{"id":33802,"date":"2024-05-18T14:08:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T21:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=33802"},"modified":"2024-05-18T14:08:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T21:08:13","slug":"lurie-drops-out-of-togethersf-debate-breed-peskin-forum-canceled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/05\/18\/lurie-drops-out-of-togethersf-debate-breed-peskin-forum-canceled\/","title":{"rendered":"Lurie drops out of TogetherSF debate; Breed-Peskin forum canceled"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>May 16, 2024\u00a0Updated\u00a025 mins ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/b\/32\/b3207730-db7c-11ee-97b7-3b45135cd46e\/65e802e843f24.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267\" alt=\"Mayor London Breed at an election night party at Anina in Hayes Valley\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Mayor London Breed atttends an election night party at Anina in Hayes Valley on Tuesday, March 5, 2024.\u00a0Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The saga over San Francisco mayoral debates took new twists on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Candidate Daniel Lurie became the third candidate to decline to participate in a mayoral debate&nbsp;hosted by political organizations TogetherSF Action and GrowSF schedule for next Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Manny\u2019s Cafe abruptly canceled a conversation between&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/london-breed-backs-out-of-may-20-togethersf-mayoral-debate\/article_e4627808-1235-11ef-b466-5bbc49db5f80.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin<\/a>&nbsp;that had also been scheduled to occur Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Manny\u2019s event, which had only been announced Tuesday, was slated to be hosted by Mission Local journalist Joe Eskenazi. It was meant to serve as an alternative to the TogetherSF debate, in which Breed and Peskin both refused to participate.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Manny Yekutiel, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/archives\/man-in-the-mission-local-politico-serves-coffee-with-a-side-of-civics\/article_94369654-109b-5c49-a674-4f2b4d77dc5c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">owner of Manny\u2019s<\/a>, told The Examiner that he is scheduled to host a mayoral debate for City Arts and Lectures within a month, and he felt it \u201cmade more sense to just stick to that one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with the Manny\u2019s event canceled, it\u2019s unclear what form the TogetherSF debate will take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lurie, the nonprofit founder and Levi Strauss heir, told reporters Wednesday that he would not participate in the TogetherSF debate unless a neutral journalist hosted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time he made those comments, the only remaining committed moderator was Kim-Mai Cutler, a former journalist who is now a venture capitalist and was a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/together-sf-jumps-into-san-francisco-politics\/article_1cdbc9e6-5167-11ed-beb1-d79eb629dffb.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">founding board member of TogetherSF Action.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Thursday, his campaign said too many factors in the debate \u2014 including its participants, moderators and format \u2014 remained up in the air with just a few days remaining for him to take part. However, the campaign said in a statement that Lurie looks forward to \u201cengaging with voters and TogetherSF\u2019s membership at the many planned future debates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multiple campaigns have expressed concerns about reported links between TogetherSF and former interim Mayor Mark Farrell\u2019s mayoral campaign, which is now managed by TogetherSF\u2019s former chief of staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, Mission Local reported that Margaux Kelly, a consultant working for Farrell\u2019s campaign, wrote in a text message that she, TogetherSF CEO Kanishka Cheng, and communications consultant Jess Montejano \u2014 whose clients include TogetherSF and Farrell\u2019s campaign \u2014 were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/missionlocal.org\/2024\/05\/mark-farrell-consultant-texts-that-togethersf-head-is-guiding-the-ship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cguiding the ship\u201d for Farrell.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheng did not immediately respond to a text message on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farrell and Supervisor Ahsha Safai \u2014 the only remaining participants in the TogetherSF debate \u2014 represent less than half the field of five prominent candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Safai said he remains committed to the TogetherSF debate, and called it \u201cdisrespectful for anyone who doesn\u2019t want to participate in this debate not to show up.\u201d He noted that the debate venue, The Hibernia, is in Mid-Market, where many of The City\u2019s most pressing social issues like homelessness and addiction are concentrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have forums and conversations all over this city, and many of the groups have a bent,\u201d Safai said. \u201cThat\u2019s OK as long as the person who\u2019s hosting the event is a neutral party and has full editorial discretion to make the decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although it has cycled through moderators, TogetherSF has maintained that it guarantees editorial independence for whoever takes the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if Monday\u2019s slate of events implodes entirely, San Franciscans need not wait long to see the candidates take the stage together.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-bats-down-rival-proposals\/article_1c878396-f2d7-11ee-8f47-5fb6a5e3cde9.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">All five candidates<\/a>&nbsp;are set to participate in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/harveymilkclub\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">forum hosted by the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club<\/a>&nbsp;on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re disappointed that the voters won\u2019t have a chance to hear from Mayor Breed and Aaron Peskin at Manny\u2019s,\u201d Joe Arellano, Breed\u2019s campaign spokesman, said in a statement. \u201cThere will be plenty of debates over the next several months. We look forward to participating in those.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of this writing, there are 172 days until election day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The saga over San Francisco mayoral debates took new twists on Thursday. Candidate Daniel Lurie became the third candidate to decline to participate in a mayoral debate&nbsp;hosted by political organizations TogetherSF Action and GrowSF schedule for next Monday. Meanwhile, Manny\u2019s Cafe abruptly canceled a conversation between&nbsp;Mayor London Breed and Board&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/05\/18\/lurie-drops-out-of-togethersf-debate-breed-peskin-forum-canceled\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33802"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33808,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33802\/revisions\/33808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}