"I'm very proud of what we’ve accomplished at the SFPUC in the three and a half years that I’ve been General Manager," Leal told reporters.

“The SFPUC today is one of the greenest and most sustainable utilities in the nation,” Leal said. “ I believe that by almost any measure, San Francisco ratepayers today are served by a more accountable and responsive utility.”

Asked if she was considering running for Mayor, Leal, who ran in 2003, said, “Never say never, but last time I looked, we’d just elected a Mayor for another four years.”

Rejecting rumors that she was axed because the Newsom administration did not consider her a team player, Leal said, “I brought in key people, supported them, pushed them when needed. That’s what the tax payers wanted. Someone who was accountable, responsible and will get the job done.”

‘Baffling,” is how Sup. Dufty described the thought process behind the decision to remove Leal.

Recalling how Newsom assured him last October that Leal was doing a great job and that the Mayor wanted her to continue, Dufty said, “Clearly towards the end there was some conflict with commissioners, particularly Commissioner Sklar, but it’s the Mayor’s responsibility to mediate and work through these challenges.”

With Newsom tapping City Controlled Ed Harrington to replace Leal, Dufty said, “The City is lucky that Ed Harrington is willing to give up his political autonomy and do this job. But it still puts at risk very important programs for the city.”

“It’s no secret that Sklar has been verbally abusive to PUC staff and has tried to run the agency rather than provide policy oversight and direction,” Dufty added. “Ultimately, it will fall to the Mayor as to whether he stands up for Ed as General Manager or sits on sidelines and watches the war of attrition between the staff and the Commission, which again will jeopardize millions of tax payers dollars. I think the Board of Supervisors will have to watch to make sure the agency doesn’t change for the worse.”

The SFPUC’s first steps towards providing more public power were taken under Leal’s leadership, and Dufty acknowledged that was some concern over the pace at which that expansion had happened.

“But to the extent that Susan ruffled PG&E’s feathers at Hunter’s Point and Treasure Island insisting we provide public power, there’s no question that I could see the reaction of PG&E,” Dufty said “ They didn’t like the moves she was making, she was not intimidated by them, I think she felt a sense of pride that this was what the City could and should do.”

Leal wasn’t the only strong woman to be dethroned at City Hall today.

Debra Walker began the day as President of the Building Inspections Commission and ended it as a fellow commissioner—a demotion that was the end act in a power play that began last fall, when Mayor Gavin Newsom demanded mass resignation letters—a demand that Walker claimed created a “chilling effect" at City Hall.

Debra Walker shortly before the vote that deposed her as President of the Building Inspections Commission.

When Newsom appointee and BIC member Michael Theriault submitted his resignation, Newsom chose not to reappoint him, a decision that Walker believes was influenced in part by Theriault's support of her as BIC president.

Either way, today’s BIC meeting saw Vice President Frank Lee elected as President, and commissioner Mel Murphy, who has a building industry background elected as the new Vice President, with the help of Reuben Hechanova, who the Mayor swore in last night to replace Theriault.

Also voting for the first time was Rafael Mandelman, who was sworn in last week to replace Sup. Aaron Peskin appointee, Joe Grubb.

Mandelman joined Walker and Criss Romero in voting for Commissioner Criss Romero as VP, on the basis that having leadership coming from both a Mayoral appointee and a Board appointee, as has been the case in the past year leads to non-divisive situations.

While Romero spoke in length about why he would make a good Vice President, Murphy was short on words, stating, “I’ve always been my own man when it comes to voting, and “I put the interest of the Building Industry first.”

Frank Lee in his new role of BIC President.

Rafael Mandelman expressed concern that “one block is completely taking over, which is different from the way the Commission was run under President Walker.”

Walker called the final outcome, “a step backwards.”

“There has been pressure,” Walker claimed. “ I heard it from some of the commissioners sitting here, undue pressure from the Mayor’s Office.”

To which Hechonova retorted that, “the arena for a collaborative effort is in our hands.”