SFCRG has the pulse of the electorate
So how did the SFCRG Common Slate fare?
Those with asterisks indicate where the SFCRG was successful.
Candidates endorsed
* Ed Lee for Mayor – Lee won
* George Gascon for District Attorney – Gascon won
Chris Cunnie for Sheriff – Cunnie lost
Bond measures recommended
* Yes for A – passed
* Yes for B – passed
Charter Amendments recommended
* Yes on A – passed
* Yes on B - passed
* Yes on C – passed
* No on D – failed
Yes on E – failed
Yes on F – failed
Yes on G – failed
It was though with the candidates, where the SFCRG was instrumental in raising money for the campaigns for the candidates it endorsed and members volunteered their time in the field reaching out to the electorate, where the SFCRG has shown that it has the pulse of the electorate.
For mayor there were 24 candidates on the ballot. Prior to Mayor Lee entering the race on Monday, August 8 the top candidates were Dennis Herrera, Leland Yee, Bevan Dufty and David Chiu. Jeff Adachi, Michela Alioto-Pier, Phil Ting and Joanna Rees were also on the radar. With no progressive candidates John Avalos was persuaded to run and carry the flag for the progressives, entering the race on Monday 18 April.
Until Mayor Lee entered the race the competition between the candidates was rather sedate with no one taking any pot shots at anyone but as soon as Lee was in the race the barbs began to fly. Polls were showing the mayor leading with around 39%. By September 8 he was at 31% with Sen. Leland Yee finishing at 14 percent, City Attorney Dennis Herrera at 13 percent and Public Defender Jeff Adachi with 12 percent.
With the Mayor being so far ahead Herrera and Yee began a negative campaign against the mayor with Herrera accusing the mayor of being a puppet of Rose Pak and Willie Brown and Yee alleging contracts and correspondence between the City and the Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) showed waste and abuse and numerous other allegations. In the meantime the mayor ran a positive campaign as so did Avalos.
By October 18 the Mayor was at 31%, Herrera at 8.1%, Avalos at 7.4% and Yee was now down to 6.5%.
On election day and before the rank choice elimination kicked in Lee was leading with 31.1%. Avalos at 18.66%, Herrera at 11.34%, Chiu at 9.20% and Yee at 7.53%.
Eleven rounds later Edwin Lee won with 60.42% and John Avalos came in second with 39.58%.
With the race for District Attorney there were five candidates, District Attorney George Gascon, Sharmin Bock, Bill Fazio, David Onek and Vu Vuong Trinh.
The top three candidates were District Attorney George Gascón, who was sworn in on January 9, 2011. He is the first former Chief of Police to ever hold the position and the first Latino District Attorney in San Francisco's history. Sharmin Bock, the Alameda County prosecutor who was vying to become San Francisco’s next district attorney, and kicked off her campaign with a little help from Congresswoman Jackie Speier and her endorsements included Assemblywoman Fiona Ma. David Onek is a former police commissioner and a son-in-law of past Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
Although there was some negative campaigning against Gascón even before rank choice kicked in he had 41.95% of the vote followed by Onek with 23.19% and Bock with 20.79%. It took only three rounds for Gascon to be victorious with 62.75% and Onek coming in second with 37.22.
For San Francisco Sheriff supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was the first to announce his candidacy and was endorsed by retiring San Francesco Sheriff, Mike Hennessey. Shortly thereafter sheriff's captain Paul Miyamoto and former president of the deputy sheriff's association, David Wong entered the race. It was not until July 18 when the San Francisco Sheriffs Department second in command, Chris Cunnie, entered the race. By that time Mirkarima had endorsements from many of those who would have endorsed Cunnie.
There was very little acrimony between the candidates during the campaign and before rank choice elimination kicked in Mirkarimi was leading with 38.07%, next was Cunnie at 28.36% and Miyamoto at 27.33%. However Cunnie couldn’t get enough second votes to overtake Mirkarimi and after three rounds Mirkarimi won with 53.16% and Miyamoto came in second with 46.84%.
There is no doubt that with these results the SFCRG has shown that it has a good grasp on who the average constituent is and will be recognized as a voice of the community.
To celebrate its success, and to thank everyone, there will be a party for the candidates, members and friends that will be announced shortly.
Article by Henry Karnilowicz
Advisory Board Member SFCRG