By: Jonah Owen Lamb
This article was originally published in The San Francisco Standard.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in March quietly promoted a nursing professor with no legal license — who is a longtime friend — to run the office as chief of staff, with an annual salary of nearly $300,000.
Monifa Willis, who still earns more than $100,000 a year for her part-time work at UCSF, was initially hired in 2022 to run the District Attorney’s Office’s Victim Services Division. She was also the CEO of a marijuana dispensary called New Life CA, which is now closed.
While city ethics rules require disclosing close relationships — and bar the hiring of direct family members — the appointment raises questions about the DA’s appointment of a friend who has few of the typical qualifications for the chief-of-staff position and holds down a lucrative second job.
“She was given this position because she knew the DA,” a former Victim Services employee who worked under Willis told The Standard. The former employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional backlash, said Willis had little knowledge of the law around victims’ rights.
“Nepotism erodes public trust.”
Ryan Khojasteh, former San Francisco prosecutor and candidate for DA.
“Stuff fell through the cracks all the time because she was too busy doing two jobs,” said the former employee. “I’ve seen her [teaching online] classes during work hours.”
Ryan Khojasteh, who is running against Jenkins for DA, said the decision to hire Willis shows bad judgment and special treatment of a friend.
“Nepotism erodes public trust,” he wrote in an email to The Standard. “As San Franciscans, we deserve better from our District Attorney’s Office. My administration will not tolerate such abuses of office — assignments will be based on merit, experience and competence.”
The District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the hiring of Willis as chief of staff did not present a conflict of interest for Jenkins. It said Willis was hired for her experience within and outside of the office.
Monifa Willis serves as chief of staff for San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, promoted from a position in the Victim Services Division. | Source: Photo courtesy San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
“I am proud to have Monifa Willis serve as my chief of staff,” said Jenkins in an emailed statement. “I have had the honor and privilege of knowing Monifa for years and am excited to work with her in this capacity.”
A description of the time-consuming position reveals that the chief of staff “oversees, develops and delegates responsibilities for essential processes of the city’s preeminent law enforcement agency including areas of policy and legislation, staffing, communications, data and research, victim services, community engagement, front office operations and all large scale projects/changes and implementations that impacts the Office.”
The chief of staff does not manage daily proceedings in court, which are handled by Assistant District Attorney Ana Gonzalez.
A former senior district attorney administrator questioned how someone with no legal license or experience other than two years in Victim Services can run such an organization.
“You have to have some basic understanding of the criminal justice system, and you don’t get that as a victim services advocate,” said the former administrator.
In Contra Costa County, the job requires not only a law license but 10 years of professional legal experience. San Francisco’s position does not require a license to practice law but does require four years of managerial experience in a legal, legislative or clinical social environment.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins recently hired an old friend as her chief of staff. | Source: Estefany Gonzalez/The Standard
The DA’s Office said allegations about Willis’ mismanagement of the Victim Services Division are unsubstantiated. Willis was “outstanding,” the office noted, and there were never reports filed with human resources regarding her leadership.
Old friends
Willis has known Jenkins since they were on the same high school track-and-field team in Union City, according to a 2022 Mission Local story about the appointment.
The pair spent time together socially before Willis’ appointment to the Victim Services Division. According to their public Venmo accounts going back to 2021, the pair have gone to dinner, rented a car, attended a football game and visited a waxing salon together.
That relationship must be disclosed, according to city ethics rules, but was not.
Jenkins’ office said in a statement that the specific ethics rule around such disclosures does not apply to this hire.
While there is no penalty for failing to file a disclosure, Proposition D, which will go into effect in October, allows for penalties in some circumstances.
The position is appointed by the DA, who determines the specific duties. The position is not advertised, and in this case, there were no other applicants. The chief of staff acts as a consigliere to the DA and manages the office.
Monifa Willis, chief of staff for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, speaks during a May hearing at City Hall. | Source: Michaela Vatcheva for The Standard
That said, there are some norms that have historically applied to the position, such as having a law license and experience running a large organization.
In her March 20 announcement of the hire, Jenkins wrote that Willis has a “wealth of operational experience as an … organizer that has successfully launched state recognized mental health programming and improved hospital operations to better serve children and families.” Jenkins went on to say that Willis will “leverage” those skills for the new position.
Working two jobs
Since starting as chief of staff, Willis has continued to work for UCSF. According to the institution, she works part-time at the School of Nursing; it didn’t clarify how many hours per week. (Willis also worked for UCSF while heading the Victim Services Division.)
The second job may violate rules barring outside employment that interferes with the duties of the position.
According to the DA’s policy, “No employee may engage in outside activity (regardless of whether the activity is compensated) that would cause the employee to be absent from his or her assignments on a regular basis, or otherwise require a time commitment that is demonstrated to interfere with the employee’s performance of his or her City duties.”
Willis did not file a request for outside employment as chief of staff, according to human resources and the DA, even though the department requires potential employees to get pre-approved for such work.
“I think it’s pretty hard to do that job while being employed by someone else. It’s a job that requires all of your time and energy.”
Former Supervisor and DA Chief of Staff David Campos
But the DA’s office said it “verbally approved her request” for the secondary job when she was initially hired and that she filed a new outside-employment form July 25. (She did disclose the job in her financial disclosure form.) Willis’ work for UCSF, according to the DA, is not an issue.
“She teaches one class on Wednesday evenings during UCSF’s fall, winter and spring quarters. She does not teach in the summer. Her teaching responsibilities do not impact her ability to perform any of her job duties at the District Attorney’s Office,” the agency said in a statement.
David Campos was former DA Chesa Boudin’s chief of staff from 2020 to 2022. He said he can’t imagine someone having a second job in that role.
“I think it’s pretty hard to do that job while being employed by someone else. It’s a job that requires all of your time and energy,” he said.
