Matt Gonzalez, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors president turned mayoral hopeful turned Green Party vice presidential candidate, is taking on yet another role in The City: Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s chief attorney.
After losing to Gavin Newsom in 2003 by 6 percentage points and finishing his Board of Supervisors term in 2005, Gonzalez spent the rest of the aughties working with law partner Whitney Leigh in a private, civil-rights law practice.
Now, Gonzalez and Adachi are joining to make a savvy political tandem. Adachi is expected to test the waters for the mayoral race in November and he continues to soldier forward on pension reform. Gonzalez was a backer of Proposition B on the November ballot, which was an Adachi-led pension reform measure.
Having a trusted ally taking care of business in the office can’t be a bad thing.
Gonzalez replaces Teresa Caffese, who left the office in December to pursue her own private practice. Gonzalez served as a deputy public defender between 1991 and 2001.
