{"id":28786,"date":"2023-09-28T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T21:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28786"},"modified":"2023-09-28T14:06:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T21:06:07","slug":"for-s-f-mayoral-candidate-daniel-lurie-running-against-the-doom-loop-wont-be-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/28\/for-s-f-mayoral-candidate-daniel-lurie-running-against-the-doom-loop-wont-be-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"For S.F. mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie, running against the Doom Loop won\u2019t be enough"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Joe Garofoli<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep. 26, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Daniel
Daniel Lurie, philanthropist and Levi Strauss heir, embraces his children after a launch event for his mayoral bid in San Francisco on Tuesday, Sept. 26.Stephen Lam\/The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The easiest part of Daniel Lurie\u2019s campaign to be the next mayor<\/a> of San Francisco will be pointing out what\u2019s wrong. Look at people shooting up in the streets! Look at the empty office buildings! Look at the homeless! Did your car get broken into today? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But running against San Francisco\u2019s Doom Loop<\/a> won\u2019t be enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hardest part of Lurie\u2019s campaign will be explaining how a political novice \u2014 an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune \u2014 can steer San Francisco away from the abyss. Lurie, 46, has to be more than a blank slate upon which voters can design their dream candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Mayor) London Breed is vulnerable,\u201d San Francisco State political science professor Jason McDaniel told me. \u201cBut he can\u2019t run on just being \u2018Not London Breed.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is one of many hurdles that Lurie faces in taking on an incumbent who has been mayor or a member of the Board of Supervisors for the last decade. He\u2019s also got to convince people that he\u2019s not just a rich guy who thinks he can run government like a business.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Democratic strategist Darry Sragow knows how that goes. He managed the 1998 California gubernatorial primary campaign of wealthy airline executive Al Checchi, who spent a then-record $40 million of his own money, only to finish second in the Democratic primary to future Gov. Gray Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first hurdle that every very wealthy candidate for public office has to clear, especially if he or she is going to be largely self-funded, is convincing voters that their interest in holding political office is more than a whim because they\u2019ve made so much money that they don\u2019t know what else to do with their time,\u201d Sragow said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie\u2019s desire to help others is unquestioned. In 2005, he created Tipping Point Community, which has raised over $500 million to help fund and support nonprofits focused on providing housing, early childhood support, education and employment. Last year, Lurie said, the organization helped 6,000 people with \u201cservices that either helped them transition out of homelessness or prevented them from being in it in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born and raised in San Francisco, Lurie said the city has more than enough money to tackle its myriad problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not a crisis of resources. This is a crisis of leadership,\u201d Lurie said Tuesday at his kickoff rally at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a mayor who\u2019s challenging the system. We have a mayor who\u2019s entrenched in it \u2026 (instead of) solutions, we can have excuses and finger-pointing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while raising money from wealthy individuals and corporations and redirecting it to people facing poverty is noble, it\u2019s not the same as running a city with a $16 billion budget and intractable problems \u2014 plus Fox News waiting for you to fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are other challenges Lurie will face in his quest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t rookie camp:<\/strong> Vice President Kamala Harris was among those who have described San Francisco politics as \u201ca knife fight in a phone booth.\u201d She emerged from the same political octagon that birthed the careers of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. No wallflowers in that bunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lurie knows the city\u2019s power players, but has never held elective office. People invariably describe him as \u201ca nice guy.\u201d One of his challenges will be to see how he takes political punches on the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaign life will be a lot different than Tipping Point, when he was bringing people joy by handing out other people\u2019s money. There\u2019s a lot less joy-delivering at City Hall and a lot more political knife play. Can he demonstrate that he\u2019s up for it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSan Francisco politics,\u201d McDaniel said, \u201cis not the minor leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He won\u2019t be able to pivot the city\u2019s billion-dollar bureaucracy as quickly as his small nonprofit staff. Then there\u2019s the Board of Supervisors. Some might be with him. Some will definitely be against him. And, unlike the business or nonprofit world, he won\u2019t be able to fire any of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not naive,\u201d Lurie said Tuesday. \u201cI know that challenging bureaucracy is a tall order. But we\u2019re never going to turn around the city unless we have the courage to try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assembling a coalition:<\/strong> Lurie hopes to overcome his inexperience with bold promises that tap into the collective frustrations San Franciscans feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his biggest ovations Tuesday came when he urged San Franciscans to be \u201cfearless.\u201d \u201cFearless in our belief that no one has the right to smash our car windows, pillage our stores, shoot up drugs where our children play or prey on those suffering through addiction,\u201d he said. \u201cMy administration will finally slam the door shut on the era of open-air drug markets and the perception that lawlessness is an acceptable part of life in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge for Lurie is to be able to secure conservative voters who want law and order (he is promising to fully fund the Police Department) while appealing to enough progressives who might embrace him as an \u201canybody but Breed\u201d candidate, McDaniel said. Without a progressive candidate in the race yet, the 35% to 40% of voters who generally fall into the progressive camp have to go somewhere, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan he say enough of the things that the progressive groups want to hear in order for them to consider endorsing you, without pissing off people who are more into public safety?\u201d McDaniel said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rich white guy: <\/strong>Lurie is the son of Rabbi Brian Lurie, who was the executive director of the Jewish Community Federation, and Mimi Haas. They divorced when he was 2 years old. After the divorce, his mother married philanthropist Peter Haas \u2014 the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss \u2014 who controlled 11% of the company\u2019s shares, as of 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom an early age I was afforded opportunities and a level of privilege most people were not,\u201d Lurie said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After working for former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley\u2019s 2000 presidential campaign \u2014 which focused on an anti-poverty message, Lurie moved to New York, where he worked for the Robin Hood Foundation<\/a>. The 35-year-old group is the city\u2019s largest poverty-fighting organization, supporting low-income families by funding nonprofits to help them. That inspired him to return home to San Francisco to create Tipping Point, which has a similar mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several in the crowd Tuesday compared Lurie to Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York City mayor who has also been a longtime philanthropist. One difference: Bloomberg wasn\u2019t born into money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that San Francisco is averse to electing wealthy candidates. Feinstein, Pelosi and Newsom either came from wealth, married into it or had supportive rich friends. The crowd that attended Lurie\u2019s campaign launch Tuesday was largely white and more than a few rolled up in Escalades and other high-end vehicles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the three speakers who preceded Lurie on stage Tuesday were all people of color \u2014 including San Francisco 49ers Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, who has worked with Lurie on various projects over the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrust me,\u201d Lott said, almost whispering to an audience that was pin-drop quiet. \u201cTrust me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Battle of the bios:<\/strong> Lurie and Breed\u2019s biographies couldn\u2019t be more different. Breed was born and raised in public housing in San Francisco. Lurie is a scion of one the city\u2019s wealthiest families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breed\u2019s supporters will make that distinction loud and clear. Outside of Lurie\u2019s launch Tuesday, a Breed supporter waved a sign that said \u201cMalibu Dan.\u201d It is a reference to something San Franciscans will surely hear a lot about over the next year: He bought a $15.5 million home<\/a> in Malibu in 2021, while much of the rest of California was dealing with COVID restrictions. Lurie spokesman Max Szabo said Lurie\u2019s family only vacationed there and did not move there during the pandemic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what may blunt that stark comparison of personal biographies is that Breed\u2019s record in City Hall is what she is best known for now among many voters \u2014 not her upbringing. A May San Francisco Chamber of Commerce survey found that 77% of respondents<\/a> say the city is on the wrong track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Still, said McDaniel, the political scientist, Breed\u2019s background will make it harder for many voters who grew up in a similar way to turn on her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt does matter, because it gives her that sense of authenticity,\u201d McDaniel said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nadine Burke Harris, California\u2019s former surgeon general, introduced Lurie Tuesday. The two have known each other for more than a decade and Lurie was an early supporter of the clinic she founded, the Bayview Child Health Center. Burke, who is Black, said Tuesday that Lurie wasn\u2019t just a check writer. He would often travel to the neighborhood to learn more about how the clinic operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSoon enough,\u201d Burke said, \u201cpeople started saying, \u2018Hey Dr. Burke. I was at this meeting the other day and there was this white guy in the back of the room with his sleeves rolled up.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burke would reply: \u201cYeah. That\u2019s Daniel. He\u2019s legit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burke said that Lurie \u201cnot only gave his time and his resources, he used his privilege to open doors and inspired so many to invest in the fight against poverty in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Lurie said Tuesday, \u201cThe end game for me is not a life in politics. It\u2019s a better life for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s got a little more than a year to convince voters of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Joe Garofoli: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @joegarofoli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By Joe Garofoli<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle\u2019s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of \u201cIt\u2019s All Political,\u201d The Chronicle\u2019s political podcast. Catch it here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy \u2014 which he discussed on NPR\u2019s \u201cTalk of the Nation\u201d after being told he couldn\u2019t say the word \u201cballs\u201d on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"San<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\"HEARST\u00a92023 Hearst Communications, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Garofoli Sep. 26, 2023 (SFChronicle.com) The easiest part of Daniel Lurie\u2019s campaign to be the next mayor of San Francisco will be pointing out what\u2019s wrong. Look at people shooting up in the streets! Look at the empty office buildings! Look at the homeless! Did your car get broken into today? … 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":[1117],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28786"}],"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=28786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28787,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28786\/revisions\/28787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}