SF League of Pissed Off Voters

A lot of people have been asking us why we’re not supporting London Breed. We love the idea of supporting a sharp, young African American woman who grew up in public housing in the Western Addition. But when she ran four years ago, we wrote a letter expressing our worry that the folks bankrolling her campaign were people we just couldn’t trust. We hoped she would prove us wrong, but we think her record shows she doesn’t share our values. Part of the League’s promise is to pay attention to politicians’ actions between elections.

Breed has been good on some issues, and she’s proven to be a savvy politician. If she were representing a more conservative district (like the Marina or West of Twin Peaks), we would probably support her. But her politics are simply out of line with District 5, which is one of the most progressive parts of town. District 5 shouldn’t have to wonder when their Supervisor will be siding with the Mayor or developers or the Police Officers Association. District 5 deserves a Supervisor who will stand up for the progressive values the League has been championing for over a decade.

Here are seventeen of London Breed’s most disappointing votes and actions.

   Sides with landlords, realtors and developers over tenants:

1. Proposed amendments to water down TIC/condo legislation which would permanently remove rent controlled apartments from the market. 
2. Opposed 2014’s Proposition G, the anti-speculator tax, which would have stopped speculators from evicting tenants.
3. Voted repeatedly against regulating Airbnb, making rent-controlled homes in the city more scarce. She has only supported stronger regulations after Preston got in the race.
4. Tried to weaken tenant protections by giving less relocation compensation to people being evicted through the Ellis Act.
5. Voted against regulating “tenant buyouts” which have displaced thousands of San Franciscans.
6. Voted against a small increase in the fee developers of office space pay to fund transit impacts.
   Sides with the Police Officers Association over police reform:
7. Voted against holding the Police Department accountable for implementing reforms by putting a small chunk of their budget on reserve.
8. Refused to call for former Police Chief Suhr’s resignation amidst police killings and racist text scandal, despite community demands.
9. Voted against post-Ferguson resolution recognizing racial bias in Police Departments, calling the resolution “divisive.”
   Sides with Mayor Ed Lee over good government reforms:
10. Voted against Prop H that will create an Office of Public Advocate, an independent watchdog over the Mayor and City Hall.
11. Voted against Prop D that will let the people decide who should represent them when there’s a vacant Supervisor seat, making sure the Mayor kept the power to appoint successors.
12. Voted against Prop L that will split appointments to the MTA Board between the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor, which would continue the Mayor’s ability to bully the MTA Board into failed policies (rescinding Sunday parking meters, bad bike lanes on Polk, allowing median parking on Dolores, etc.).
    Other bad votes:
13. Voted against a 1% wage increase for nonprofit health and human services workers!
14. As Board President, handed control over key board committees to the most conservative supervisors and shut out progressive leaders.
15. Was the only supervisor to vote against sunshine legislation requiring supervisors to keep and release work calendars.
16. Endorsed Mayor’s candidate for District 3 Supervisor (Julie Christensen) over Aaron Peskin, and endorses Scott Wiener over Jane Kim
17. Supported and was a member of the realtor-backed slate for conservative control of the SF Democratic Party that would have made endorsements the opposite of our voter guide.

We know that Dean Preston will be rock solid on all of those issues. Before Dean founded Tenants Together, there was no statewide tenants rights group! They’ve kept thousands of people in their apartments. We’ve gone to Sacramento with Dean to fight for repealing the Ellis Act and protecting rental deposits, and we can all thank Dean for helping save rent control back in 2008! So please join us in voting for him and telling all your District 5 friends about Dean Preston!

(Note: Big thanks to Jennifer Fieber and the San Francisco Tenants Union for their research that we used in this post.)