Who's fighting election reform?
Hint: it's the same crew that backs Gavin Newsom for mayor

By Steven T. Jones and Alex Posorske

Election reform in San Francisco is under attack, and recent developments indicate the assault has at least some chance of delaying implementation of ranked-choice (or instant-runoff) voting until after the November elections, in which its biggest impact would be on the mayor's race.

The reasons for suspending ranked-choice voting – that there's not enough time to finish and test the necessary software, that it's confusing, or that it disenfranchises minorities – are debatable. But one thing that's clear is who's behind the attack: the political machine allied with Mayor Willie Brown, pushed last year's Care Not Cash antihomeless measure, and is this year lining up behind Brown's anointed successor, Gavin Newsom.

The Newsom campaign – which didn't return phone calls seeking comment – has been careful not to leave its fingerprints on the gun that's aimed at ranked-choice voting, lest it be seen as subverting the will of the voters. But what follows are the connections that seem to make clear where the political loyalties of the attackers lie.

Law firms

The most detailed, aboveboard attack on ranked-choice voting (which allows voters to vote for their top three choices for local office, thus eliminating costly runoff elections) comes in a thick submission to the California Secretary of State's Office challenging the city's ability to hand count ranked-choice ballots. That petition was submitted by law firms Remcho, Johansen, and Purcell and Pillsbury Winthrop. Both law firms have enjoyed a close relationship with the San Francisco political power structure.

The Remcho firm has long been the de facto legal arm of the local Democratic Party apparatus, with an extended history of working with Brown both in Sacramento and in San Francisco.

"That firm has been the one who has fought against every campaign finance reform measure ever approved by voters," said Kim Alexander, director of the California Voter Foundation, a respected group active in voters rights activities.

In 1998, campaign records indicate, the Remcho firm was owed $25,387 by the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (which in those days was controlled by the machine) for legal work. Records also show the firm did legal work for Newsom's supervisorial campaign in 1998.

Firm principal Joe Remcho, now deceased, had been a big financial supporter of Brown – for instance, he gave the maximum $750 to the mayor's reelection campaign in 1999.

Pillsbury Winthrop has also enjoyed a close relationship with the city's political and economic power structure. Campaign finance records show extensive dealings with the Committee on Jobs, which represents the most powerful downtown financial interests. For example, over the last two years, the firm has contributed thousands of dollars to the committee and its causes, and in turn received more than $20,000 for legal services.

Pillsbury Winthrop lawyers, including Albert Boro and Robert Herr, have also given money to Newsom's mayoral campaign.

Political players

Between them, Remcho, Johansen, and Purcell and Pillsbury Winthrop represent David Lee, Mary Jung, the California Voting Rights Foundation, Sabrina Saunders, and the A. Phillip Randolph Institute. Political connections of Saunders and the Randolph Institute were noted in our May 28 article "Machine Attacks IRV," but the other three have connections as well.

Despite its impressive name, the California Voting Rights Foundation appears to be a front group for the Remcho firm itself. Firm attorney Tom Willis, who is handling the ranked-choice challenge with Getman, is listed in the secretary of state's records as the group's principal, and its address and phone number are that of the firm.

Jung, who works for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and is a member of the Democratic County Central Committee, is also a machine supporter. Campaign records show she has given $200 to the Newsom for Mayor campaign, that she gave $100 to Care Not Cash and, in 1999, $500 to the Brown campaign, and that Brown gave her $150 for her DCCC race.

In an e-mail sent to us after we first noted his connection to the machine, Lee, executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Project, insisted that neither he nor his group has endorsed Brown or Newsom.

"I am not nor ever have been a member of the so-called 'Brown Machine' and I challenge Mr. Jones to produce any evidence to support his groundless charge," he wrote.

And it's true that CAVEC doesn't endorse candidates. But the group's financial benefactors are a who's who list of the downtown interests that have been staunch allies of the machine. A Feb. 16, 2001, article in Asian Week noted, "Chinese Americans aren't even stakeholders in CAVEC. Among the organization's major donors, Asian American corporate or individual donors are scarce. The top ... donors were Chevron, Wells Fargo, Anheuser-Busch, Bank of America, Host Marriott, Levi Strauss, Norcal Waste Management, State Farm and [Warren] Hellman."

Hellman is a major financier who founded a group called S.F.-SOS – which worked with Newsom to push Care Not Cash last year – and cochairs the Committee on Jobs, made up of the city's biggest employers. He contributed the maximum $750 to Brown's 2000 campaign and contributed to Newsom's supervisorial campaigns in 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Jon Golinger of the Center for Voting and Democracy, the main sponsor of ranked-choice voting, said the city's major financial interests want a traditional runoff election even more than Newsom supporters do. If runoffs are eliminated by the ranked-choice system, "it cuts out a primary avenue of their influence and clout through those huge independent expenditures in December runoffs."

The San Francisco Elections Commission discusses ranked-choice voting, and in particular the education campaign associated with its implementation, during a public hearing Wed/2, 7 p.m., City Hall, Room 400, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, S.F.

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