Michael Hennessey
| Michael Hennessey | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Sheriff of the City and County of San Francisco | |
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In office 1980–2012 |
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| Preceded by | Eugene A. Brown |
| Succeeded by | Ross Mirkarimi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1948 (age 68–69) |
| Alma mater |
Saint John’s University (Minnesota), University of San Francisco School of Law |
Michael Hennessey (born c. 1948) was the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and was the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December 1979 and had been reelected in seven subsequent elections. By the end of his final term (January 2012), he had served as San Francisco’s Sheriff for 32 years and had received more than one million votes as Sheriff. No other San Francisco Sheriff has served for more than sixteen years. On February 18, 2011, he announced that he would not run for a ninth term of office.
Sheriff Hennessey’s tenure was notable for the development of prisoner education and rehabilitation programs, by construction of three major jail facilities and by expansion of powers of the Office of Sheriff.
Michael Hennessey grew up in Manilla, Iowa, a town of 900 people in western Iowa. Hennessey graduated with a degree in History from St. John’s University (Collegeville, Minnesota) in 1970 and then moved to San Francisco to attend law school. He graduated with Honors from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1973, where he helped found the school rugby team and served as an editor of the Law Review.
Following graduation from law school, Hennessey took a temporary job in the San Francisco Sheriff's Department as Legal Counsel to Sheriff Richard Hongisto (December 1973 – June 1974) and then joined the newly created University Year for Action (UYA) program providing a variety of social services to prisoners in the San Francisco county jail. UYA was a Volunteers In Service to America program (VISTA), a domestic version of the Peace Corp. In this capacity, Hennessey created a legal services program for county jail inmates. After a year as a UYA participant, Hennessey attracted the support of the San Francisco Bar Association, who served as his sponsor for the next several years.
Sheriff Hongisto was reelected for a second term in November 1975, but left the office midway through the term (December 1977) after Cleveland, Ohio Mayor Dennis Kucinich offered him the position of Chief of Police. In early February 1978, Mayor George Moscone appointed Eugene Brown to replace Hongisto. With a non-elected Sheriff facing the voters in November 1979, Hennessey and five other challengers ran against Sheriff Brown. Hennessey garnered the most votes in the November election, but not the 50% required to win the post. In a December runoff election, Hennessey easily beat the incumbent and took office in January 1980.Dianne Feinstein was elected Mayor in this same runoff, after having been appointed Mayor in November 1978 to serve out the balance of George Moscone’s term. Along with Supervisor Harvey Milk, Moscone had been assassinated in their City Hall offices by recently resigned ex-Supervisor Dan White.
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