Lee realizes that his candidate in D3 is in enough trouble with tenants already
By Tim Redmond
OCTOBER 9, 2015 — Five pm came and went today without a mayoral veto, which means that the full package of tenant protections approved by the supervisors have become law.
Under the San Francisco City Charter, if the mayor takes no action on a measure it goes into effect without his signature. He has to veto it to block implementation – and while Lee clearly didn’t like parts of the Eviction 2.0 bill, a veto would have infuriated tenants and almost certainly had an impact on the District Three race, where Chrisensen, an ally of the mayor, is trying to portray herself as friendly to tenants.
Christensen is in enough trouble with tenants right now: Her comments in a San Francisco Chronicle story this week were insulting to Sups. David Campos and Jane Kim, and even more insulting to tenants:
Christensen also criticized Supervisor Jane Kim for what she described as overblown stories of awful landlords evicting poor tenants.
“Jane can bring out these horror stories — most of which have not taken place, even in California — and the property owners have their own horror stories,” she said.
Bizarre statement in a city where almost everyone knows someone who is facing an eviction – and the horror stories are true, and endless.
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Christensen apologized for being uncivil, but never really backed off her statement, which implied that (1) Kim was lying and (2) the horror stories faced by landlords are equivalent to those faced by tenants.
That’s profoundly, deeply untrue.
I emailed Christensen’s campaign manager to ask if the supervisor intended to imply that Kim was lying, and she didn’t get back to me. Kim showed little interest in making it personal; instead of going after Christensen she told me that “this highlighted the contrast between the D3 candidates and why this race is so important to tenants. Aaron [Peskin] is in touch – he knows families and seniors are getting evicted in his district and across the city and is committed to addressing it.”
It also highlighted the way this race has become a defining battleground between tenants and landlords, between the tech industry and the people who are feeling the impacts of the boom that has forced so many out of their homes. The real-estate industry and the tech lords are supporting Christensen heavily; progressive labor and tenant groups are strongly behind Peskin.
And it’s a reminder of the political inexperience of Christensen, who has made numerous gaffs during the campaign and is running almost entirely on the coat tails of Mayor Ed Lee.
A few hundred votes could make the difference. And the campaigns are fighting furiously: Although early voting began Oct. 6, as of this afternoon only a few hundred absentee ballots had been turned in to the Department of Elections.
