Anybody But Lee For Mayor

In Civic Center's Heart of the City Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoon, a half-dozen young people were handing out leaflets for Leland Yee for Mayor, including the gentleman above right who was having a difficult time convincing the gentleman on the left that Yee's promises to help the middle class in San Francisco was going to do anything for him.



I asked Gerald above why he was shilling for State Senator Leland Yee for Mayor, and the answer was that he had worked for him, and liked the man. "Good answer." When asked about candidate Jeff Adachi, Gerald said he'd worked for him too and seriously respected Adachi. With that, I decided to put Yee as third on my ranked choice ballot, mostly because he has an outside chance to beat the current Mayor Ed Lee.



As you may have heard, Ed Lee was selected at the beginning of this year in a sleazy coup d'etat by old-time power brokers as an interim, caretaker mayor when their previous puppet, former mayor Gavin Newsom, bolted for the Lieutenant Governors seat. The promise was that he would not run for Mayor in this November's election, using his incumbency as a weapon, but Lee was talked into breaking that promise and he's now the clear front-runner. The only way he can be beaten is if enough San Francisco voters follow an "Anyone But Ed Lee" strategy, imitating the voters of Oakland who did something similar to front-runner Don Perata in his election for mayor in that city.



In other words, don't vote for Lee (above center) as your first, second, or third choice for Mayor. I am voting for Jeff Adachi as my first choice, but I encourage you to vote for whoever the heck you like other than Ed Lee, who has made no pretense that he's a puppet for Willie Brown, Jr., Rose Pak, and a whole host of the most corrupt, established, pay-for-play power brokers in this city. By marking Ed Lee anywhere on the ballot, you are basically voting for four more years of the same Willie Brown/Gavin Newsom political machine which is a depressing, ugly prospect. Vote for change instead and maybe even a little hope.