Ed Lee wins San Francisco mayor's race

[bemildred]

(Reuters) - Ed Lee won San Francisco's mayoral race on Wednesday, becoming the first elected mayor of Chinese descent in a city steeped in Chinese American history.

Lee, who has been San Francisco's acting mayor since January, received 61.2 percent of votes after several rounds of votes from Tuesday's ranked-choice election system had been tallied, according to San Francisco's department of elections.

Lee was appointed mayor after former Mayor Gavin Newsom won election last November as California's lieutenant governor.

Lee was San Francisco's city administrator at the time of his appointment and had the support of prominent city political figures in the mayor's race, which he officially entered in August.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/10/us-sanfrancisco-mayor-election-idUSTRE7A90BU20111110

[KamaAina]

1. "which he officially entered in August." after saying he wouldn't run in June

Flip-flops are not suited to SF's cool climate and steep hills. :P

There is also the minor matter of potential rampant campaign finance violations among various citizen's groups backing Lee. Stay tuned.

[Ken Burch]

3. OK...so who did YOU want that would have been so freaking much better?

Your post has "sore loser" written all over it.

[Book Lover]

6. How about *anyone* who was not handpicked by the puppetmasters

Why don't you tell us, Mr Alaska, who *you* want running San Francisco?

[Ken Burch]

7. I admit I don't know that much about SF politics

I was reacting to the odd level of spite in your post.

BTW...how could a candidate who was "handpicked by the puppetmasters" win in a ranked-choice voting system? Isn't a system like that supposed to prevent that sort of outcome.

Sincerely looking for info here...didn't mean to get in a pissing match with you...I guess I was just taken a bit off-guard by the tone you were taking-ok?

[EFerrari]

8. Ranked choice voting has nothing to do with clean election systems.

It doesn't address a single problem of the filthy elections SF elections. In fact, one of the biggest counter arguments to ranked choice voting is that it depends upon computer systems.

[EFerrari]

2. Sure he did.

[bemildred]

4. Mayor Ed Lee visits Occupy SF — “disappointed”

Mayor Ed Lee made his first visit to the Occupy SF encampments at Justin Herman Plaza across the street from the Ferry Building and on Market Street in the Financial District this morning and left “disappointed’’ with what he saw.

“They have increased the camp presence, and I think the level of cleanliness has decreased,’’ he said.

The mayor said he also is concerned about health risks, both to people and their pets.

The SPCA reported three cases of dogs from the Occupy SF encampment infected with parovirus, a highly contagious and often fatal disease. There also have been signs of kennel cough and Giardia, and reports of a flea infestation.

http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2011/11/15/mayor-ed-lee-visits-occupy-sf-disappointed/?tsp=1

[bemildred]

5. Governor, S.F. Mayor Ed Lee push for DOMA repeal

(11-14) 17:18 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee are urging Congress to repeal the federal law that denies marital benefits to same-sex spouses.

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act "is a stain on our common values," Lee and 14 other mayors and governors from around the nation said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted last week to repeal the law.

In a separate letter, Brown noted that 18,000 gay and lesbian couples were legally wed in California in the five months before November 2008, when voters reinstated the ban on same-sex marriage by passing Proposition 8. Those marriages remain valid despite a state Supreme Court ruling upholding Prop. 8, which is now being challenged in federal court.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/BAL91LUUEE.DTL