SF Assessor Ting to Run for Mayor

Phil Ting announces his campaign this morning, but his unofficial campaigning began a year ago, many would say
By: Gerry Shih

Phil Ting is pulling papers this morning at 11 a.m. at San Francisco City Hall to launch his run for mayor, he told The Bay Citizen this morning.

The announcement will not surprise political observers who have noticed the seemingly ubiquitous assessor-recorder make his way round-and-round the city's political circuit for at least the past year.

Ting, who was once the highest-ranking Chinese official in the city when he was appointed to his post by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2005, will likely face a hard fight against well-known State Sen. Leland Yee for the Chinese vote, which has in the past acted as a bloc to back a single Chinese candidate. How Yee, Ting and board president David Chiu -- a contender for the interim mayor post and perhaps for the general mayoral election -- will fight for, or split, that demographic's vote could be a determining factor in next year's election.

Ting, however, said that the city's ranked-choice voting system will be to his advantage.

"The way the person wins is by building coalitions and working together with others," he said. "The electorate is saying to those running for office that they want people who want to work with others, and we're going to be reaching out directly to the voters, every single day.

Ting said he has no money left over from any previous races.

He said his "Reset SF user-generated government" initiative, a website that lets citizens weigh in on how government is run, was one example of his innovative style in office, as was the GoSolarSF energy incentive plan, which he launched.

And he touted his fiscal acumen, saying that he has left the assessor-recorder's office with $245 million in surplus budget money over the past five years.

"I took over one of the worst run offices in the city and the state and made it one of the best-run offices," Ting said. "That money went to pay for public safety, public health, schools, parks."

Prior to the assessor-recorder's office, Ting, once an executive director at the Asian Law Caucus, has some community roots, but spent years in the corporate world with Arthur Andersen and CB Richard Ellis.

Other declared candidates include City Attorney Dennis Herrera, Supervisor Bevan Dufty and Joanna Rees, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist.