With hundreds of thousands of unregulated special interest dollars on the line, not to mention Lee’s reputation and poll numbers, Lee’s campaign announced Lt. Governor and former Mayor Gavin Newsom would be joining Lee to “make an announcement about Mayor Lee’s campaign” following a walk-thru at a tech startup in SOMA.
The press turned out in force, not to focus on Newsom’s late endorsement of Lee, but to question Lee about his involvement in the allegations of vote tampering by an independent group of campaign volunteers wearing Ed Lee for Mayor T-shirts in Chinatown on Friday, allegations first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Bay Citizen and the Epoch Times.
The reports allege Lee supporters working for SF Neighborhood Alliance for Ed Lee for Mayor 2011, the same independent expenditure committee that financed Lee’s unauthorized biography, “The Ed Lee Story: An Unexpected Mayor”, were actively engaging in vote tampering at makeshift polling tents erected in Chinatown on Friday at the intersection of Stockton and Pacific streets.
That’s the takeaway message one gets a from the latest poll published by The Bay Citizen and the University of San Francisco in the early hours of Monday morning, the results of which has Lee winning after 9 rounds of ranked-choice ballot tabulations.
New Jersey-based Maximum Research, Inc conducted the poll of 551 likely registered voters between October 7 and October 13. The poll was commissioned and paid for by the BayCitizen at a cost of $10,000, confirmed newly minted BayCitizen managing editor Steve Fainaru.
It all started off around 11:30 pm when Ho and Pearce arrived at the city’s favorite political watering hole following a successful, well attended No on E and F campaign fundraiser organized by CitiReport.com founder Larry Bush and Democratic Party chair Aaron Peskin.
Sponsored by Lee and backed by public employee unions, Prop C was placed on the ballot by Lee and the Board of Supervisors. Sponsored by Adachi, Prop D is a voter-approved ballot initiative qualified with over 70,000 signatures.
Held annually at the swanky Phoenix Hotel, this year’s Celebrity Pool Toss featured a star-studded lineup of pool tossees including District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim, famed socialite photographer Drew Altizer, Forest City Enterprises Vice President Alexa Arena, Core-a-Te-Fitness founder Whitney Arnautou, Erin and Bryana Cullen (Team Cullen), Geolo Capital CEO John Pritzker, Team Twitter (Twitter, Inc), Charles Zukow Associates CEO Charles Zuko and Falk – and emceed by an equally prestigious lineup of local celebrities including MC Hammer, Joie de Vivre founder Chip Conley, KGO-TV/ABC7 anchor Cheryl Jennings, CBS/5 Eye on the Bay host/producer Liam Mayclem, KRON and KCBS entertainment reporter Jan Wahl, Community Development Consultant Brad Paul, Tout Sweet owner Yigit Pura, author/blogger Tori Ritchie and TV host/performer Donna “Express XXX” Sachet.
The much coveted Chronicle endorsement is expected to provide Chiu a significant boost to a flagging campaign while diminishing confidence in the frontrunner status previously attributed to Lee. In addition to throwing the ranked-choice race wide open, the development may be seen as an unsaid repudiation of Lee, whose candidacy was tainted when he broke his promise of not seeking a full term. The Board of Supervisors appointed Lee in January to complete then Mayor Gavin Newsom’s final term on the expressed condition Lee would not exploit his interim “caretaker” status and seek a full term.
Dubbed “Everywhere for Avalos Day,” dozens of eye-catching and head-turning spectacles were simultaneously coordinated across the city in an effort to garner increased support for Avalos, a staunch progressive whose endorsements include the Democratic Party, San Francisco Tenants Union, California Nurses Association, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the largest public employee union, SEIU 102, Coleman Action Fund, United Educators of San Francisco, American Federation of Teachers, Sierra Club and the League of Young Voters, among others.
Recent Comments