With about a year to go until the next mayoral elections, Ed Lee’s popularity has been waning with San Franciscans and it’s starting to look like his second term could be under fire from an unexpected contender. Mark Leno, who joined the State Senate in 2008, is soon to be termed-out of office in 2016, and despite his plans to replace Representative Nancy Pelosi, SF Gate reports that Leno has started to look at the local landscape now that he is 63, and unlikely to unseat Pelosi.
A citywide poll in April showed Leno slightly beating out Lee, 40% to 36%, and another poll by Jim Moore placed Leno at a 57% favorability rating, whereas Lee only had 45%, making a Leno candidacy possibly the only real shot at beating out Lee. And yet, Leno has made no announcements of his candidacy. Still, when SF Gate asked the former SF Board of Supervisors member if he had plans to run, he told them, “A lot of people are asking, and I’m listening.”
Since Lee originally reneged on his promise to not seek the mayor’s office after being appointed to serve as interim mayor (following Gavin Newsom’s departure to serve as Lieutenant Governor of California), Lee’s policies have been scrutinized as being far too tech-friendly, to the detriment of the city’s best interests.
A poignant example is the most recent Airbnb legislation, addressed by none other than former SF mayor and Ed Lee supporter, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who wrote an op-ed in the Chronicle urging him to veto the deal — a deal that would increase rent, disregard zoning laws, and ignore the back taxes owed by the multi-billion dollar company. Leno agreed with Feinstein’s thoughts, telling SF Gate, “In one stroke, we have rezoned the whole city. There is a compromise to be found, but this is not it — it’s too broad.”
Meanwhile, as SF Weekly noted this week, Lee’s fundraisers are attended by tech elites, like venture capitalist Ron Conway, who raised over half a million dollars for the Lee campaign, and just so happened to be one of Airbnb’s early investors. And people are uncomfortable by the close relationship Lee has with former Mayor Willie Brown, whose time as mayor was marred by allegations of cronyism, a not unfamiliar claim by detractors of Lee, as he spends time with other “unofficial lobbyists” like Rose Pak, a Chinese Chamber of Commerce consultant.
Still, Lee’s tenure as mayor has seen unemployment drop and certain social services increased and housing solutions proposed, although some argue that not enough has been done to address the gentrification and increasing wage inequality forcing those without work to simply leave the city instead of looking for it. Next year’s election may just end up being a referendum as to whether San Franciscans are going to side with the current tech-backed mayor, or if they’ll go for a change in the guard towards someone less committed to the city’s big business.
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