The Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, who lived in the Fifth Century BC, famously wrote that the winner in a battle is not always the superior army; it’s the army that chooses the battlefield.
The implications for politics remain, some 2,500 years later: Campaigns are won and lost at times not on the strength of a candidate but on the issues that are dominant at the moment—and the ability of campaigns to define what the race is about.
And right now in San Francisco, the more political corruption becomes a defining issue in the San Francisco mayor’s race, the more it could help Sup. Aaron Peskin and Daniel Lurie—and could be a key source of support for Prop. C, the Peskin measure to create an Inspector General’s Office.
Mayor London Breed has not handled the latest allegations, involving the head of the Human Rights Commission, Sheryl Davis, terribly well. When the SF Standard broke one of the major stories on Davis approving $1.5 million in grants to an organization run by her housemate (who picked up a nice raise along the way), Breed refused to talk about it.
When she finally issued a statement, she said she knew that Davis had a close relationship with the head of Collective Impact, but insisted that she had told Davis to stay away from those contracts. In fact, she told KQED that her oversight had stopped the spending even before it came out in the Standard and Chron.
From the Standard:
After presenting evidence of the relationship to the mayor’s office, The Standard was informed that Davis has been put on leave. The mayor will be naming an interim director for the Human Rights Commission.
At any rate, Breed, who appeared to be doing well enough in recent polling that she skipped the last mayoral debate, is now facing attacks from almost all of her major opponents, and the more this gets discussed, the more the campaign may focus on the long climate of corruption that has plagued her administration.
Meanwhile, Mark Farrell continues to face criticism over his creative use of campaign financing. It hasn’t stopped: The Chron now reports that Farrell may have used his clout as mayor to direct money from developers who had pending projects to a pet nonprofit run by his wife.
All of this has the Lurie campaign firing off press releases:
SAN FRANCISCO– Multiple bombshell exposés have dropped from the Chronicle, SF Standard, and Mission Local detailing major, separate corruption scandals facing Mayor London Breed and former Supervisor Mayor Mark Farrell. Breed redirected millions of dollars from public safety to an equity initiative that now faces allegations of inappropriate spending by her longtime ally, while Farrell’s pay-to-play schemes and money laundering have finally caught up with him. As covered in yesterday’s Power Play, the scandals come as Lurie has pulled ahead in recent polls.
“Daniel has surged to the front of this race because San Franciscans are desperate to turn the page on years of corruption and failure,” said Lurie campaign general consultant, Tyler Law. “That terrifies the City Hall insiders who have spent their careers building and exploiting the corrupt system at the expense of San Francisco. Special interests are panicking and circling the wagons to protect the status quo. San Franciscans won’t get the change they deserve by replacing one corrupt insider with another.”
Peskin called at the board meeting today for a series of investigative hearings at the Government Audit and Oversight Committee:
As I have said, there have by all accounts been successes in the Dream Keeper Initiative and the organizations that they have funded. I want to get to the bottom of corruption and ensure that the government is accountable to the communities that this initiative is designed to serve.
Millions of taxpayer dollars are being siphoned off and lining the pockets of corrupt administrators and their associates, instead of being put to work to strengthen our neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for the people of San Francisco. With news of each scandal, the public trust in local government erodes further. This type of corruption has plagued this administration: I’m calling for immediate accountability and transparency and thorough investigation by the Board of Supervisors, with assistance of the budget and legislative analyst, thec, the city attorney, and law enforcement.
The hearings will likely happen before Election Day.
Peskin will also appear at a press conference Thursday/19 on the City Hall steps to promote Prop. C, which would create an independent inspector general in the Controller’s Office with the authority to subpoena documents and witnesses in corruption cases. He will be joined by former Controller Ed Harrington, former Ethics Commission President Paul Melbostad, Peter Stevens from Build Affordable Faster CA, and retired Judge Ellen Chaitin.
The topic of the new round of corruption will no doubt be on the agenda.
So far, Breed has not backed out of the Thursday KQED/SF Chronicle live debate. I think it’s fair to say that Lurie and Peskin will make corruption a central issue. Lurie, of course, has never held public office, so he has no record that could involve public corruption. Peskin has had plenty of controversy in office, but has never once been accused of anything close to malfeasance or corruption. So they can freely talk about the sleaze under both Breed and Farrell.
Farrell may try to attack Breed, but it might backfire on him.
If corruption starts to become a central issue in this race, eclipsing public safety, Breed and Farrell could both be in serious trouble.
The event starts at 7pm.
Full disclosure: Both of my kids work for the Peskin for Mayor campaign.
