Let's back up. $28.5 million is not a rounding error. That's real money — your money — going to a single software vendor. When a city employee raises red flags about how that kind of deal is being handled, the appropriate response from leadership is "tell us more." Not, allegedly, intimidation.

We don't yet know every detail of the ex-planner's claims, and we believe in due process. But the pattern here is painfully familiar to anyone who's watched San Francisco government operate: massive contracts sail through with minimal scrutiny, and the people who ask uncomfortable questions get pushed out or pressured to shut up. It's the kind of institutional rot that costs taxpayers billions over time — not in one dramatic scandal, but in a thousand unchallenged line items.

Mayor Lurie campaigned as an outsider who would clean up City Hall. That pitch is hard to square with allegations that someone was leaned on for doing exactly what good government employees should do — scrutinize expensive deals before the ink dries.

The Board of Supervisors needs to pump the brakes on this contract renewal until the intimidation allegations are fully investigated. Not in six months. Not after the vote. Now. If the deal is clean, transparency will only strengthen it. If it isn't, $28.5 million is a hell of a lot of money to flush on a compromised process.

Accountability isn't just a campaign slogan. It's supposed to be the job.