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Political Potstickers

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Tsai’s Bid for Richmond Votes

By Samson Wong

Rose Tsai

A ROSE GARDEN: On Aug. 17, Chinese radio host and co-founder of the San Francisco Neighbor’s Association Rose Tsai announced for the second time in two years her bid for a seat on the S.F. Board of Supervisors. Tsai, running in District 1 of the Richmond neighborhood, has won the support of former mayoral candidate Clint Reilly, Supervisor Leland Yee and community activist Harold Yee.

In her pledge to “walk a new path,” Tsai criticizes corrupt “machine politics” and City Hall’s lack of “checks and balances” that she says has resulted in a bloated city budget and a neglected public transit system.

“We want that money to be spent in our neighborhood,” Tsai said.

The Tsai race against incumbent Sup. Michael Yaki will determine whether the mayor, Board President Tom Ammiano, or a new coalition of supervisors would control the board.

During last December’s mayoral run-off election, voters in the Sunset district overwhelmingly supported Willie Brown over challenger Ammiano with 65 percent of the vote. (Citywide, Brown won by a landslide—59-to 41-percent.) Thirteen months before the election, however, Sunset was pro-Ammiano. And Tsai, who was a supervisorial candidate promising to “stand up to the mayor,” was a second runner-up for a citywide bid, nearly upsetting Sup. Amos Brown, a mayoral appointee, in an early referendum against the mayor.

Although Tsai lost, her race helped the ultra progressive Ammiano edge pro-mayor Sup. Mabel Teng for first place in the Richmond District. Ammiano finished first citywide and became board president, while Teng finished third behind appointed Sup. Gavin Newsom.

Both Yaki and Tsai had done better in the Richmond district than citywide in both 1996 and 1998. The progressive leaning Teng, who is an ally of Yaki, did better than the conservative Tsai in culling votes from that district in 1998.

Tsai, whose political beginnings were once financed by developer Joe O’ Donoghue, has been too conservative to appeal to crossovers in her district. Already, she and supporter Leland Yee, who is a Democrat as well, have made early attempts to move rightward and seek the support of the S.F. Republican Party, according to Chairman Don Casper last week. Furthermore, the pro-Central Freeway Tsai won’t win any points with Richmond voters who have supported environmental issues with 56 percent of the vote, including demolishing of the freeway.

A ‘LIFETIME LIABILITY’: Tsai could be vulnerable this election cycle because of her pro-landlord views on rent control issues. Tsai, when she was with the S.F. Neighbors Association, was a frequent critic of Yaki and Teng over issues like owner-move eviction moratoriums. The November election should attract a large number of tenants and anti-Tsai voters supporting the pro-tenant capital improvement pass-throughs and tenancy-in-common conversion limit measures on the ballot. The district and city’s voters are 65 percent renter. However, Tsai’s pro-landlord weakness may soften if Ammiano lends her his support for her seemingly quid pro quo support during last year’s mayoral race.

At a Richmond police station forum held last May, Tsai criticized the rent control laws as an overreaction to a 1979 surge in rents. As a result, she said the rental housing supply has diminished and, “We have more and more rent control laws, which discourage people from going into the business or renting property.” As Tsai sees it, renting out to tenants has become a “lifetime liability.”

“Property owners are in jeopardy,” she said. “We have this really strict rent control law, which is overly broad and punishes everybody, whether you’re law abiding or not.”

In 1998, Tsai’s pro-landlord views didn’t help in the mostly tenant Inner Richmond. That neighborhood has tended to support pro-tenant measures with 58 percent of the vote, according to pollster David Binder. Tsai had support in the homeowner oriented Outer Richmond, which supported tenant issues by only 52 percent. Overall, the Richmond generally supports pro-tenant measures with 55 percent of the vote. Tsai’s pro-landlord views may drive tenant voters to Yaki, who is a tenant himself, but has tried to strike a balance between landlords and tenants on issues like in-law legalization and tenancies-in-common.

THREE’S A CROWD: Former law school dean and immigrant rights advocate Eric Mar won a key endorsement last Saturday from the S.F. Democratic Party. Mar’s endorsement may set the stage for an unprecedented three Asian Americans on the S.F. School Board, which represents 64,000 students, of whom over 40 percent are Asian American.

While Asian American representation may increase, it may be at the expense of African American representation. Similar to the lack of endorsements for Asian American candidates for the school board in 1996, African American candidates (Shawn Richard, Rufus Watkins and A. Toni Young) didn’t get the party’s endorsement this time around.

Mar upsets incumbent Board President Mary Hernandez, a member of the eroding majority bloc that is comprised of Frank Chong, Juanita Owens and Steve Phillips. Phillips and Owens are not running and have left two of four seats open this November. Victories by Mar and Mauricio Vela could shift the 4-3 balance. The two, along with incumbent Jill Wynns, are supported also by the United Educators of San Francisco, a labor group that represents teachers and paraprofessionals.

The two blocs have differed over issues such as charter schools and fiscal accountability after critical audits that were characterized by City Hall independent budget analyst Harvey Rose as “damning.”

Mar—like Stephen Herman, Vela and Wynn—is opposed to school vouchers. Mar and Wynns want to revoke the Edison School charter and prevent the privatization of public schools.

Mar’s coveted party endorsement could influence over 270,000 Democrats who represent nearly three out of five voters. Wynns received 23 endorsement votes, while Vela and Herman garnered 18, and Mar won 16 votes from the 31 members S.F. Democratic County Central Committee, which issues the official party endorsement.

Supported by pro-Ammiano reform minded committee members and defections from pro-Brown party establishment reps, Mar edged out Hernandez’s 15 votes, and Robert Varni, a college board trustee, with 14 votes. Mar is also a member of the committee.

Mar could join current members Chong and Eddie Chin who are trying to get the district’s fiscal house in order, raise teacher salaries, regain $35 million that was lost after desegregation funds were cut off, and maintain integrated schools with a race-neutral school placement policy.

GOT A STICKER TO FRY?: E-mail me at samson@sfindependent.com or potsticker@prodigy.net. Calls accepted at 415-826-1100, ext. 23.