The election season
for 2002 is over in San Francisco! The big surprise
winners in the election were the current Mayor and
potential next mayor. Rumored Mayoral candidate
Treasurer Susan Leal, announced Mayoral candidate
Supervisor Gavin Newsom and current Mayor Willie
Brown all chalked up victories in this election
cycle. Some bigger than others but the three were
clearly the winners. The one who didn’t fare so well
was Mayoral candidate and Board
of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano.
Treasure Susan
Leal backed and campaigned
heavily for Supervisor candidates Fiona Ma
(District 4) and Bevan Dufty (District 8) and she
hit the trifecta! Not only does it give Leal two allies
in her Mayoral bid but it builds momentum for her
upcoming campaign.
Both Ma and Dufty
got their political feet wet in Leal’s office when she
served as Supervisor and both won their tight runoff
races with Leal’s help. At their swearing in Mayor
Brown said, “Today is a great day for Susan Leal.”
Leal had a built in
platform to not only tout her protégés but also herself
and she took full advantage of the opportunity. Touring
the Political House Party circuit, you could often find
Leal not only tirelessly championing Ma and Dufty but
also building personal relationships in their vote-rich
Districts 4 and 8.
Leal’s background is one that fits
well with the people of San Francisco. She is a native
San Franciscan and as a lawyer, she investigated fraud
for the House of Representatives for seven years.
Later, she and partners founded a successful healthcare
consulting company. She was then appointed and later
elected as Supervisor in San Francisco where she
championed “Noe Valley style politics” and successfully
straddled the dichotomy of the socially aware and
fiscally responsible San Franciscan. She earned a great
reputation as a fiscal watchdog with a heart! As
treasurer she has managed a $3 billion portfolio and
produced returns on investments beating all the other
major counties including San Diego and Los Angeles.
A recent article in the San Francisco
Examiner stated, “Fiscally tough times require
bottom-line action. Dianne Feinstein was the only female
mayor of The City -- maybe it's time for another
competent woman to whip things into shape. ...” We will
see how this one plays out!
Mayor Brown
was another big winner. He has taken a beating in every
election since the election in 2000. Virtually every
candidate or proposition associated with Brown was
defeated…until now. Mayor Brown did some campaigning
for candidates and proposition but maintained an
unusually low profile and it paid off.
Brown backed Ma and Dufty and their
victories will help him on the Board in trying to get
legislation passed and in preventing overrides of his
vetos.
Supervisor Gavin Newsom
was a winner with his “Care Not Cash” proposition.
Although it was heavily favored to win, Newsom still
gets a little springboard from his victory. He has
already filed his papers in hopes of capturing the
momentum from this initiative.
Board President
Tom Ammiano has taken a
beating. Candidates and propositions he has backed in
the past three elections have lost and his “Exits from
Homeless” initiative he placed on the ballot was
defeated. His recent defeats have the left scratching
their heads and wondering if Ammiano still has what it
takes to lead them. There have been many times in
Ammiano’s political career where folks have said it was
over. However he is San Francisco’s version of the
“rally monkey” and has staged incredible come from
behind victories including a write-in campaign against
Willie Brown in the last Mayoral election which had
everyone running scared. Bottom line with Ammiano, he
may be down but don’t ever count Tom Ammiano out.
Ellie
Schafer is a contributing writer to PurePolitics.com
and has been featured in USA Today, CNN's Inside
Politics, The New York Times and has been a regular
guest on the Fox Radio "Kiley and Booms"
show as well as other national and local media.
San
Francisco Politics 
Election
2002 Recap