A white San Francisco official who has worked for the city for the last 20 years and headed the city’s election commission has been effectively fired after the city decided not to renew his contract for next year.
The official, John Arntz, ironically developed a plan for “racial equity” in recent years for government positions, which ended up costing him his own job. The election commission voted 4 to 2 not to renew his contract, a move that has bothered state representatives and senators, along with local San Francisco residents.
“Our plan decision wasn’t about your performance,” Commission President Chris Jerodenk said in an email to Arntz.
“But after twenty years, we wanted to take action on the city’s racial equity plan, and give people an opportunity to compete for a leadership position.”
Cynthia Dai, Robin Stone, Renita Livosi, and Board President Chris Jerdonek all voted to remove Arntz from his position.
“Before Director Arntz, we had five directors in as many years, ballot boxes floating in the bay, and an intense lack of confidence in city elections,” City Attorney David Chu said in a statement to Mission Local, adding that he was “mystified” by the decision.
An ex-employee who worked under Arntz said “If the decision is based on race, and not performance, I cannot agree with the commission.”
Another ex-employee said, “Apparently the reason is that there might be someone better out there. Well good luck, just ask the people in the department.”
Arntz received praise in recent years for turning around the city’s elections from being the worst in California to one of the best.
“Members of the Election Commission are tasked with ensuring free, fair, and must act in the best interests of the City and County. The decision to dismiss John Arntz after 20 years of impeccable leadership is a dereliction of the Commission’s duty,” Supervisor Catherine Stefani tweeted.
“Woke performative politics has reared its dangerous and ugly head, in San Francisco, and just cost a dedicated public servant his job. Disgusting,” one San Francisco resident said. In one email, the San Francisco mayor said, “San Francisco runs one of the best elections in the country, and we believe this transparent process has allowed us to continue to improve…”
2 Responses
Mr. John Arntz, there is obviously the distinctly high probability that your assessment of the situation is actually correct! The fact of their voting to put you out of that office directly states that they do not want the type of performance in that office which you have consistently given. There is no other logical conclusion as to their motives as shown through their action. They want to break the fairness which you were accomplishing !!!
The problem is not only his race, But the fact he has put a good election process in place which has run very well for years. Could it be that this is a Political move to disrupt this process? Which I think is highly probable.