Chinese-American community organizer Rose Pak and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown are securely at the helm of San Francisco politics. Photos by Luke Thomas.
By Luke Thomas
January 10, 2011
A partnership made in heaven: Chinese-American community organizer Rose Pak and former Mayor Willie Brown pulled off the biggest coup in San Francisco political history last week, installing Willie Brown/Rose Pak/Gavin Newsom-friendly City Administrator Ed Lee as San Francisco’s interim “status quo” mayor, preserving Supervisor David Chiu’s reign over the Board presidency, backing and successfully electing Jane Kim to the Board of Supervisors in District 6 (think Central Subway and Treasure Island development), and installing Sit/Lie wedge issue partner in crime George Gascón (“not philosophically opposed” to death penalty) as San Francisco’s District Attorney.
“What a difference one week makes,” Pak told FCJ prior to Gascón’s swearing in yesterday. “So in one week, we’ve got a Chinese-American mayor, we have a Chinese-American President of the Board, we have a Hispanic DA – first time in history – and then our mayor (Ed Lee) will be selecting a new police chief.”
Expect interim mayor Ed Lee to appoint a Chinese-American to head the San Francisco Police Department vacated by Gascón.
Interim mayor-select Ed Lee.
San Francisco District-Attorney-select, George Gascón, at his swearing in yesterday. “It was just the mayor and I that had the discussion,” Gascón responded when asked if Rose Pak or Willie Brown had any say in his appointment to DA. “The mayor made the decision.”
An all smiles Rose Pak was the first to emerge from Room 200 prior to Gascón’s swearing in.
A not so smiley SFPD Police-Chief-select Jeff Godown. One gets the feeling he knows his post is temporary.
On Saturday, five supervisors were sworn into office. From left to right, District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell, District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen and re-elected District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu.
Following the swearing in of the new supervisors, the Board re-appointed Supervisor David Chiu as Board President. Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos and Ross Mirkarimi dissented.
Rose Pak attended the BOS swearing in ceremony. The charismatic Mao-Zedong/Deng Xiaoping -esque leader of the Chinese-American community revealed her ultimate goal when she said, “Anybody but (Senator) Leland Yee (for mayor).” Which prompts the question, is David Chiu running for mayor to peel off Asian-American votes from Yee?
With mayoral favorite Mark Leno not running for mayor, Senator Leland Yee, popular on the West side of town, is the likely favorite to win Room 200 in November, hence Pak’s need for Chiu and Assessor Phil Ting to peel off votes from Yee.
Senator Leland Yee was spotted attending the swearing in of School Board Commissioners Kim Shree Maufus (pictured), Hydra Mendoza and newcomer Emily Murase.
Drowned out by the events at City Hall, Commissioners Hydra Mendoza, Kim Shree Maufus and Emily Murase were sworn in to the San Francisco School Board (1/7/11).
Don’t cry for me Argentina. An emotional Rose Pak speaks to the press following Ed Lee’s confirmation, 1/7/11, by the Class of 2000 (former Supe Daly dissented) as interim mayor.
A picture is worth a thousand words. At an 800-guest banquet (Friday, 1/7/11) honoring Jane Kim’s election to the Board of Supervisors, the head table seated none other than former Mayor Willie Brown, Rose Pak (not pictured), then Police Chief George Gascón and his wife, Fabiola Kramsky Gascón; Jane Kim, David Chiu and Newsom/Brown Chief of Staffer Steve Kawa. Bevan Dufty showed up a tad tardy and donning a Chinese silk robe.
There he is, former Supervisor Bevan Dufty (the great pretender) hugging his BFF Steve Kawa.
And in this pic, Dufty sandwiches himself between his hopeful benefactors Rose Pak and Willie Brown though it may come as a surprise to know, Bevan, that Rose Pak is supporting David Chiu for Mayor (first) and Dennis Herrera (second). Hopefully there’s a plum departmental head job in store for you when/if you bow out of the mayor’s race.
Mayoral hopeful Dennis Herrera tries to cozy up to power brokers Pak and Brown at the banquet.
BFFs Steve Kawa, Rose Pak, Mohammed Nuru and Willie Brown.
On Tuesday, 1/4/11, Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Chris Daly, David Campos and John Avalos, attempted to get a commitment from Chiu to support Sheriff Michael Hennessey for interim mayor.
But their efforts were for naught – Chiu and Dufty were already in the bag for Ed Lee.
In fact it was already known Dufty was in the bag for Lee before Dufty called for a 20-minute recess to meet with Kawa and Newsom. We know this because a confidant Supervisor Sean Elsbernd wagered a bet with FCJ that Ed Lee had at least six votes before Dufty, who punted on voting in the first round, called the recess. At the time of the wager, Hennessey had five votes to Lee’s four.
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, confidant and smug Dufty's in the bag for Lee.
Dufty did a good job of fooling everyone (except those in the know), including the press who pounced on Hennessey during Dufty’s recess. Hennessey was just one vote (Dufty’s) away from being appointed interim mayor.
When Dufty returned from the recess, he cast his vote for Lee drawing the ire of Supervisor Chris Daly who called Dufty a “perfect foil” and David Chiu, who was always in the bag for Rose Pak and Lee, “Judas.”
Final comment
Congratulations are in order for the Asian-American community. With over thirty percent of San Francisco residents, according to census data, listed as Asian (15 percent registered to vote), the Asian-American community will feel the elevation of Ed Lee, David Chiu, Jane Kim and potentially the next Asian-American police chief, properly reflects the demographic shift in San Francisco identity politics.
Congratulations are also in order for power-brokers Rose Pak and Willie Brown who have successfully engineered the biggest coup in San Francisco political history, assuring all Board votes related to the Central Subway, Treasure Island and Bayview Hunters Point developments are safe.
Lt. Governor-elect Gavin Newsom? He did his job well. He was handed the mayoralty torch from Brown in 2003 on a silver platter. Though he screwed up with the 49ers leaving town (generating the ire of Brown), he repaid his benefactors in full by agreeing to delay his swearing in (today at 1:00 pm) so that Brown and Pak could remain in control of the mayor’s office, the Board, the District Attorney’s office and, next, perhaps, the police department.
This won’t be sitting well with the Class of 2000 progressives who have been roundly defeated. The last sliver of hope they have left to regain power is a messianic return of a populist slate of candidates to take on the Pak/Brown machine in this year’s mayor’s race. It’s a ranked-choice race after all and we all saw what happened in District 10, 2 and the Oakland race for mayor.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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January 13, 2011 at 11:08 am
Right, c. ado. I don’t see Richard Marquez, Enrique Pearce, and all those progressive activists who steadfastly maintained that Jane would be such a wonderful progressive at the head table. I wonder what they think about this.
BTW… I forgot to say, great job Luke. I concur with all the other posters. Your pictures say it all.
January 12, 2011 at 1:40 am
Jane with Willie Brown, Gascon, and Kawa on the same table?
Ummmm…they are certainly not the face of the progressive community which voted Jane into office!
Something doesn’t seem right with this picture. No wonder Jane kept saying “Thanks for coming to my wedding”.
Run Jane Run.
January 11, 2011 at 8:47 am
Can we stop pretending that Rose Pak gives a damn about the Chinese community? I think she tipped her hand when she said “Anybody but Leland Yee.” This isn’t a victory for anyone but the Willie Brown/Rose Pak clique, who got everything they wanted, and now have pretty much total control over the city.
A while back, h asked me whether I supported Leland Yee. At the time, I said I was undecided, because I had no idea who was running. Well, after this whole fiasco, I’m about 90% there. Who else is there? Jeff Adachi completely blew it, both strategically and morally, when he backed prop B. Ross? I had really high hopes for Ross in 2004. But instead of leading a movement, he chose to be a cautious politician, waiting for the precise moment when his ascension could be guaranteed risk-free. Well, that moment never comes in politics, and frankly I’m getting really tired of waiting.
Yeah, Leland isn’t quite as progressive as I’d like, but we need someone to go in there and clean house, get rid of the Willie Brown/Rose Pak/dowtown clique (which Leland has never been a part of), and just take out the trash at City Hall.
But before we can do any of that, we need someone who has their shit together, and over the last few months it’s become clear that the progressive establishment clear doesn’t.
January 10, 2011 at 4:38 pm
That photo of Chris Daly is painful to look at. Looks like he totally lost it.
January 10, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Luke; great coverage and pictures.
January 10, 2011 at 2:30 pm
That’s it! I’m tossing my hat into the race!
January 10, 2011 at 1:15 pm
I agree with h.: good work.
And yes, a picture is worth a thousand words and more.
January 10, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Your best work,
Really. Totally spot on. I’d expect the new chief to be Greg Shinn, who was head of patrol and took a bounce downward under Gascon. Too bad we’ll lose Godown too but I’m guessing he’ll be Gascon’s Chief Investigator (bodyguard – Chris Cunnie did it for Kamala).
Exciting times.
Giants start in 45 days!
h.
January 10, 2011 at 12:37 pm
What a difference?
Or no difference?
Faces change, chairs are rearranged, but I see no consequential difference– only gloating and fear.
(Do you think the pawns who facilitate continuity don’t know that they are as expendable as anyone?)
So-called progressives (Tim Redmond tries to shore up the concept over at the Bay Guardian)– should unite and break with the monied hegemony that predictably outmaneuvers them by keeping illusions alive that power sharing is feasible.