Mayor London Breed announced this morning that she will not participate in the scheduled May 20 TogetherSF mayoral debate, citing unease with the political action group’s ties to the Mark Farrell mayoral campaign — as well as organizational “chaos.”
“Over the past few weeks, the media has reported on numerous troubling connections between the Farrell campaign and the leadership of TogetherSF,” Breed wrote in a statement. “Since the debate was announced, TogetherSF’s debate-planning process has been marked by chaos. The distractions have reached a fever pitch and tainted the debate beyond repair.”
Breed’s camp told Politico on May 6 that they “have real concerns with the debate, and are reevaluating our participation.”
The high degree of personnel crossover between TogetherSF and Farrell’s former administrations as supervisor and, later, interim mayor has never been hidden. The closeness was recently highlighted in articles appearing in both the San Francisco Standard and San Francisco Chronicle. Last week, Mission Local published a February text message from a Farrell campaign consultant in which she stated that TogetherSF founder Kanishka Cheng was, in part, “guiding the ship.”
Both Cheng and the Farrell campaign have denied any improper collusion. Cheng additionally noted that her organization took pains to accommodate the mayor’s schedule, and “changed the rules and moderators” following input from mayoral contenders Aaron Peskin, Breed, and Daniel Lurie.
The moderators — Bloomberg California bureau chief Karen Breslau and TogetherSF board member, venture capitalist and former journalist Kim-Mai Cutler — would have “complete editorial independence,” said Cheng.
“It is clear that some mayoral campaigns are promoting this narrative to avoid participating in the TogetherSF Action x GrowSF debate,” Cheng said.
Breed, in her statement, countered that “the public will not benefit from a debate that is orchestrated or unduly influenced by one of the campaigns.”
This week, the mayor reached out to Board President Peskin, her most progressive fellow major mayoral contender, who pulled out of the TogetherSF debate last month. The two agreed to appear together at a moderated discussion. It will take place on Monday, May 20, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Manny’s at 16th and Valencia streets.
After agreeing to appear at a joint event, the Breed and Peskin campaigns reached out to the venue, and then invited Mission Local to moderate it.
“San Francisco needs debates free from the influence of partisan political action committees,” wrote Peskin. “I’m excited for the opportunity to have a discussion about the future in a non-partisan setting conducive to a mature debate. There’s too much at stake for anything less.”
The Farrell campaign says it still plans to participate in the TogetherSF debate.
“I am willing to debate my opponents anytime, anywhere,” Farrell wrote.
Messages left for TogetherSF and the campaigns of Lurie and mayoral candidate Ahsha Safai have not immediately been returned. This article will be updated as possible.
Details and tickets to the Monday, May 20, discussion between Mayor London Breed and Board President Aaron Peskin, moderated by Mission Local’s managing editor, Joe Eskenazi, are available here.
Campers,
So, Standard just announced Manny cancelled Monday’s event.
This ole dawg wants to know who has the Power over Manny to outweigh the Mayor and the President of the Board of Supervisors and the Public who all wanted this Alternative Public interview with Eskenazi ?
Any of you have an idea ?
How about you, Joe, did Manny give you a reason ?
They could ‘debate’ at my house but I only seat 10 !
lol
h.
Something stinks here.
Correction, Clint Reilly got the scoop,
Mission Local should moderate the debate and host it at Manny’s!
Spoke before reading the part about the May 20th forum. This should be interesting. Hoping Lurie and Farrell attend too.
The tech industry wants to turn this city into a gated community. They’re laying the blame for the fentanyl crisis on working class policies, instead of where it belongs: The Sacklers and their drug corporation. Vote Safai or Peskin to stand up to these carpetbaggers Musk and Tan.
Wouldn’t it be spectacular if both Safai and Lurie dropped out too, leaving only candidate Mark Farrell in the “hot seat”?
Campers,
I got my ticket !!
An hour’s not enuff.
lol
h.
What if you, a newly formed billionaire funded Astro turf super PAC (looking at you TogetherSF and you BroSF) held a Hunger Games style “debate” and no one came? You promoted a “can’t miss, make or break” cagefight via Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok with a goal of “making the candidates sweat.” You flooded social media and your billionaire owned channels and feeds with workshopped slogans and “campaigns” like “That’s Fentalife” “Time for Results” “Defend Your Right to Vote” and “Refuse Refuse”. You spent hundreds of thousands on fake voter guides labelled as “well researched.” You promoted a “study” of “efficient governance” from an unheard of “Institute” in SoCal, the Rose (Hoover?) Institute. You spent thousands on voter “polls” that promoted your hyperbolic vision of San Francisco and promoted them as legit. But San Franciscans and voters didn’t buy it. We ain’t having it. TogetherSF and BroSF have confused a democratic election with an advertising campaign and are failing spectacularly.
Good for Breed and bad for Farrel. And also, good for Mission Local. And also, bad food Together SF. And the outcome was proper through the deliberations process. https://www.quora.com/When-someone-says-another-person-is-classy-what-exactly-does-that-mean-What-does-class-look-like-when-you-see-it
Interesting that Breed seems to be missing the whole point of the debate . A better course of action would be to welcome the potential chaos and navigate it to her side with strong and compelling statements and arguments
I’m actually surprised that this is happening. Congrats, Mission Local! It’s kind of smart for Breed’s campaign to reach out to Peskin’s for this debate at Manny’s. This way, she’s seen as the de facto “moderate” in the election that can handle boogey man Peskin.
It’s gonna get spicy! I can’t wait to see how Joe moderates the debate between these two, especially throwing them questions that other media outlets don’t ask. I hope the outcome is informative and beneficial to residents.
Hi Joe, can you please ask them about climate change and what they think the mayor and the city’s role is in sustainability/renewable energy/transportation/green spaces/disaster prevention and mitigation? How do they differ from each other on these topics? I feel the conversation in the media has mostly been about public safety, so it would be nice to hear what they think about these issues. Thanks!
Vote out all the incumbent’s. We need fresh people for supervisors and mayor. The current Officials have their own agenda and don’t listen to their constituents.
I think experience counts for something.
Sure, only problem being, our city family political class and their agents are largely experienced in corruption, nepotism, pandering, social climbing, influence peddling, rent seeking, gaslighting.
What makes Peskin progressive? Isn’t he super NIMBY?
It’s complicated and you should get details before name calling