By Tim Redmond
DECEMBER 3, 2014 — The lack of a strong competitor challenging Mayor Ed Lee from the left could shift the political calculus for his appointment of a District 3 supervisor.
Lee, as I reported earlier, will have to balance his loyalties to the constituency he had when he first ran for office and the new tech alliances he’s built. And as long as it appeared that Sen. Mark Leno, who is popular with tenant groups, was a possible challenger, he had to avoid alienating and offending the large renter voting bloc in the city.
After all, Lee was once a tenant lawyer, and appointing a supervisor who sides with the landlords would be a serious political liability.
But that’s changed in the past week. Now there’s nobody stepping forward to challenge the mayor, giving him less reason to worry about the progressives. And he’s got the tech moguls and the real-estate industry pushing him in the other direction.
The early indications were that Lee might go with Cindy Wu, president of the Planning Commission and a staffer at the Chinatown Community Development Center. Wu supported Prop. G and would likely be a pro-tenant vote.
That’s now very much up in the air. With no need to cover himself with tenants and no worries about progressive criticism, the mayor may decide to put someone on the board who is much more friendly to real estate.
That would be a bad signal about the next four years under a mayor who sees no reason to fear progressive opposition.
On the other hand, it would leave no doubt about the next election: The progressives will get behind a challenger in D3.
