When Jon Jacobo, a community leader rooted in the Mission, was first accused of rape in 2021, his rising political star remained seemingly unscathed. Yet, it deeply divided the Mission’s Latinx political circles and nonprofit scene, who couldn’t agree on how to respond. Despite the detailed accusation, Jacobo continued to hold key roles within the neighborhood, including as an executive of the affordable housing nonprofit TODCO, vice president of Calle 24, and leadership roles within the Latino Task Force and the Mission Street Vendors Association.
In April 2024, The San Francisco Standard published a report detailing accusations from three more women against Jacobo, including disturbing allegations of sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence. On August 5, Jacobo was detained and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and domestic violence, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, another Latinx leader, Kevin Ortiz, co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club (SFLDC), was also accused of sexual assault. The allegation by Zahra Hajee, a former aide to Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, was published by the San Francisco Chronicle in July, prompting the SFLDC to place Ortiz on a leave of absence. This came two years after nine SFLDC members cosigned a letter of resignation in 2022, citing “a pattern of abusive behavior” and “feeling unsafe” around Ortiz.
Amid an entrenched culture of machismo in the Mission’s Latinx circles, frustrated readers want a District 9 supervisor who will take allegations of sexual assault seriously. Here’s how the candidates running for office this November answered the question:
How would you hold leaders accused of sexual assault accountable?
JULIAN BERMUDEZ
When I was in the military, I was part of the SHARP organization, and E.O., which is the organization that promotes and helps and investigates sexual harassment crimes and also, E.O. means equal opportunities, so anything surrounding race, religion, sexual orientation. And I was heavily involved with those organizations. And being in the infantry and in the army… You can toss a rock and you can find someone accused of sexual assault. That’s one thing that made me not return to the Army as well. I want to bring those type of organizations like SHARP and E.O. into our communities. And having a constant organization that promotes how to talk to women or how to talk to men. And on the side of keeping them responsible, accountable is to have a committee organization and let the law do what it does. And make sure that there’s transparency, because honestly, I’m kind of tired of meeting somebody, and then a news article comes up.
H BROWN
Put ‘em in jail. I mean, you got to convict them. The idea of sex is very sexy. You sell newspapers, you make, sell ads and all that, all sex… I’ve been, I was telling what’s her face here earlier that, as a special ed teacher, one thing you do is you’re never in a room alone with a female student. You know, you don’t do that. I’m more worried about the other side of the crime. Believe me, if I’m on a jury and you prove to me that somebody committed a sexual offense, I’ll give them the maximum, okay. I love women. I was raised by four women while my mother worked, okay? They taught me right away that women are superior and that you, you know, need to protect them. They’ll protect you. Okay, worry more about false accusations. And that’s the side that I’m on right now.
TREVOR CHANDLER
So I’ve led over the course of the campaign on sexual assault and harassment, both when I’ve seen it in my own circles and what I’ve seen in other people’s circles. I’m the only candidate that did not attend the Latinx Democratic Club debate because I felt so strongly about it. And there were very important unanswered questions, that I didn’t feel comfortable normalizing that sort of behavior. And so I’m proud to have been a leader on that, both in this campaign and as a member of the Democratic County Central Committee. I specifically ask from the very beginning, before I even got elected, that I wanted to prioritize sexual harassment and assault reform because the previous DCCC said they were going to do something that did nothing. We are very close right now to having a final policy that will make the San Francisco Democratic Party a leader in fighting sexual harassment and assault. And it’s that sort of leadership that I’ve brought to the DCCC, I’ve brought it to this race, and I am absolutely going to bring it to the Board of Supervisors to make sure that survivors are believed and that we hold assaulters accountable.
JACKIE FIELDER
So I brought this up at the Mission Latino Town Hall. You know, sexual violence is a stain on our community. And I believe in restorative justice. I believe people can repair their harms, but until they take accountability, real justice cannot happen. Real healing cannot happen. And so I’ve consistently been among the first to call out and support the survivors who have come forward against people who have, multiple and detailed accounts around sexual violence. You know, beyond that, we have a broader problem in the city of gender based violence against LGBTQ people, trans people, women, homeless women, homeless women are disproportionally at risk for sexual assault on the streets. I think we need to expand shelter options, permanent supportive housing, domestic violence services, because often people are not able to access those services, especially late at night and on weekends. And my plan for that is in my public safety platform.
JAIME GUTIERREZ
I think that if somebody is in a position of power, that they have a responsibility and they shouldn’t abuse that power. I think that they should treat people with respect, because for what other reason are we here for than to treat each other with respect? For me in politics, and the reason I got into politics is because I’m here to help. And if you’re wanting to help people, if you’re wanting to help cultures, if you’re wanting to help everyone, then why would you take advantage of them from that position? There’s no reason for that, and it’s unacceptable.
ROBERTO HERNANDEZ
Leaders that are being accused of any shape or form need to step back from being involved in positions in our organizations and in our community, and they need to go through a process of making amends and getting help and being held accountable for their actions.
STEPHEN TORRES
This is extremely important. We have to listen to voices of those who have been assaulted and believe them. As someone who has experienced this, it really screws with you to not be heard and not to be believed. And we have to… We have to follow every process that there is to ensure that these are brought to justice, that these are brought to being, you know,, through law enforcement… That’s the other component of this, is that once it gets reported to make sure that there’s an accountability factor on law enforcement, the district attorney’s office, all these things, you know, and we really have to find support networks to create healing for people that experience this. Because that’s another thing, is that there’s just no access to these things.
MICHEAL PETRELIS
Declined interview.
This report is part of “The Pueblo’s Agenda,” El Tecolote’s ongoing civic engagement project focused on answering questions and making local election information accessible to San Francisco’s bilingual Latinx communities. Support our work by donating to our nonprofit publisher Acción Latina today.