A new website run by two former supervisors is calling for supporters of interim Mayor Ed Lee to sign a petition urging him to run for a full term in November.
The idea is to create a grass-roots campaign that will resonate with Lee, according to former Supervisor Michael Yaki.
“Putting the usual suspects in the same room and telling him why he needs to run for mayor just won’t work with Ed Lee,” Yaki said. “That’s not the kind of guy he is. He wants to return to his old job and to his family, but he also has a deep commitment to The City.”
The petition cites a recent San Francisco Chamber of Commerce poll that indicates 44 percent of those polled think The City is headed in the right direction, as opposed to only 29 percent in 2010.
Yaki, who was appointed as a supervisor in 1996 by then-Mayor Willie Brown, is running the effort with Jim Gonzalez, who was appointed as a supervisor in 1986 by Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Both are now consultants and have worked on politically charged issues.
Were Lee to enter the race, it would deliver an immediate blow to the nine major candidates who are now running in a tight race that could go anyone’s way with ranked-choice voting.
Lee, for his part, has consistently denied he has any plans to run for a full term.
