Rules Committee appoints four members to Reentry Council amid objections to one candidate

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee on Oct. 10 appointed four community members to the city's Reentry Council after hearing testimony from applicants and a stream of public callers who both endorsed several finalists and urged the committee to reject another.

Chair Aaron Peskin moved to appoint Yousef Nathan to seat 1, reappoint incumbent Jabari Jackson to seat 4, and appoint Linda Hirschman to seat 3 and Joanna Hernandez to seat 2 (the motion included a residency waiver for Hernandez). The clerk called the roll; Supervisors Chan, Vice Chair Madeline and Chair Peskin recorded aye and the motion passed without objection.

The committee heard more than a dozen applicants in person and online. Several applicants described lived experience and direct reentry work: Andre Gadsden told the panel he served 32 years in prison and now works as a program manager in a credible messenger program; Jabari Jackson, an incumbent, cited community outreach events that brought law enforcement and service providers together; Joanna Hernandez described 25 years of work building partnerships for pretrial diversion and family support; and Tiffany Holmes, who spoke from custody, described running programs focused on women transitioning from incarceration.

Supporters who appeared in person or by phone praised Hernandez, Holmes and Nathan for their community work. Susana Rojas, executive director of a cultural district organization, endorsed Yousef Nathan and Joanna Hernandez. Julio Escobar of the Restorative Justice Ministry described Linda Hirshman's work organizing reentry conferences and employer tables, and other speakers from the Latino Task Force and local nonprofits urged seats for the candidates they said would strengthen reentry services.

A cluster of telephone callers strongly opposed the candidacy of the applicant referenced in the transcript as Ricci/"Richie/Ricky" Wynn. Eliana Bender, identified as a policy associate, said the candidate's conduct had created unsafe conditions for contracted harm-reduction staff, alleging repeated harassment and nonconsensual filming of people experiencing homelessness. A director at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation said the candidate had approached staff at a mobile site, pinned a program director and shouted that they "spread disease," and that private security had been hired to protect staff. Callers described doxxing, posting humiliating videos online and an explicit agenda against the city's harm-reduction policy; those allegations went unanswered on the record in the committee.

Chair Peskin said he valued continuity on the council and noted gender balance concerns. Supervisor Chaney and Supervisor Mandelmann both identified candidates they would support; Peskin then moved the appointments and the committee adopted the motion as described.

What happens next: The committee forwarded the appointments as a committee report to the full Board of Supervisors. The meeting record shows the committee closed Item 1 after the roll call. The panel did not take separate formal votes on each candidate beyond the committee motion recorded by roll call.