San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has come under fire and is facing accusations of nepotism after quietly promoting a close friend to be her chief of staff, making her the first person without a law degree to hold the position.
Jenkins hired Monifa Willis, a nursing professor at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2022 to run the District Attorney’s Office’s Victim Services Division before she was promoted in March.
While still raking in $100,000 from her teaching job, Willis makes an additional $300,000 a year as Jenkins’ chief of staff — something local politicians and former employees claim is blatant nepotism, according to the San Francisco Standard.
“She was given this position because she knew the DA,” a former Victim Services employee who worked under Willis told the Standard, adding that Willis had little knowledge of the law around victims’ rights.
It’s the first time in the agency’s history that the role has been occupied by someone who isn’t a lawyer, Fox News reported.
“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, slammed the decision as nepotism and said it showed special treatment.
“Nepotism erodes public trust,” he told 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 promotion of Willis to chief of staff did not present a conflict of interest for Jenkins and that Willis was put in the role for her experience outside the office.
“I am proud to have Monifa Willis serve as my chief of staff,” Jenkins told the outlet. “I have had the honor and privilege of knowing Monifa for years and am excited to work with her in this capacity.”
Jenkins and Willis have known each other since high school, where they were track-and-field teammates, Mission Local reported in 2022.
In recent years, they have gone to dinner, rented a car, attended a football game and visited a waxing salon together, according to public Venmo transactions dating back to 2021 that were viewed by the Standard.
Since becoming Jenkins’ chief of staff, Willis has continued to work as a professor at UCSF, despite DA policy that employees are not allowed to engage in any outside activity that would take time away from their duties at work.
The DA’s Office said it “verbally approved her request” for the secondary job when she was initially hired.
“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.
The agency also defended her lack of legal experience, saying the role only requires four years of managerial experience in a legal, legislative or clinical social environment, according to the outlet.
David Campos, who was former DA Chesa Boudin’s chief of staff from 2020 to 2022, told the outlet he couldn’t imagine having two jobs at that time.
“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.
