After attorneys for Ross Mirkarimi hurled perjury accusations at the mayor during the sidelined Sheriff's ongoing official misconduct hearings, it seems Ed Lee is trying to get out of the spotlight as quickly as possible. In a press release sent out to local media outlets late yesterday, the Mayor wrote four colorful paragraphs that basically amount to: "Hey! I'm not the one on trial here!" In his statement, Lee comes out swinging:

Enough is enough. The time has come for Ross Mirkarimi to begin dealing with the facts. The facts are that Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to an act of domestic violence against his wife and he will be on probation for the next three years.

Those facts are a little fuzzy, since Mirkarimi actually pled guilty to "false imprisonment" — but domestic abuse is terrible and inexcusable any way you look at it, and that bruise did look pretty bad, so we'll allow the spin in this case. But what about those accusations that the Mayor's office tried to get Mirkarimi to resign by offering him another city gig? Lee goes on:

Reckless and outrageous allegations of perjury have been made about my testimony before the Ethics Commission. But my testimony before the Commission was entirely truthful and based solely on the facts. The Sheriff’s current strategy to distract, misinform and misdirect the Ethics Commission, the Board of Supervisors and the public does not change that... It is time for the Sheriff to finally and genuinely take responsibility for his own actions. His own admission of guilt is the basis for his suspension and these official misconduct hearings.

Over at the Chronicle Chuck Nevius is eating it up, calling Lee's letter a "feisty statement." (which: rawwwr, get a room, you guys!) Nevius is taking Lee's statement — along with that stop-and-frisk proposal no one wants — to mean the lovable mustache who won the election on the back of a YouTube video won't be fucking around anymore. This new hardball mayor is not the same mayor who just got all excited about his rad Pinterest page, we guess. And anyhow, now the Mayor's office has dispensed with Mirkarimi's smoke-and-mirrors, misdirection defense — don't you want to read the Ed Lee's Examiner Op/Ed about that cool boat race coming up?

Previously: All Ross Mirkarimi coverage on SFist
[Mayor's Press Release]
[Chron]
[SFEx]