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Mayor’s Campaign Reflects on Us All This past weekend, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown launched his bid to be re-elected as the City by the Bay’s chief executive. In undergoing what promises to be an extremely politically brutal task, Mayor Brown will attempt to be the first minority to be re-elected as mayor, in a city which has fired its past two mayors after only one term of service. With the exception of perhaps New York, no other mayoral race will draw as much national and international attention as the San Francisco race. In part, interest will focus on Mayor Brown’s oft vilified and one of a kind flamboyance. But more important, interest will be generated because of interest in San Francisco. Whether as a bastion for liberal thinking or as America’s gateway to the Pacific rim, San Francisco continues to capture the imagine of those across the nation and around the world. To Asian Americans, both locally and nationally, the race for the mayoralty of San Francisco holds special significance. Asian Americans in San Francisco make-up almost one-third of the City’s population, the highest percentage of the population of any major city on the continental United States. Asian Americans and mainstream America look to San Francisco -- symbolically and in many ways still the actual Mecca of Asian American society -- as a barometer of how the community is faring. Central to the San Francisco mayoral debate for Asian Americans will be not only general and important day-to- day life issues, but specifically, the ability of either the incumbent mayor or his challengers to share political power and authority with Asians Americans on issues that affect not just the community but the entire city as a whole. The willingness to incorporate the large pool of local Asian American talent to help govern San Francisco, a city in which ethnic minorities are now a majority, will play a crucial factor in persuading the approximately 15 to 20 percent of the city’s electorate which is now Asian American. As recent local history has shown the Asian American vote has been crucial in deterring mayoral outcomes. In 1991 then Mayor Frank Jordan (who is currently contemplating this year’s race) was able achieve an upset victory on the crest of a remarkably strong showing in the Asian American community. In 1995, Jordan, unable to maintain such strong support, lost to current Mayor Brown, as many Asian Americans defected to the Brown camp. To his credit, Mayor Brown has shared political power with the Asian Americans of San Francisco in a manner unprecedented in the city’s history. Currently there is at least one Asian American serving on every major commission in San Francisco. He has appointed the very first Asian American police chief and port director of a major American city and has publicly committed to reappointing the Asian American who currently serves as San Francisco’s city administrator. Brown’s insight and willingness to integrate Asian Americans into the mainstream will be the standard in which he and all mayoral hopefuls such as real estate magnate Clint Reilly, former Mayor Frank Jordan and Supervisor Tom Aminano will be measured against. In the topsy turvy world of San Francisco politics, the Asian American presence has continued grow in importance and impact. How the candidates have shared or promise to share political power with Asian Americans will be a defining issue of the mayoral race.
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