Jane Kim: My November 2019 Endorsements

District Attorney
Chesa Boudin
This is the race everyone is watching in San Francisco this year – and I’m supporting Chesa Boudin. Chesa is THE criminal justice reform candidate and has been endorsed by District Attorneys Larry Krasner, Tiffany Cabán and criminal justice advocates Alicia Garza, Angela Davis, Patrisse Cullors and Shaun King along with the Sierra Club and Sing Tao Daily.  His story, as a child of incarcerated parents, and candidacy has received national coverage in the Nation, New Yorker and the New York Times. Chesa is smart, savvy, hard working, and the leader I want to see in San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Check out the video that has been garnering him a lot of attention!

Public Defender
Manohar Raju
Did you know San Francisco is the only California County, out of 58 counties, to elect our Public Defender? San Francisco has been fortunate to have had the respected, tireless and fierce leadership of Jeff Adachi since 2002 (Jeff was the first candidate I ever volunteered for). Adachi completely transformed the Public Defender’s Office and led the criminal justice reform movement before we called it a criminal justice movement. Manohar Raju is the right leader to continue Adachi’s legacy. He has served in the Public Defender’s office since 2011 and is respected by his colleagues and across the legal field.

City College Board of Trustees
Ivy Lee
Ivy is my former Chief of Staff and one of the fiercest and most heartful advocates in our City. She is also a LEGISLATIVE BEAST. She was the lead staffer in my office in the fight to make City College free (#FREECITY), ban the box on all San Francisco employers and affordable housing providers, and was key in collaborating with childcare leaders in drafting a $130 million revenue measure to make early childhood education and childcare affordable to every family in San Francisco. This measure passed in June 2018. Of course, it was sued by wealthy office building owners and is now tied up in court, but we did win the first round at the California Superior Court.  Looking forward to this revenue being invested in our youngest SF residents and their families! I am so thankful to Mayor Breed for appointing Ivy to the City College Board of Trustees where she is holding the administration accountable to our students and the public!

Board of Education
Jenny Lam
I have been asking Jenny, a public school mother and bilingual education policy advocate for our immigrants families, to run for School Board, since I served on our School Board. Jenny knows our public schools and has been an advocate for equity for all our students, especially English Language Learners, a perspective that is much needed in a district which overwhelmingly serves immigrant families. Roughly 50% of San Francisco Unified School District’s student population is Asian Pacific Americans – Jenny has served this community and is currently the only Asian American woman on the Board.

Supervisor, District 5
#1 Dean Preston
A long time tenant attorney and public school parent – Dean is the founder of the statewide coalition Tenants Together and was the lead author of Prop F in 2018, which guarantees legal representation to individuals facing evictions. Dean has worked to ensure that everyone, regardless of income, can be protected by our tenant laws. I have observed Dean’s advocacy since I was a Youth Community Organizer at Chinatown Community Development Center – he has been a consistent presence in tenant rallies, fights and legislative battles for the past two decades and will be a smart policy leader on housing issues on the Board of Supervisors. He has been endorsed by the San Francisco Tenants Union, Sierra Club, Democratic Socialists of America SF, public school teacher’s unions and many more.

#2 Vallie Brown
This is a rank choice voting race and Vallie is worth your #2 vote. Vallie Brown is a long time public servant and has worked for two District 5 Supervisors as a legislative aide. She is known as being dedicated, responsive and hard working; and has been a consistent presence at D5 neighborhood meetings over the last 15 years.

This is the largest affordable housing bond proposed in San Francisco history (double the 2015 Affordable Housing Bond) and much needed. Unfortunately, the last affordable housing bond which passed prior to 2015 was a $100M bond in 1996 – this was invested pretty quickly and funds dried up within a few years, so we are pretty far behind in construction, preservation and repair of low and middle income housing. This bond will fund construction of new working class housing as well as repair, maintenance, and preservation of public housing, middle class housing, educator housing and senior housing.  

Proposition B – Renaming Aging and Adult Services Commission: Yes

This measure simply changes the name of the Aging and Adult Services Commission to the Disability and Aging Services Commission and adds the requirement that three of the seven Commissioner seats reflect the constituencies served by the department. One seat must be held by a senior (60+), another seat by an adult (18+) with an ADA-recognized disability, and a third seat by a former U.S. military member. You may be wondering –  why is this on the ballot?  Well, it’s a commission created by our Charter and any changes made to our City and County Charter must be approved by the voters!

Proposition C – Juul-Led Vaping Law: NO

No corporation should write their own laws to “regulate” themselves. Juul, in response to a temporary city ban on e-cigarettes (the ban is in effect until FDA approves their products), decided to write their own regulations on e-cigarettes and overturn the moratorium unanimously voted in by the Board of Supervisors (oh and spend $11 million while they were at it).  Every San Francisco elected official is opposed to Prop C from Speaker Pelosi on down. Even the Trump Administration and FDA is investigating Juul for their claims that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes.

Proposition D – Congestion Mitigation Tax: Yes, Yes, Yes

This is a very modest tax on transportation network companies (TNC), more commonly known as Uber, Lyft and other rideshare companies. At 3.25% for single rides (approximately 32 cents on a $10 ride) and 1.5% for shared rides (15 cents on a $10 ride), this measure will raise approximately $30-35 million, which will be split evenly evenly between MUNI and pedestrian/bike safety improvements. TNCs make up almost 20% of all vehicle miles traveled on San Francisco roads – their profits depend on our public infrastructure, so they should help pay for our street and public transportation improvements!

Proposition E – Affordable Educator Housing on Public Land: Yes

While I wish this measure had been passed through the regular legislative process, you should vote yes for this measure. Prop E ensures that 100% affordable educator housing can be built, as of right, on publicly owned land over 10,000 square feet excluding land owned by Rec and Park. Prop E also streamlines and shortens the approval and review process so that we can accelerate the construction of 100% affordable educator housing.

Proposition F– Sunlight on Dark Money: Yes

This measure will ensure voters know the wealthy funders behind “dark” independent expenditures by requiring that the top three donors who give $5,000 or more are included in mailers and other advertisement by name. The measure goes a step further by mandating that donors who contribute to “secondary” independent committees are also revealed. Voters will then know that “Jane Doe” gave to a committee named “San Francisco for Puppies and Rainbows” which then subsequently contributed to “San Francisco Against Climate Change.” Wealthy funders will also be named at the beginning of audio and video advertisements instead of the end. We should all know who is funding the political advertisements in our mailbox, TV and social media.

Thank you for reading all the way to end! Now go out and vote!

Jane