By Tim Redmond
FEB. 19, 2014 — The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, one of my favorite organizations in San Francisco, has taken the work we did here to a new detailed level: The project has analyzed all of the money Sup. Scott Wiener has received not only from the real estate industry in general but from some of the worst, most venal property speculators who have planted their eviction flags in the city.
This handy graphic and explanatory text shows that 41 percent of Wiener’s campaign donations come from the real estate industry. The next biggest slice, 9 percent, comes form tech and tech lawyers.
Among the donors to the D8 supervisor, whose district has been wracked with Ellis Act evictions: Urban Green, an out-of-town speculation firm that is part of the Dirty Dozen, along with fellow dirtbag speculator Ashok K. Gujral.
Also: Zephyr Realty, one of whose agents urges landlords to call for information about how to use the Ellis Act.
It’s an embarrassing list, and ought to give a boost to a potential challenge to Wiener, who represents a district where a lot of tenants are terrified about losing their homes.
It’s hard to prove that any elected official makes decisions on the basis of any particular campaign contribution. And we still don’t know how Wiener will vote on the tenant-protection laws that are coming before the board this spring.
But we do know who some of the worst actors in the eviction epidemic want to keep in office.
