Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) was robbed in San Francisco on Thursday shortly before he was set to attend a fundraiser for another high-profile Democrat, a poignant reminder of just how far the liberal enclave has fallen.
Schiff, who is running for U.S. Senate, had arrived in town to thank powerful attorney Joe Cotchett for his endorsement of Schiff’s bid to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, thieves broke into the Democrat’s car, making away with travel bags that contained his clothes for the glitzy event.
Without his formal wear, Rep. Schiff arrived dressed in shirt sleeves and a hiking vest.
“I guess it’s ‘Welcome to San Francisco,’” joked Cotchett’s press agent Lee Houskeeper, who was at the dinner at Ristorante Rocca.
Unperturbed, Schiff admitted, “Yes, they took my bags. But I’m here to thank Joe.”
“Adam really showed himself tonight,” Cotchett said. “He’ll be a great senator — he’s going to change the Senate tremendously.”
Fox News noted that Schiff’s burglary comes just days after San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan witnessed a fight break out between his security guard and a vagabond, all caught on camera while he was being interviewed.
“While interviewing Mayor Matt Mahan in downtown San Jose, a man was shouting at us and fought Mayor Mahan’s security guard,” KRON4 reporter Jack Molmud wrote in a post along with a video of the incident. “The fight lasted a couple minutes and the man was arrested by SJPD. Police said they were compiling evidence and sending it to the DA’s office.”
https://x.com/jmolmud/status/1782958052012126600?s=46
What prompted the kerfuffle couldn’t be heard off camera, but it appears the instigator wanted access to a nearby building. Local police said in a statement the “motive and circumstances surrounding the altercation are under investigation,” Fox added.
San Francisco has been the poster child for post-Covid urban decay, frequently being cited by economists for being the victim of a “doom loop” as its downtown is plagued with vacant storefronts, retail theft, and an exodus of tech employees who now work remotely. Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, has recently proposed reforms to enhance penalties for homelessness, and last year voters ousted a progressive district attorney who first won his seat by proposing even more lenient policies for nonviolent crimes.
During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Rep. Schiff endorsed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which targeted qualified immunity for police officers. He said at the time that the legislation would ensure “that we have best practices, we have uniform standards for the use of force, but I also recognize that law enforcement has an important function.” A slogan for his political opponent that year read “Early Defends, Schiff Defunds.”
Earlier that year, Rep. Schiff joined other fairweather Democrats in pulling their past endorsements of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, a tough-on-crime Black prosecutor who was seeking her third term.
“This is a rare time in our nation’s history. We have a responsibility to make profound changes to end systemic racism and reform criminal justice,” Schiff wrote announcing the rescission.
He continued, “(43rd District California Assemblymember) Laura Friedman and I no longer feel our endorsement of Jackie Lacey a year ago has the same meaning. We have decided to withdraw it.”
Lacey lost her election that year to George Gascón, an advocate for the end of cash bail.