Talk about a rough first day on the job. No sooner had Mohammed Nuru taken the helm of the Department of Public Works than he and Mayor Ed Lee were bombarded with charges that the appointment was the result of “cronyism, politics and poor judgment.”

Those are the words of Dennis Herrera in a press release from his campaign. He reminded voters that Nuru was part of “misappropriating public funds for personal uses; retaliatory threats against whistleblowers; and directing city contractors to engage in illegal political activities while they were being paid with public funds.”

And Herrera should know. Not only is he a mayoral candidate but he is the city attorney, head of the very office that investigated instances of abuse such as the SLUG scandal in 2004.

Nuru was the head of the nonprofit San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, which was under investigation for misappropriating city funds to conduct campaign activities for the mayor’s and district attorney’s races in 2003.

bbegin@sfexaminer.com