Yee: Mayor Is 'Trying to Fake an Election'
Rival attempts to capitalize on controversy swelling around Ed Lee's mayoral campaign
By: Gerry Shih
Seeking to capitalize on the controversy swelling around interim Mayor Ed Lee’s election campaign, state Sen. Leland Yee on Monday leveled new allegations of voter fraud against independent groups supporting Lee while accusing the mayor of “trying to fake an election.”
The SF Neighbor Alliance, an independent political group, came under scrutiny late last week after rival campaigns and eyewitnesses including two Bay Citizen journalists recorded its workers helping elderly voters in Chinatown fill out their ballots with stencils and then collecting them.
Although the SF Neighbor Alliance has denied any wrongdoing, Lee’s opponents have alleged that the group’s behavior constituted voter fraud and ballot tampering. Seven campaigns on Sunday called on the U.S. Department of Justice to supply federal election monitors and investigators to look into the matter.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said Monday afternoon that he had opened a preliminary investigation into the allegations.
Lee has denied any connection to the group and has strongly condemned its behavior, but, with two weeks to go until the Nov. 8 elections, the controversy has grown, and his rivals have stepped up their attacks.
The escalating recriminations overshadowed a boost for Lee on Monday when he announced an endorsement from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former San Francisco mayor. Before he left office in January, Newsom had repeatedly stressed that he hoped to find an interim replacement who would not run for election in November, and gave Lee his blessing on that condition. However, Newsom did not seem bothered by Lee’s decision to run.
“He's moved from caretaker to leader," Newsom said. "Ed Lee is the best candidate to continue to lead this city for many, many years.”
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Yee lashed into Lee at a press conference at the Imperial Palace Restaurant in Chinatown Monday.
“This mayor is trying to fake an election,” Yee said. “I believe he has knowledge of what is going on. This is not something you can just let happen. Clearly there’s coordination.”
He added: “Mr. Mayor, now there’s allegations of voter fraud in your city. For you to put your head under covers and say I hear no evil, I see no evil — that’s how you’re going to handle your city?”
At the press conference, Yee also presented a litany of what he said were other offenses by Lee’s supporters. Andy Li, a volunteer for the Yee campaign, told reporters that monolingual Chinese residents at two single room occupancy hotels in the Tenderloin told him and other Yee staffers that they were encouraged by Lee’s supporters to hand their ballots over to their building managers.
Most of the SRO residents said “they gave ballot to the managers,” said Tommy Lin, a Yee volunteer. “I asked whether you know who you voted for, and one of the old ladies, I remember, told me, ‘I don’t know, I just signed my name and then gave to the managers.’”
The Yee campaign’s accounts could not be verified by a Bay Citizen reporter who visited one of the residences last week.