The logic is a bit muddled, since Smith doesn't claim Fazio asked him to leave the race. Nevertheless, that is Smith's defense in the wrongful discharge and civil rights lawsuit Fazio has brought in San Francisco federal court against Smith and the city.
Of course, the case could be moot if Fazio returns to his old office -- either as DA or as a senior deputy hired in by Hallinan. Hallinan is coy about the latter possibility. On the one hand, he says Fazio has played "dirty" during the campaign.
"I really question his integrity," Hallinan says, after musing about Fazio's handling of the Toracca case. "I don't question his ability as a lawyer. I think he's a competent lawyer."
On the other hand, Hallinan praises Fazio's experience and competence. "He could be a lawyer in the office. I don't think he should be a policy-setter, though."
Hallinan's rapprochement with Smith led to a lunch Nov. 23, at Don Ramon's restaurant, where Hallinan invited deputies to pitch their concerns about his possible election. A group of more than 20 turned out. As Smith sat nearby, Hallinan regaled the deputies with a much tamer gab than he had given on the stump, according to two deputies who attended.
"He said things that sounded like he had toned down his rhetoric," says one. "His point was he still believes the office should have a lot of young attorneys come in at minimum wages -- so to speak -- do three or four years in the trial trenches, and then leave.
"But [Hallinan said] he will not fire anyone," the deputy continues, "and he will not force us to take a pay cut. When queried with: 'Wait a second, how're you going to [cut overhead] if you're not firing anyone?' [Hallinan replied,] 'I think I can do that through attrition, and by retiring folks.'
"He was somewhat vague."
With all the merging of philosophies, the compromising on principle, and the political bedfellowing, the inescapable question remains whether the DA's Office will look very different under either a Fazio or a Hallinan administration.
With Hallinan backpedaling from his threats to sack older prosecutors -- and the shrouding of Fazio's erstwhile law-and-order sensibilities -- the institution of a more aggressive District Attorney's Office could boil down to nuanced changes in enforcement priority, rather than any leftward philosophical leap.
So if the runoff is belying its promise to provide voters with a clear alternative, it's all relative in the narrow bandwidth of San Francisco's lefty politics. Hallinan's election may not shift things too much more to the left. But Fazio's election may not shift things much to the right either.
"Other DAs in California already see San Francisco DAs as far left in terms of what we do," says the 10-year deputy. "That's because we have to work with San Francisco juries."
And whether Hallinan or Fazio emerges triumphant after Dec. 12, "we'll learn to live under either one.
