SF Lawmaker Charged With Fraud

[Ghost in the Machine]

SF Lawmaker Charged With Fraud
Published: 9/20/07, 10:05 PM EDT
By PAUL ELIAS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Federal authorities on Thursday charged a rookie San Francisco lawmaker with fraud, accusing him of attempting to extort $80,000 from a group of fast-food franchisees who had business permit troubles with the city.

During an FBI sting earlier this year, the tapioca drink shop owners delivered a $40,000 payment to Supervisor Ed Jew in marked $100 bills and promised to pay the rest later, authorities said. Jew has acknowledged taking the money, but said he did so at the businessmen's insistence and on behalf of a consultant he recommended they hire to help with their permit problems.

The owners of the Quickly chain of 12 tapioca drink stores insisted it was Jew who first approached them with word of their permit problems. Tapioca drinks, also known as "bubble tea," are popular beverages throughout Asia and San Francisco's Chinese neighborhoods.

According to the complaint, after his election Jew learned from city planning officials that many of the Quickly stores appeared to be violating a city ordinance regulating chain stores in San Francisco.

Jew, 47, told the owners of the Quickly drink store that for $10,000 a store, he could help get them permits they needed. Jew insisted the payments be made in cash, the complaint said.

Jew is charged with a single count of mail fraud, a felony. Authorities allege that Jew deprived his constituents of his "honest services" by attempting to shake down the chain store owners.

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?bfromind=2728&eeid=5421946&_sitecat=1522&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=1&ck=&ch=ne

[EFerrari]

1. That's my supervisor. He is already in trouble for not really living here

and running for office. At least, I think he's my supervisor. It's either him or nobody. :silly:

[Ghost in the Machine]

3. More..

The freshman legislator was already facing nine felony counts of perjury and related election code violations filed by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

The state charges accuse Jew of lying about living in the city when he registered to run for the Board of Supervisors seat he won last year. The board of supervisors serves as San Francisco's city council.

Jew's residency came into question after FBI agents investigating the alleged bribery raided his City Hall office, Chinatown flower shop and two homes he owned, including a house outside San Francisco that local prosecutors allege is really his primary residence.

[fedupfisherman]

2. Republican?

How much you want to bet he is a Republican

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Must be, otherwise every other word would be "Democrat" or some variation

:hi:

[Igel]

5. Bipartisan.

Used to be repub. Now dem.

Don't have a year for his conversion.

[fed-up]

6. "former republican" and some background info and ranked choice voting

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Why_Ed_Jew_Won_and_What_it_Means_3902.html

Why Ed Jew Won – and What it Means
by Paul Hogarth‚ Nov. 13‚ 2006

In the final leg of San Francisco’s elections, Ed Jew surprised pundits by pulling ahead and winning the District 4 Supervisor race. This was the first election since the City implemented Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) where a candidate who did not lead among the first-choice votes carried enough second-choice votes to make it over the top and win. Jew’s victory stunned many political observers, most of whom do not live in District 4 and are not plugged into the Chinese-American community.


http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/bcn_savage_hate_speech_070814.shtml

A visibly upset Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval passes by Supervisor Ed Jew after Jew cast the lone dissenting vote effectively killing a Sandoval authored resolution condemning Michael Savage racist hate speech.



http://leftinsf.com/blog/index.php/archives/1307

Several news sources report that Ed Jew has won D-4 supervisorial race over Ron Dudum.

Ed Jew owns a family-owned florist shop in Chinatown. He was once the vice president of their Republican County Council. He has since switched to the Democratic Party. Congratulations to Ed and his family on his win.

Ed was involved in getting ER Taylor PTA’s reimbursed for funds that went missing by complaining to SFUSD and going public with the story. (An anonymous donor gave a donation to E.R. Taylor’s PTA for the same amount of the missing funds.) He also has been an advocate to get rid of the diversity index-especially for westside schools. At BOE meetings, Jew testified many times for Asian parents who were trying to get their children into Lincoln and other westside schools.

My guess is that Ed will vote consistently as Ma has done with the Mayor’s allies. But since the Mayor didn’t support him in his run, Jew will probably show more independence than Ma did in his legislation and some of his votes-at least initially.

[ProudDad]

8. Gee, he took a page from DiFi's playbook

"He was once the vice president of their Republican County Council. He has since switched to the Democratic Party"

You don't win as a republican in San Francisco...

DiFi's the best republican Senator California ever had...

[Warren DeMontague]

7. That bubble tea is weird stuff. Takes some getting used to.

And yeah, Ed Jew is in trouble. This has been going on for a while.