Matt Gonzalez

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In January 2008, Gonzalez, along with several other prominent Green Party members, launched Ralph Nader's 2008 Presidential Exploratory Committee to support a possible Nader candidacy. [34] On February 28, 2008, four days after announcing his presidential bid, Nader named Gonzalez as his running mate for the 2008 presidential election. [35]

Nader announced that he and Gonzalez would not seek the Green Party nomination but would run as independents. On March 4, 2008, Gonzalez announced that he had left the Green Party and had changed his voter registration to independent. [36] The change, he said, was to accommodate states, including Delaware, Idaho and Oregon, that did not allow members of political parties to run as independents.

On October 18, 2008 Gonzalez and Nader held a large protest on Wall Street following the passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. [37] Their opposition to the bailout was a key issue of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, in contrast to the Democratic and Republican Party candidates who supported the bill.

Gonzalez participated in the third party vice-presidential debates, along with Constitution Party vice-presidential candidate Darrell Castle and Libertarian Wayne Allyn Root, held in Las Vegas, on November 2, 2008. [38] The event was hosted by Free and Equal.org and Free & Equal Elections (FREE), an organization of political parties, independent citizens and civic organizations formed to promote free and equal elections in the United States. [38]

Public Defender's Office

Jeff Adachi appointed Gonzalez as Chief Attorney in the Public Defender's Office in February 2011. [1] [2]

In 2012, Gonzalez took a month-long unpaid leave of absence to act as co-counsel for a corporation in its $16 million lawsuit against San Francisco. This was a civil suit, and as such was not a violation of the San Francisco Public Defender's office rules of ethics, which states in part, "No employee may provide legal advice or legal representation...to any person or entity other than in the employee's official capacity." [39] [40] The case involved Cobra Solutions, a minority-owned business, that had been wrongfully suspended from being able to bid on city information technology contracts. The article “How Business Was Done,” by Luke Thomas, published in 48 Hills, February 14, 2012, explained the key features of the litigation.Thomas, Luke (February 14, 2012). ""How Business Was Done"". 48 Hills. Retrieved January 26, 2021.

Gonzalez defended José Inez García Zárate in the Kate Steinle homicide trial. The trial received national media attention because the defendant was an undocumented immigrant who had previously been deported five times. [41] Zarate, 45, was found not guilty of assault with a firearm but was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Zárate was sentenced to time already served. [42] [43]

After the death of Jeff Adachi on 22 February 2019, Gonzalez served briefly as head of the public defender's office until an interim head, Manohar ‘Mano’ Raju, was named. [44] [45] Mano was appointed Public Defender on March 11. [46]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Coté, John (February 23, 2011). "Gonzalez is defender's new No. 2". San Francisco Chronicle.
  2. 1 2 "San Francisco Public Defender's Office Profile" . Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  3. Guthrie, Julian. Guthrie, Julian (December 6, 2003). "Gonzalez: Giving back in San Francisco after childhood of privilege". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 10, 2006.The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, December 7, 2003
  4. Hampton, Adriel (March 29, 2004) "Supe Walks Away." San Francisco Indybay. (Retrieved Oct 21, 2015.)
  5. Fintz, Stacy, (October 20, 1999) "Challenger Says He'll Fulfill Hallinan's Goals / Gonzalez to halt death penalty prosecutions" San Francisco Chronicle
  6. City & County of San Francisco, Dept. of Elections. Election Results 1999. Archived November 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 10-20-15.)
  7. Anderson, Lessley and Jack Cheevers (October 8, 2003) "The Great Left Hope." SF Weekly. (Retrieved March 2, 2016.)
  8. "Why I Turned Green". San Francisco Bay Guardian. November 15, 2000. Archived from the original on March 5, 2005. Retrieved October 20, 2008.
  9. Epstein, Edward (November 18, 2000) "Supervisor Candidate Turns Green: Gonzalez's move costs him Democrats' support San Francisco Chronicle.,
  10. Shaw, Randy. Beyondchron (January 3, 2005), "Matt Gonzalez's political legacy". January 3, 2005. Retrieved May 10, 2006.
  11. Reed, Christopher. The Guardian , December 7, 2003. Reed, Christopher (December 7, 2003). "Democrats face fresh votes blow". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 10, 2006.
  12. Wildermuth, John. The San Francisco Chronicle December 16, 2003, Wildermuth, John (December 16, 2003). "Fall of the machine". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 10, 2006.
  13. Wildermuth, John; Gordon, Rachel; Chronicle Political Writers; November 12, 2003)"Mayoral hopefuls come out swinging in debate—Gonzalez questions Newsom's spending" San Francisco Chronicle
  14. Mayoral Runoff Debate (November 11, 2003) "Mayoral Debate" Commonwealth Club Archives
  15. Suzanne Herel (January 3, 2005). "Forever the rebel with a cause, Gonzalez exits left at City Hall:Idealist energized young liberals in strong run for mayor". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  16. Gordon, Rachel (October 22, 2002). "Brown speaks on State of the City". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  17. "Why Newsom is our choice". San Francisco Chronicle. December 7, 2003. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  18. Mary Spicuzza (February 13, 2008). "Wikipedia Idiots: The Edit Wars of San Francisco". Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
  19. Bay City News (January 8, 2003). "Gonzalez named new prez of S.F. Board of Supervisors". San Francisco Chronicle.
  20. Gordon, Rachel (January 9, 2003). "Green Party scores a win on S.F. board / Gonzalez's election as president shocks Democratic leaders". San Francisco Chronicle.
  21. Feinstein, Mike Summer 2003. "Matt Gonzalez Elected President of San Francisco Board of Supervisors" Archived February 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Green Focus
  22. Lelchuk, I. Lelchuk, Ilene (December 10, 2004). "Last word on government: Graffiti installation in Gonzalez's office gets mixed reviews". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 10, 2006.San Francisco Chronicle on the web, December 10, 2004.
  23. Gordon, Rachel (August 9, 2003). "Gonzalez joins race for mayor / 9 candidates now vying for S.F.'s top post". San Francisco Chronicle.
  24. Rob Wrenn (December 19, 2003). "Absentees Proved Crucial in Newsom's Victory". Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
  25. Norman Solomon (December 11, 2003). "Breakthrough And Peril For The Green Party". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
  26. McCarthy, Kevin. The Nation , December 5, 2003. "Gonzalez for Mayor" . Retrieved May 10, 2006.
  27. Dean E. Murphy (December 7, 2003). "Left Faces Left in San Francisco Runoff Vote for Mayor". New York Times.
  28. Sappenfield, Mark (December 9, 2003)"Poets and Yogis: Green Party mayoral candidate taps the city's distinctive culture." Christian Science Monitor.
  29. Gordon, Rachel et al (December 10, 2003) "Newsom: The Time for a Change Is Here." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved June 10, 2016).
  30. Matier, Phillip; Ross, Andrew (November 5, 2003). "Gonzalez: He must take buzz citywide". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved August 8, 2008.
  31. Woodward, Tali. "Cutting the Golden Parachute" . Retrieved May 10, 2006. See also Knight H., "Lawsuit filed to toss school chief's raise." San Francisco Chronicle, June 23, 2005, accessed April 8, 2006.
  32. Hogarth, Paul (January 3, 2007) "Gonzalez Law Firm Scores Minimum Wage Victory" Beyond Chron
  33. Matier, Phil; E. Ross (January 17, 2007) "Yalies' case – not mayor's race – brings Gonzalez back to spotlight." San Francisco Chronicle.
  34. Ralph Nader for President in 2008 — Join with us today
  35. Alexovich, Ariel (February 28, 2008). "Nader Announces Pick for Vice President". The New York Times.
  36. Thomas, Luke (March 4, 2008). "Matt Gonzalez leaves Green Party Increasing ballot access for presidential run cited". Fog City Journal.
  37. "Nader leads Wall Street protest". Green Left Weekly. October 18, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  38. 1 2 Ball, Molly (November 3, 2008). "Third-party candidates for vice president debate". Las Vegas Review-Journal . Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  39. Matier, Phillip and Andrew Ross (February 1, 2012) "Matt Gonzalez is representing firm suing S.F.." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved Mar 16, 2017.)
  40. Editors (February 2, 2012 "Matt Gonzalez Is Suing The City That Pays Him." Archived September 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine SFist. (Retrieved Mar 16, 2017).
  41. "Immigrant charged in slaying has strong defender in Matt Gonzalez - SFChronicle.com". www.sfchronicle.com. July 13, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  42. Richard Gonzales (January 5, 2018) "Immigrant Acquitted of San Francisco Killing Sentenced On Lesser Gun Charge", NPR. (Retrieved Dec 20, 2018)
  43. "Defendant in Kate Steinle shooting case sentenced to time served". The Mercury News. January 5, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  44. Burke, Katie (Summer 2019) "Meet Mano, San Francisco's Interim Public Defender." San Francisco Bar Association. (Retrieved December 8, 2020).
  45. "Chief Attorney Matt Gonzales remembers the friendly and fiery sides of Jeff Adachi".
  46. Eskenazi, Joe (March 22, 2019) "Manohar ‘Mano’ Raju to succeed Jeff Adachi as Public Defender." Mission Local. (Retrieved December 8, 2020.)

Further reading

Matt Gonzalez
Matt Gonzalez (August 2019)(48484425152) (cropped).jpg
Gonzalez in 2019
Interim Public Defender of San Francisco
In office
February 22, 2019 March 11, 2019
Political offices
Preceded by Peace and Freedom Party vice presidential nominee
2008 (a)
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
2003–2005
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Election was not district specific
Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
District 5

2001–2005
Succeeded by