For years, Daniel Lurie mostly avoided public criticism by staying out of the city’s ruthless political scene. That all changed in 2023, when he announced his run for mayor and started trading barbs with other candidates.
But since Lurie took office last month, the mayor’s office has resorted to extreme measures to buffer criticism and control the narrative.
Lurie’s press relations team has instituted rules that require all San Francisco departments to receive the blessing of the mayor’s staff before making statements to the media, The Standard has learned. The new approach by the mayor’s office was described by half a dozen City Hall sources as aggressive rather than collegial, coming off as micromanaging and overly sensitive to potential criticism.
Sources said that in weekly calls this month with public information officers for city departments, Lurie’s communications director, Nina Negusse, and Press Secretary Charles Lutvak announced that all statements from city departments will have to be pre-approved by the mayor’s office.
Additionally, departments must brief the mayor’s office on all media inquiries deemed politically sensitive, any request that mentions the mayor’s office, anything related to policy changes in the city, any criticism of the mayor or city, anything that would attract national media attention, and anything that touches the work of multiple departments.
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“Rather than asking how they can help, it was: ‘We want to know everything,’” a source said.
Sources said it has long been the norm that any story or inquiry dealing with the mayor would be flagged and passed along, but the new approach is being described as micromanaging. Sources noted that press officials for many city departments, which have held the weekly calls since the pandemic, have substantially more experience than Negusse and Lutvak in working with the press.
Negusse worked in corporate communications for two years after spending six years as public information officer for the city’s Public Utilities Commission. Lutvak worked on Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign for eight months after spending more than two years in the office of New York Mayor Eric Adams, who in 2022 instituted a similar approach to dealing with the media.
“After years of politicians letting departments operate in siloes, San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted for change and elected Mayor Lurie to manage city government collaboratively and efficiently,” Lutvak said in a statement when asked about his department’s practices. “Our office is coordinating across departments to ensure we speak with one voice about the important work our city employees are doing to make the city safer, cleaner, and more prosperous.”
“Collaborative” is not the word everyone at City Hall would use for the new approach. In one meeting, sources said, staff members were told they didn’t need to have Negusse’s phone number or call her, as she would be in touch if a conversation is needed.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” a second source said.
The mayor’s office disputed details about the breadth of its new media policy but didn’t provide details. Lutvak denied that staffers were told not to call Negusse.
At the end of every Thursday, roughly a dozen departments are required to send memos with updates on pending media inquiries and plans for the following week, a source said, rather than talking by phone.
Public safety departments like police and fire appear to have been given slightly different directives, sources said, as these agencies are required to communicate with the public during times of emergency.
It’s unclear if Lurie’s office was trying to extend the order to departments led by elected officials, such as City Attorney David Chiu and Assessor-Recorder Joaquin Torres, neither of whom report to the mayor.
A source with knowledge of how previous mayoral administrations dealt with city departments said the Lurie team seems to have overstepped its bounds. There’s also concern that information will not be relayed to the public in a timely manner if it needs to be reviewed by mayoral staff on almost every occasion.
“If I was [Negusse], I would want people to call me, because you want to have those relationships with departments,” the source said. “You want to know everything that’s going on, that’s true, but you can’t slow departments down to the point that they can’t function.”