{"id":18833,"date":"2021-05-23T12:04:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T19:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=18833"},"modified":"2021-05-23T12:04:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-23T19:04:59","slug":"chesa-boudin-recall-supporters-are-fighting-will-it-hurt-their-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/05\/23\/chesa-boudin-recall-supporters-are-fighting-will-it-hurt-their-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Chesa Boudin recall supporters are fighting. Will it hurt their movement?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2zwmzkbocl625qdrf2qqqfok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/25237484_web1_210521-SFE-ChesaRecall-1_1.jpeg\" alt=\"District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks at a press conference outside the Hall of Justice on Friday, May 7, 2021. (Kevin N. Hume\/S.F. Examiner)\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks at a press conference outside the Hall of Justice on Friday, May 7, 2021. (Kevin N. Hume\/S.F. Examiner)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/author\/m_barba\/\">MICHAEL BARBA<\/a><\/li><li>May. 21, 2021 3:20 p.m. (SFExaminer.com)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/\">NEWS<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/daily-headlines-newsletter\/\">NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/the-city\/\">THE CITY<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Supporters of the push to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin seem to have all reached the same conclusion: The progressive top prosecutor is bad for public safety. But they can\u2019t come to terms on who should lead their movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recall effort has been marked by infighting since a second campaign to unseat Boudin emerged last month from Democrats who were uncomfortable with the initial committee being started by a Republican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether the division will hurt the overall effort, or have any impact on the movement at all, has yet to be seen. But both campaigns already may be facing an uphill battle given the track records of past recall efforts that have not succeeded in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shortly before a group of Democrats leaning toward the moderate side of the political spectrum launched the second campaign last month, a tech investor who has now become their top donor, took to Twitter to slam the earlier effort that was kicked off by former Republican candidate for mayor Richie Greenberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDo not donate to the Recall Chesa Boudin recall that is out there right now,\u201d wrote Garry Tan, a co-founder of an early stage venture capital fund called Initialized Capital. \u201cIt\u2019s run by someone who has no shot (lone wolf Republican in SF, no political org.) \u2014 mainly trying to get it done in time for the recall of Gavin Newsom. It\u2019s the wrong move. There\u2019s a better one coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Campaign finance records show Tan, who initially contributed $500 to the Greenberg-led campaign, has since given $10,000 to the second committee run by Mary Jung, the former chair of the local Democratic party and Andrea Shorter, a longtime member of the Commission on the Status of Women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The split has incensed Greenberg, who calls the second campaign a \u201cwaste of attention.\u201d While his campaign has raised nearly $187,000 since it started back in March, he said the fact that the new committee has raised about $20,000 \u2014 with half of that coming from Tan \u2014 proves the second effort is a \u201cjoke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of very strange things coming out of that effort there that are trying to make our effort look bad which does not make sense,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cWhy would they want us to shut down? What would make sense would be if they help us, and if we don\u2019t succeed by (the deadline for signature gathering), then they pick up and do their own effort. Instead they are doing a parallel effort. It\u2019s just so shady.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But his criticism doesn\u2019t seem to have fazed Shorter, who helped start the second effort to appeal to a broader cross-section of San Franciscans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m not really concerned what Richie Greenberg thinks about our campaign,\u201d Shorter said. \u201cWe\u2019re confident about our fundraising. What we are focused on right now is getting our dozens of volunteers on the streets to start our signature gathering effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal disputes aside, political consultant Jim Ross said the effort to recall Boudin is already \u201cquixotic at best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previous efforts like the one to recall former Mayor Ed Lee in 2017 have not gathered the signatures needed to make it on the ballot, while the effort to recall then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1983 appeared before voters but failed miserably. That failure also set Feinstein up to sail to victory in her next election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven with a well-organized, well-disciplined campaign it would be really challenging,\u201d Ross said. \u201cBut a fractured, dysfunctional effort is just going to make it that much more unlikely that he gets recalled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ross said the division could result in unclear messaging to voters and conflicts over donors. But he would not discount the success of a recall entirely, saying that political movers like Jung and Shorter have previous winning efforts under their belts. \u201cThat\u2019s real,\u201d he said. Shorter has run committees in the past with contributions from deep-pocketed donors like Ron Conway \u2014 whose money has not turned up here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/2zwmzkbocl625qdrf2qqqfok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/25237484_web1_210523-SFE-ChesaRecall_4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2zwmzkbocl625qdrf2qqqfok-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/25237484_web1_210523-SFE-ChesaRecall_4.jpg\" alt=\"Supporters of the effort to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin gather signatures at the Ferry Building Farmers Market. (Courtesy Richie Greenberg\/the Committee Supporting the Recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin)\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The two recall committees are working on different timelines. The Greenberg-led effort has until Aug. 11 to gather about 51,000 signatures, while the committee from Jung and Shorter has a deadline of Oct. 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greenberg said he believes his effort will be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople out there, they are not asking who started this,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cThey are not asking who is the committee behind this, what is the political party of anyone, they are just coming here and signing, saying we want this guy out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the recall has given Boudin a chance to begin raising money from his supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest campaign finance numbers show his candidate-controlled committee has raised about $268,000, with a recent $100,000 donation from political donor Chris Larsen, the co-founder of the technology firm Ripple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Larsen previously contributed to a committee benefitting Boudin\u2019s opponent in the 2019 election, Suzy Loftus, and is also a major donor behind controversial surveillance camera networks being set up around San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boudin has backing from a second committee which has raised about $233,000 and has major funding from a criminal justice group called the Real Justice PAC. Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for that committee, said she does not believe the recall campaigns have been effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese recalls started with Republican-initiated efforts to overturn the election,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThey still are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Boudin, he said he\u2019s staying focused on doing his work at the District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey are trying to distract us and I\u2019m going to make sure my office stays focused on making San Francisco safe,\u201d Boudin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>mbarba@sfexaminer.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>District Attorney Chesa Boudin speaks at a press conference outside the Hall of Justice on Friday, May 7, 2021. (Kevin N. Hume\/S.F. Examiner) MICHAEL BARBA May. 21, 2021 3:20 p.m. (SFExaminer.com) NEWS NEWSLETTER THE CITY Supporters of the push to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin seem to have all reached&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/05\/23\/chesa-boudin-recall-supporters-are-fighting-will-it-hurt-their-movement\/\"> 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":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833"}],"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=18833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18834,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18833\/revisions\/18834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}