Political feuding continues despite call for cooperation
By: Joshua Sabatini
Examiner Staff Writer
February 11, 2009
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| Supervisor Chris Daly on Tuesday asked the city attorney to investigate a potential conflict of interest for Michael Yarne in the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. |
SAN FRANCISCO — All that talk of the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Gavin Newsom working together has not stopped the mayor’s most vocal opponent on the board from going against the tide.
Supervisor Chris Daly on Tuesday asked the city attorney to determine if “there is a conflict with Michael Yarne in the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development coordinating certain planning and land issues on behalf of the [Newsom] administration, while also serving on the board of directors of the Friends of City Planning.”
If there is no conflict, Daly said he intends to introduce legislation “to help ameliorate this issue of working with contributors and this nonprofit entity where the contributors have interest in the decision-making that happens. And then also running policy on land-use planning issues for the administration — clearly while the mayor of San Francisco, as far as I can tell, is just looking to please potential donors in his gubernatorial bid, which we all know is not going anywhere, anyway.”
Newsom spokesman Nathan Ballard said, “We deny Daly’s accusations in the strongest possible terms. We’re in a serious financial crisis and our elected officials need to work together.”
Friends of City Planning is a nonprofit group that supports the Planning Department’s activities to “enhance the department’s effectiveness ... and the planning process,” according to the group’s Web site. Daly said the organization receives “significant contributions from those with development interests.”
Daly made the request one week after accusing Newsom of engaging in “pay-to-play” politics for vetoing legislation that would have lowered the height limit at the site of the New Mission Theater.
The legislation would have corrected a clerical error that raised the height in the first place. The site is owned by Gus Murad of Medjools restaurant, who held a campaign fundraiser for Newsom, along with contributing thousands of dollars to the mayor, ballot measures and/or candidates he supported.
Ballard had called that allegation “baseless accusations.” Newsom’s veto letter said the lower height limit was bad planning policy.
