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Politics & Policy

Scandal in San Francisco doesn’t stop. Can any mayoral candidate bust the corruption?

The image features a central dome building split between gray and yellow backgrounds, surrounded by currency, a hand with a ballot, and many question marks.
Mayoral candidates are presenting their plans to tackle city corruption. | Source: Photo illustration by Kyle Victory for The Standard
Politics & Policy

Scandal in San Francisco doesn’t stop. Can any mayoral candidate bust the corruption?

The city these days seems just around the corner from its next controversy, whether its about allegations of misspending at a city department, nonprofit directors being charged with 34 felonies, or people calling for a mayoral candidate’s campaign to face a criminal investigation

Phew!

With so many tawdry affairs bubbling to the surface, the main candidates vying for Room 200 — Mayor London Breed, Mark Farrell, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie — have sought to present themselves as squeaky-clean corruption busters. 

As part of our ongoing “Ask the candidates” series, The Standard gathered questions from readers to present to the leading candidates about the city’s most pressing issues. We compiled reader queries into a questionnaire for the candidates, which we’ll be publishing between now and Election Day.

Reader Robert P. wanted to know:

As a candidate, do you believe San Francisco’s government has a systemic corruption problem? Or do you believe these were just a few bad apples? As mayor, what would you do to reduce corruption and what makes you uniquely suited to do so?”

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Mayor London Breed says she has implemented dozens of reforms to fight corruption at City Hall. | Source: Tâm Vũ/The Standard

Mayor London Breed

Breed told The Standard she has instituted more than 60 reforms at the recommendation of the controller and city attorney’s offices. A total of 14 nonprofits have been barred from doing business with the city, leaving an extra $30 million to be directed to above-board organizations, she said. She said she has also recovered $100 million from scandal-plagued Recology for ratepayers.

“It is imperative that City business is conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and with the utmost integrity,” Breed wrote in The Standard’s questionnaire. “Nothing is more important than the trust the public has in its government.”

More recently, Breed introduced laws to tighten rules around the more than $1 billion in nonprofit contracting. The legislation calls for standardizing contracting practices, more monitoring of grantees, and better recordkeeping.

Among her three main challengers, Breed is arguably in the most difficult position when it comes to questions about corruption: There have been numerous scandals since she’s been in office, such as the indictment of former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru and reports of misspending at her Dream Keeper Initiative.

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Former Supervisor Mark Farrell has attacked Breed on her ethical mishaps as he faces his own controversies. | Source: Adahlia Cole for The Standard

Mark Farrell

Farrell pledged to “bring new transparency and accountability” to City Hall “on Day One.” 

To do that, he wants to centralize all nonprofit contracts under the city administrator’s office to reduce fraud and waste. He is also proposing a large-scale overhaul of the digitization of city services, such as permitting applications and bill payments, a reform he believes will increase transparency.

Farrell, a former supervisor and interim mayor, has been the subject of a handful of ethical allegations in recent months and years, resulting in opponents blasting him as a leader without a moral compass. Last month, Breed claimed that Farrell asked her to rush a home renovation permit, an allegation he denies.

In The Standard’s questionnaire, Farrell clapped back at those accusations by pointing out Breed’s track record with corruption.

“Mayor Breed accepted over $5,000 in gifts from disgraced former Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru who was indicted by the FBI and convicted of public corruption,” Farrell wrote. “Some of her closest friends and allies, and now her signature [Dream Keeper Initiative] as Mayor, are under investigation for potential fraud, waste, and misuse of taxpayer resources.”

“The buck will always stop with me as Mayor, and I will set the tone and direction for the type of results and behavior I expect,” he wrote.

San Francisco Supervisor points at someone during the Chinatown Media & Arts Collaborative in San Francisco on Aug. 17, 2023.
Board President Aaron Peskin has placed a proposition on the ballot that would create a corruption-fighting position at City Hall. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

Aaron Peskin

During his time as Board of Supervisors president, Peskin has been accused of bullying behavior at City Hall, apparently fueled by alcohol at times. He claims he has moved on from that behavior after seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. 

Peskin has been one of the loudest advocates when it comes to rooting out City Hall corruption, recently calling for hearings to investigate Breed’s Dream Keeper Initiative

That’s coupled with a ballot measure he authored, Proposition C, which would create an Office of the Inspector General. The proposition, Peskin claims, would give the city more leverage to investigate corrupt third-party organizations that would otherwise be able to hide graft. He points out that Atlanta has implemented similar reforms. Critics have said San Francisco already has the proper framework to investigate wrongdoing, including the controller’s office.

“San Francisco has a corruption problem that has become systemic because we have never had a systemic approach for combating corruption,” Peskin wrote in The Standard’s questionnaire. “As Mayor I would help to establish [a] new office to aggressively investigate and expose corruption. I am not just doing this because I am running for mayor. Prop. C builds on my 25-year record fighting corruption.”

A man in a suit holds papers at a counter, surrounded by media personnel with cameras. A woman behind him looks at her phone. Bottles of sanitizer are on the counter.
Nonprofit executive Daniel Lurie is proposing a "City Hall Accountability Plan and Ethics Agenda" if he is elected. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard

Daniel Lurie

As a result of his outsider status, Lurie has made fighting corruption a top talking point of his campaign, routinely blasting his challengers as City Hall creatures beset by scandal. In his questionnaire, Lurie wrote that it’s “clear there is a systemic corruption problem in our city.”

Lurie has introduced a “City Hall Accountability Plan and Ethics Agenda.” Among other proposals, it would include campaign ethics reforms, more funding for the city’s ethics commission, and a requirement that large nonprofit representatives register as lobbyists. Lurie has also suggested reforming the troubled Department of Building Inspection.

“I am the only candidate who will dramatically reshape the bureaucracy, clean out the rot of corruption and hold every department accountable to delivering measurable results,” Lurie wrote.

Since the Levi’s heir has not served in public office, he has been able to steer clear of major scandals. The greatest point of criticism has been his anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point Community, mostly about the effectiveness of its progress in combating homelessness.

Want to read each candidate’s entire response on corruption? Click here.