Profile in Courage: San Francisco Inspector General Alex Shepard

Public confidence in government is astoundingly low. And given the piles of red ink and endless political games, that’s not surprising. These trust issues are certainly not limited to the federal government. Most Californians mistrust their state government, and San Francisco residents seem similarly sour on their local institutions. Fortunately, the city’s new Inspector General (IG) office, led by Alex Shepard, is reversing the sorry state of affairs in San Francisco and restoring accountability. And for bringing trust and honesty back to a scandal-plagued city government, IG Shepard is absolutely a Profile in Courage.

Created by voter mandate in 2024 via a Charter amendment, the IG’s office reflects the public’s demand for a watchdog with teeth. San Francisco is certainly no stranger to scandal. In recent years, high-ranking officials such as former human rights chief Sheryl Davis have been ensnared in conflicts of interest. Nonprofits tied to City Hall have faced allegations of financial misconduct, only to be bizarrely let off the hook. And a sprawling corruption scheme centered on former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru exposed deep vulnerabilities in public contracting. Against that backdrop, Shepard’s appointment could not have come sooner.

Shepard helped bring Nuru to justice in her former role as a federal prosecutor. In court filings, she described him as the “quintessential grifter,” detailing how he “traded official acts…for personal benefits” including cash, gifts, and lavish perks. However, the case was about far more than a single man. As the San Francisco Examiner reported, “Shepard worked with a team that investigated the trash-collection firm Recology. Two former Recology employees eventually pleaded guilty to bribing Nuru, and Recology subsidiaries agreed to pay $36 million in criminal penalties as part of a deferred-prosecution settlement with federal officials.”

The resulting convictions and Nuru’s seven-year sentence was a key legal victory that demonstrated both Shepard’s abilities and the many problems facing San Francisco’s government. The new IG has a tough message for the crooks holding back her city: “if you’re taking bribes, if you’re rigging bids on city contracts, if you’re laundering money, if you’re embezzling money, there will be consequences.”

The tone of the IG—and the problems she is up against—sounds familiar. Days after being chosen as Baltimore City’s IG in 2018, Isabel Cumming made clear that “nobody is off limits. Overtime situations, theft of time. Purchase cards. There are so many areas that need to be looked at…I love going after white collar criminals.” At the time, then-Mayor Pugh sung her praises, stating Cumming “knows how to operate independently to be fair and just.” Maybe Pugh would not have been so effusive if she knew that Cumming would be actively investigating the Mayor’s Office for fraud. After media reports revealed that then-Mayor Pugh had cozy financial ties to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), the IG’s office began to take a closer look at the city leader’s money dealings.

IG and federal investigations revealed a disturbing pattern: UMMS and other organizations such as health provider Kaiser Permanente were paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” books in order to obtain lucrative contracts from the city. Pugh used the proceeds to buy a second house and illegally funnel money to her 2016 mayoral campaign. Were it not for the tireless work of watchdogs such as the IG, Pugh might have stayed in the Mayor’s Office for longer instead of being disgraced and serving time in federal prison.

But now, IG Cumming and her office are under threat. On January 26, The Daily Record’s Ian Round reported, “Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott over the weekend cut off the inspector general’s access to some city Law Department records, citing attorney-client privilege.” Mayor Scott claimed that IG Cumming “had gained unapproved and unfettered access” to confidential information, and access had been promptly removed. The truth is that this access denial has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with keeping the IG’s office on a tight leash.

IG Cumming has wisely taken to the courts to defend her office’s independence and right to information. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance has her back, launching a billboard campaign in Baltimore championing the watchdog.

Hopefully, this war on IGs doesn’t extend to other cities such as San Francisco. Watchdogs like Alex Shepard and Isabel Cumming are doing important work to bolster transparency and hold bad actors accountable. The task ahead is daunting, but San Francisco and Baltimore are in good hands with a couple of Profiles in Courage leading the fight for a better future.