San Francisco interim District Attorney George Gascón has come under fire for refusing to investigate allegations of election campaign violations by the controversial Run, Ed, Run campaign, a campaign with ties to Chinatown powerbroker Rose Pak (right) and former Mayor Willie Brown. Photo by Luke Thomas.
By Luke Thomas
August 23, 2011
Three candidates in the race for San Francisco District Attorney yesterday sharply criticized interim District Attorney George Gascón for his decision to not investigate allegations of ethics and election campaign violations by the Run, Ed, Run campaign, stating campaign finance laws were “violated by Gascón’s political allies and a top staffer in his office” affiliated with Progress for All, the committee that financed the campaign.
“George Gascón’s continued insistence that he has no conflict of interest and his flat out refusal to conduct a thorough investigation, calls into question the very integrity of the District Attorney’s Office under his leadership,” the joint statement released by former Police Commission David Onek, Alameda Prosecutor Sharmin Bock and attorney Bill Fazio, states.
Gascón was appointed interim District Attorney by then Mayor Gavin Newsom who delayed his swearing in as Lt. Governor to make Gascón’s appointment, as well to facilitate the appointment of then City Administrator Ed Lee to the post of “caretaker” mayor. Both appointments were supported by Chinatown powerbroker Rose Pak and former Mayor Willie Brown who were unofficial boosters of the Run, Ed, Run campaign and played a significant role in pressuring Lee to break his promise to the Board of Supervisors and seek a full-term.
Rose Pak and WIllie Brown.
Using a loophole in campaign election laws, Progress for All was able to skirt individual campaign contribution limits, amassing over $40 thousand in contributions from a handful of development interests with ties to Pak and Brown.
Pak was also accused of illegal campaign activities when she pressured executives from garbage collection firm Recology to recruit Recology petition signature gatherers for the Run, Ed, Run campaign. Recology, which has enjoyed a monopoly over garbage collection with The City since 1932, was using its financial muscle to retain as many signature gatherers as possible for a pro-Recology petition in an attempt to prevent an anti-monopoly petition effort, led by retired Judge Quentin Kopp, from finding and hiring signature gatherers for its ballot initiative.
Though interim Mayor Ed Lee was not a candidate at the time when Pak sought help from Recology, it is illegal for companies with contracts with The City to campaign on behalf of city officials running for office.
Infuriated by the blatant abuse of election campaign laws by Pak and Progress for All, Kopp wrote to Gascón and the US Attorney’s office, August 1, requesting them to investigate potential violations of election laws and other improprieties related to the Run, Ed, Run campaign. Gascón said Friday his office would not proceed with an investigation, one day after Victor Hwang, an assistant district attorney and co-chair for the Run, Ed, Run campaign, claimed, “I am confident that any neutral fact-finder will conclude that there is no basis to these false allegations.”
For his part, Gascón denies a conflict of interest has influenced his decision not to pursue an investigation while conceding Hwang’s role as Run, Ed, Run co-chair creates the appearance of a conflict of interest.
“While we cannot and will not prejudge the merits of these accusations without knowing all the facts, George Gascón’s failure to conduct a thorough investigation is disturbing and indefensible,” Onek, Bock, and Fazio concluded. “This is not what San Franciscans should expect or accept from their District Attorney.”
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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August 26, 2011 at 8:57 am
Yes Terrie, I’m still backing Gascon,
Here’s my Bulldog piece from today:
Are you pulling your share of the load?
(Ask yourself, “Have I done enough shit disturbing today?”.)
(8-26-11)
Well, I’ll be at Daly’s Dive today for my Bulldog Salon from Noon til 3pm or a bit later but I’m no longer allowed to call it ‘Bulldog Salon’ because Chris caught some shit from Gabriel Haaland and the Milk Club because I intimated that the new head of their organization looked straight. That’s about the lowest thing you can say to a Queer I’m told.
And, the bar apparently isn’t going to be re-named ‘Daly’s Dive’ and I never really did get the ‘why’ of why it ain’t ever gonna be. A lot of mystery surrounds my life these days. To be honest, you could even say the scenes that glide under my window 24/7 are constructed of outright confusion.
Now, yesterday the Examiner scoops the schoolyard with the story that Jeff Adachi’s Pension Reform Measure (Prop D) cannot be called ‘Jeff Adachi’s Pension Reform Measure’.
And, the Department of Elections has ruled that Former Supervisor Tony Hall cannot call himself ‘Former Supervisor Tony Hall’.
And, Criminal Justice Attorney David Onek cannot (according to Sharmin Bock – ‘Big Bottom Bock’) … Criminal Justice Attorney David Onek cannot call himself ‘Criminal Justice Attorney David Onek’?. Confused yet?
It’s all of the powerful people running for Mayor pulling every lever possible to weaken their opponents and strengthen themselves. I mean, campers, did you realize that 4 of the 5 members of the Ethics Commission represent someone who is running for Mayor and the other one represents someone running for DA?
Shit, let’s be real here, they should (the Ethics Commission) recuse themselves on every single candidate issue. Of course, that could mean that every decision made by John St. Croix is carved in stone and his thought process is as scattered as a mad woman’s shit (as they used to say in the hood).
Re-affirming my endorsement of George Gascon
I got into an argument in a bar last night and that hardly ever happens. You know me, I’m not one to cause trouble unless I get an opportunity to do so. The topic last evening was my continued support of George Gascon for DA despite the fact that I wrote this on Fog City Journal the other day:
Wow,
Worst screw up I’ve seen by a politician in a long long time. He might just have written himself out of the DA’s race. And, Hell! after I lobbied lots of people to endorse him. The man’s made an ass of not just himself but me
too. To paraphrase Oliver, “Look what a fine mess you’ve gotten us into here, George.”.
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/3027/candidates-slam-gascon-over-refusal-to-investigate-run-ed-run-campaign/#comment-9480
Note that I didn’t withdraw my endorsement of Gascon while lamenting his fuck-up. There’s a very good reason for that. It’s because he’s the best candidate.
He has more experience putting together cases than all of the other candidates combined. Really!?! Oh yeah. While Big Bottom Bock and ‘Massage Parlor’ Buzz Fazio were doing one case at a time, Gascon oversaw tens of thousands of cases in the 35 plus years he spent rising from beat cop to top brass in LAPD and on to be Chief of Police in first Mesa, Arizona and then San Francisco and now DA of San Francisco.
Did I mention what a joke David Onek’s resume is? He broke on the SF scene as assistant to deposed U.S. Attorney for Northern California, Kevin Ryan in Kevin’s new job as head of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (why the hell did SF Democrats create such a position for an incompetent Republican reject?) … Onek stayed long enough to write a grant for $600,000 to keep juveniles from being rushed to conviction.
Hey, that sounds noble, huh? Well, I’d like it much more if David hadn’t resigned from the position and taken over $200,000 of the money for his own program running out of UC Berkeley.
Then, he uses the cash to shield ‘juveniles’ like Edwin Ramos (who wasn’t a juvenile at all but an adult MS-13 killer from El Salvador) … and Ramos? Well, young Edwin goes and he murders all 3 adult male members of the Bologna family and his defense is, “Oh, my bad. I thought they were members of another gang!”.
Then, with political connections up the kazoo, Onek is appointed to the SF Police Commission where he is one big failure. He’s timid. He challenges the cops on nothing. Which, of course, means he’s ready to take the next step up the political pyramid. He’s running for DA.
Folks, it’s enough to confuse a taller cowboy then myself and I still end up liking Gascon better than the 3 stooges running against him (Vu Trinh beats em all but he’s not running a campaign).
So, I’m just gonna say this. If you think that Bock or Onek or Fazio as DA aren’t going to cover the asses of the people who got them elected then you’re an idiot. Which is why Kamala Harris kicked the RunEdRun case back to Gascon with the notation that she didn’t think he had any conflict of interest problem even though almost all of the involved parties helped him get appointed DA.
What counts is the action on the ground at the front of the battle and Gascon’s got the stones, the knowledge and the flexibility to run an office not focused on conviction rates. He respects his opponents and their clients. He’s proven that at every stop in his career and he’ll make one hell of a District Attorney.
And, that’s the morning news from your Bulldog, who can’t be called, the Bulldog at h. brown’s Salon which can’t be called ‘h. brown’s Salon’ at Daly’s Dive which can’t be called ‘Daly’s Dive’.
Y’all got that?
Everyone who thinks the Giants are finished cause they’re 3 games out with 31 left to play please raise your hands.
We’ll remind you of what you said 31 games from now.
h.
August 24, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Hopefully people, especially you h., will wake up to Gascon. I am appalled that you ever were endorsing him h.
August 24, 2011 at 8:53 am
Wow,
Worst screw up I’ve seen by a politician in a long long time. He might just have written himself out of the DA’s race. And, Hell! after I lobbied lots of people to endorse him. The man’s made an ass of not just himself but me too. To paraphrase Oliver, “Look what a fine mess you’ve gotten us into here, George.”.
Can’t he hand the investigation over to the DA from another country?
Dig what Matier and Ross had to say in this morning’s Chronicle about the case …
”Speed read: As investigations go, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón’s look into the possible improprieties of the “Run, Ed, Run” mayoral campaign has to be one of the shortest on record.
It took all of one day after Gascón picked up the case for him to announce there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant a criminal probe.
In an unusual move, Gascón’s rivals in the D.A.’s race – Sharmin Bock, David Onek and Bill Fazio – issued a joint statement, saying, “His flat-out refusal to conduct a thorough investigation (of possible campaign finance violations) calls into question the very integrity of the district attorney’s office under his leadership.”
They also noted that Gascón confidants Rose Pak and former Mayor Willie Brown, as well as Assistant District Attorney Victor Hwang, were all involved in the “Run, Ed, Run” campaign.
We called Gascón’s office to find out just how many hours prosecutors had spent on the investigation, how many people they had interviewed and which outside agencies had been contacted – none of which was covered in Gascón’s announcement.
“We have nothing to add to our Friday statement,” said D.A.’s spokesman Seth Steward.
Hold the train! Should be quite a busy couple of days for BART’s beleaguered directors – starting with today’s special hearing to review BART’s decision to cut cell-phone service in underground San Francisco stations on Aug. 11 to stop protesters from organizing.
On Thursday, agency insiders tell us, BART directors will reconvene behind closed doors for a second interview with their leading candidate to run the agency, former Federal Transit Administration deputy Grace Crunican.
We’re told BART Director James Fang balked at moving ahead with Crunican’s appointment. He reminded fellow directors that they had spent only an hour interviewing her and said they needed to get to know her better.
Raiders repeat? The 49ers are pulling out the stops to prevent a repeat of Saturday night’s crowd mayhem – not that they should have too much trouble this week.
The fact is, no one is expecting anywhere near the crowd – nor the attitude – for the game with the Houston Texans that showed up for last week’s Battle of the Bay against the Raiders.
And what a battle it turned out to be.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/23/BAGO1KQQDE.DTL#ixzz1VxwYKZ73
August 23, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Whatever may be rotten in the state of Denmark, it smells sweet and clean compared to the rank and steamy odors in this town.