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Fiona Ma’s Importance, Challenges and Lessons

WHO BECOMES “VETO” CORLEONE?: District 4 and 8 together represent much more than they might seem to. The December runoff elections in these districts could determine whether the board will have the power to sustain or overturn a veto by Mayor Willie Brown and his successor in 2004.

The balance of power could be altered by the outcome of the Dec. 10 supervisor runoffs between Fiona Ma and Ron Dudum in District 4 (Sunset), and Bevan Dufty and Eileen Hansen in District 8 (Upper Market/Castro).

Ma or Dudum’s succession to District 4 Supervisor Leland Yee is significant. Yee served as a crucial mayoral ally, providing a vote for the mayor on two vetoes — sustaining the mayor’s successful 2002 veto to restrict a Home Depot development and supporting a failed 2001 veto to cap conversion of apartment units to tenancies-in-common. Now, Yee is leaving for the state assembly, leaving Ma or Dudum as a key vote to support or override a mayor’s veto.

In the coming year, the mayor may wield the veto more often, especially as he and supervisors will likely disagree next spring in addressing a $181 million shortfall for 2003-04 budget. Exacerbating the budget, the Nov. 5 defeat of Proposition L, which would have provided $31 million in new real estate transfer tax revenue will force the 11 supervisors and the mayor to look at employee layoffs, deferring public employee pay raises or increasing taxes.

SURVIVAL OF DISTRICT ELECTIONS: Ma’s election is the last opportunity for an Asian Pacific American to serve on the 11-member legislative board, representing a city that is one-third APA.

Ma, an accountant and state senate aide, also symbolizes one of two chances in the December runoff to add more women. Currently, the only woman on the board, Sophie Maxwell, was re-elected on Nov. 5.

Another woman, AIDS/HIV policy analyst Eileen Hansen, is bidding to win the District 8 (Upper Market/Castro) seat being vacated by 13th District Assemblyman-elect Mark Leno. Ma and Hansen’s election could buoy the survival of district elections.

But, the failure to elect Ma — an APA — also endangers the future of district elections. Her absence would leave the board without any APAs for the first time since the appointment of Tom Hsieh, Sr. to supervisor in 1986.

To date, APA office seekers have known success in citywide or near-citywide races. On Nov. 5, Leland Yee was elected to the 12th Assembly District. Mabel Teng was elected citywide to Assessor-Recorder, as Jeff Adachi was elected to Public Defender last March.

While successful citywide, APAs have taken steps backwards on the Board of Supervisors in the last two years. After the community achieved the unprecedented election of three citywide supervisors in 1996, voters ousted two incumbent APA supervisors in 2000 under the current district supervisor system.

CHINATOWN UNITY PLEA: Key to a Ma victory will be unifying APA votes that represent only one-quarter of the district, even though the APA population makes up over one-half of the Sunset.

To unify that vote, Ma already has the support of major APA political figures — Congressman Michael Honda, Assembly Majority Leader Wilma Chan, Insurance Commissioner Harry Low, former Supervisor Tom Hsieh, and Chinese-language newspapers World Journal and Sing Tao Daily.

A Nov. 7 Chinatown celebration of Bill Lee’s appointment to the Planning Commission turned into an impromptu rally and plea for community unity to support Ma.

City Administrator Bill Lee, Independent/Examiner Publisher Florence Fang, Chinatown leaders Ben Hom, Thomas Eng and Pius Lee were urging candidates Marks Lam, Andrew Lee and Ed Jew to support Ma. These three candidates together accounted for more than 35 percent of the vote on Nov. 5.

Securing support from non-profit director Lee and former Republican Party vice chairman Jew won’t be easy after a bitterly fought campaign.

In addition, outgoing Supervisor Leland Yee, who anointed protégé Ed Jew as his successor, may be reluctant to support Ma.

Ma supported Judge Lillian Sing and then-School Board member Dan Kelly over Yee for State Assembly in March 2002.

Yee may not support Ma, just as he didn’t support Assessor-Recorder-elect Mabel Teng, who trounced incumbent Doris Ward on Nov. 5. During the campaign, Yee supported Ward and had organized votes to block Teng’s endorsement at Democratic Clubs — continuing feud which began when the two served together as supervisor from 1996 to 2000.

THE TENG LESSON: There’s also the Dec. 10 runoff challenge of turning out voters. One major lesson to learn was from Supervisor Mabel Teng’s stinging 34-vote defeat, after leading court administrator Tony Hall by a 44-22 percent vote in the November 2000 primary.

Teng’s supporters assumed that she had won re-election without knowing there was a December runoff. Key to the Ma race will be how well she “banks” votes by encouraging supporters to vote by mail before Dec. 10 because of the holiday season, weather and earlier sunsets.

Furthermore, while pollster David Binder said Nov. 6 that Ma would be the favorite to win, Dudum cannot be underestimated. Two years ago, a virtual unknown, John Shanley, an underfunded, underdog candidate managed to garner 43 percent of the vote against the favored, well-funded incumbent Leland Yee, who won re-election as supervisor.

SPAM FOR SAM: Reach Samson Wong at samson@sfindependent.com.