Adachi’s Asian American and politically progressive support base.

Along with Ammiano, Supervisors Chris Daly, Gerardo Sandoval, and Adachi’s former public defender colleague Matt Gonzalez were present.

Adachi has also been an active member of the Asian American community, serving as co-chairman of the Japanese American Citizens League, and is an avid supporter of the arts. In 1995, Adachi helped organize the Asian American Arts Foundation and used it to launch the Golden Ring Awards, which celebrate Asian American artists while raising money for community art groups.

Drummers from the San Francisco Taiko Dojo brought Adachi’s campaign in with a bang, and the all-female vocal group Pinay sang the national anthem, both groups acknowledging Adachi’s important role in the Asian American arts community.

Diane Chin, of Chinese for Affirmative Action, spoke about the historical nature of this race for the API community.

“There are two individuals of Asian descent who are vying for this role, and APIs need to understand the power of their vote,” Chin said. “We as a community need to make a commitment to equality and fairness when casting our vote. Affirmative action has always been about qualified individuals.”

Japanese American activist Dale Minami, who hired Adachi as a law clerk years ago, spoke about Adachi’s dedication to justice that stems from his parents’ internment during World War II.

“All he ever wanted to do was be a public defender,” Minami said.

Adachi took the stage to formally announce his intent to run for office, at first joking, “I’m probably the only guy who throws a party when he gets fired.”

Adachi said that when Brown first approached him about taking the position, he declined because he wanted to stay in the background. But then he decided to take the challenge.

“This job is really about a commitment to justice, to individual justice,” Adachi said. “Most of you have experienced some kind of injustice in your lives. My parents and grandparents faced that in the camps. The government didn’t show up at the doors of the Japanese Americans and give them $20,000. They had to fight for that.”

Adachi pointed out that the public defender’s department is the only one in City Hall that is constitutionally mandated.

“We can’t afford to politicize this,” Adachi said.