Ready to serve
Interviews with the two candidates for San Francisco’s District Eight supervisor left us with lingering doubts about each.
In the case of the appointed incumbent Jeff Sheehy, the question was whether he had the mettle and tolerance for the roughand-tumble of City Hall politics. At several points, starting in his opening remarks, he expressed doubts about his desire for the office and a disdain for politics generally.
His answers to various policy questions were rambling, and tending to drift off point. He was especially unpersuasive in his explanation for his decision to install Mark Farrell as acting mayor — a move that aligned him with progressives who were trying to undercut the June candidacy of centrist London Breed, the board president who had been serving as interim mayor after the December death of Mayor Ed Lee.
It was almost as if Sheehy were tacitly asking us to do him a favor by endorsing his opponent.
In the case of challenger Rafael Mandelman, the issue was whether his claims of independence from the progressive faction that is pushing his candidacy truly represented an evolution in his world view or an attempt to blur the distinctions in a district (Castro, Noe Valley, Glen Park) he rightly described as liberal but pragmatic. He struck a moderate tone in acknowledging that supply and demand is a significant factor in the city’s housing crisis, and there was a need to build “all levels of housing.” He spoke of his calls for spending restraint while he served on the City College board, and he noted that the city budget has grown from $6 billion to $10 billion in a decade without evidence of a commensurate return on investment.
Mandelman said, “I’ve grown as a person” since his unsuccessful race against Scott Wiener, now a state senator, in 2010. He said he was not going to “bust into City Hall and start fights.”
His answers were notably more detailed and relevant than those of Sheehy. There is no question that Mandelman wants the job, and is doing his homework. He gets our endorsement in the June 5 primary.