{"id":16077,"date":"2020-10-02T12:21:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T19:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=16077"},"modified":"2020-10-02T12:21:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-02T19:21:15","slug":"nancy-pelosi-shahid-buttar-dont-have-statements-in-s-f-voter-guide-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2020\/10\/02\/nancy-pelosi-shahid-buttar-dont-have-statements-in-s-f-voter-guide-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Nancy Pelosi, Shahid Buttar don\u2019t have statements in S.F. voter guide. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John Wildermuth\u00a0<\/a>Oct. 2, 2020 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"House
1of2House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, at a news conference in San Francisco on Sept. 2.Photo: Paul Chinn \/ The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Shahid
2of2Shahid Buttar, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s election opponent in November, on April 1 in San Francisco.Photo: Santiago Mejia \/ The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s left out is as interesting as what\u2019s put into San Francisco\u2019s new voter information pamphlet, which has arrived in mailboxes in advance of the start of mail voting next week for the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the pamphlet contains the usual information on the city\u2019s 13 ballot measures and candidates for state, local and federal offices, there are some notable omissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nor Shahid Buttar,<\/a> the Democratic attorney who is challenging her, filed the voluntary candidate statement in their congressional race. Neither did Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, although his opponent, Democrat Jackie Fielder,<\/a> is in the voter guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And plenty of San Francisco voters found that their pamphlets didn\u2019t contain any statements from the candidates in the six Board of Supervisors races on the ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer to that one is easy, said John Arntz, San Francisco\u2019s election director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf people don\u2019t live in an odd-numbered supervisoral district, their (voter pamphlets) won\u2019t include statements for supervisors,\u201d he said in an email Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In two years, when the even-numbered districts are on the ballot, residents of the other districts will be left out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi\u2019s omission is also simple to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe print the statements that are submitted, and not all candidates submit statements,\u201d Arntz said. \u201cPelosi did not submit a statement before the filing deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi \u201cplans a letter to each registered voter, respectfully requesting their vote,\u201d said Jorge Aguilar with the congresswoman\u2019s campaign. \u201cHer letter is set to arrive when absentee ballots do at voters\u2019 homes next week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buttar\u2019s reason amounts to a protest. Arguing that the 250-word limit for the paid ballot statement wasn\u2019t enough for a little-known candidate running against a nationally known incumbent, he wanted his ballot statement to be blank, \u201csymbolic of the chilling effect when diverse voices are edited out of the media and political debate process,\u201d a campaign spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his part, Wiener was snagged by the state\u2019s rules for candidate statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur campaign did not submit a candidate statement because we did not accept the state\u2019s voluntary expenditure limit required,\u201d said Jack Persons, Wiener\u2019s campaign manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By law, state candidates can file a statement only if they agree to follow state spending limits, which range from $15.5 million for a candidate for governor down to $1.08 million for someone running for Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state Senate spending limit tops out at $1.39 million, an amount Wiener has already exceeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fielder, who had spent $339,149 on her campaign as of Sept. 19, is well below that limit, which is why her statement is in the voter guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the city doesn\u2019t charge most local candidates for the statements, candidates for state and federal offices have to write a check. It\u2019s $2,389 for candidates in Pelosi\u2019s district and $2,710 in the state Senate race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com<\/a> Twitter: @jfwildermut<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Wildermuth<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Follow John on: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SFChronicle\/<\/a> jfwildermuth<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Wildermuth is a native San Franciscan who has worked as a reporter and editor in California for more than 40 years and has been with the San Francisco Chronicle since 1986. For most of his career, he has covered government and politics. He is a former assistant city editor and Peninsula bureau chief with The Chronicle and currently covers politics and San Francisco city government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a92020 Hearst
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Wildermuth\u00a0Oct. 2, 2020 (SFChronicle.com) What\u2019s left out is as interesting as what\u2019s put into San Francisco\u2019s new voter information pamphlet, which has arrived in mailboxes in advance of the start of mail voting next week for the Nov. 3 election. While the pamphlet contains the usual information on the… Continue reading → <\/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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16078,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16077\/revisions\/16078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}