Editor:

On March 5, you can make the shift in local Democratic party leadership.

The 24-seat committee which is tasked with running the city’s Democratic party is going to change, fingers crossed, for the better. If you are a registered Democrat, you can (and should) make your voice heard and vote to move your local party leadership forward.

It works like this: San Francisco is split into two party representative districts (AD, or Assembly Districts), roughly east and west sides of the City. These are different from the supervisorial districts you may know. The district lines superimpose over Matt Haney’s (east) and Phil Ting’s (west) jurisdictions, if you are familiar with them serving as your representatives at the California State Assembly in Sacramento.

The Richmond and Sunset districts largely make up AD-19, where there are 10 seats on the Democratic Party leadership committee, known as the SF DCCC, opening this March for a four-year term. You, as a registered Democrat, get to choose whom to put there. In this case, there are actually many more candidates running than open seats available.

Whom should you choose? There are 20 candidates in total, and rather than laboriously searching for bios and experiences for each candidate, they’ve made things fairly easy for you: They’ve coalesced into two similar-minded, similar-ideological groups. There’s the far-left leaning ideology, and a moderate/centrist ideology.

Please keep in mind, this SF DCCC election is for registered Democrats. Republicans have their own similar election for their local party leaders (the SF RCCC or SFGOP as it is usually referred to). Only registered Republicans vote in their contest. Voters can’t cross party lines in these specific leadership elections.

Looking at the Democrats, it helps to have recent incidents and events from past years as reference. Remember the rabid chanting of “F&%k the POA” the evening notorious DA Chesa Boudin won his election in November 2019? That foul and anti-law enforcement chant was led by Sandra Lee Fewer, now a current SF DCCC candidate. And so many in the Richmond District are disgusted with current supervisor Connie Chan. Both Fewer and Chan are running on one of the slates known as “Labor and Working Families Slate,” online at www.sflwf.com . They are joined by Gordon Mar, ousted ultra-progressive of the Sunset/District 4. If these people turn you off, then you know that Labor and Working Families Slate is not for you. 

The SF Democrats for Change Slate is the alternative (www.sfdemocratsforchange.org). Marjan Philhour, Catherine Stefani, Michela Alioto-Pier and others are on this slate. 

These two slates are not set in stone. They are alliances, groups of democrats aligned by principles and outlook for the City, and you can pick and choose from either list. Mix and match if you so wish. 

Notorious ranked-choice voting (RCV) does not come into play with the Democratic Party committee elections. There are 10 seats and yet double the number of candidates. You choose up to 10 for the City’s west side. Those who accumulate the most votes win and fill those 10 seats. The rest drop off, eliminated.

Why does this even matter? Control of the Democratic Party matters. They provide all-important endorsements, recommendations to voters how to vote on ballot measures, candidates, sending mailers to your home. Also, they create resolutions at their monthly meetings which are often relayed to the Board of Supervisors in City Hall. The party leadership also serves as a megaphone for public relations and marketing on important stories in the news of a political bent.

Recent concerns with the current DCCC’s party leadership committee include opposing the recall of three SFUSD School Board members as well as opposing the recall of DA Chesa Boudin. They endorsed John Hamasaki, the wildly unqualified and maliciously anti-law and order candidate who ran against our current DA Brooke Jenkins. They supported Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen for supervisor.

These are serious times with serious implications for local party control. Vote wisely. Change is needed, to get respectable, responsible people in office.  This is no time for a popularity contest. 

Richie Greenberg