Editor:
Public safety is a big priority for many voters today, including myself. Over the last year, I have had my store on Geary Boulevard broken into many times. Many residents are concerned that crime has become more prevalent and too many of those crimes go unsolved. In light of these concerns, it’s natural that we look for the causes.
Perennial candidate Marjan Philhour wants us to blame District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan. This is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Philhour who disappeared from the Richmond District after her loss in 2020 and is now running in front of every TV camera since she’s back on the ballot.
Once again, she’s totally off base. And, worse, she’s purposefully misleading voters.
Isn’t it that rising crime in San Francisco represents a failure of the Breed administration? After all, Mayor London Breed appoints the police chief, appointed the current district attorney and sets the budget for the Police Department.
The mayor also sets policy priorities for the Police Department. These policies rely on overtime instead of policies that would make it easier to recruit more officers. She has directed the Police Department to focus on serving and protecting Downtown, ignoring our neighborhood pleas for more resources. She has continually rolled out “high profile” initiatives, but have we seen any results? Other than press headlines?
Yet, Mayor Breed – by far the most powerful political figure in San Francisco – gets none of Philhour’s attention while she loudly claims she’s fed up. Well, I am too. I’m fed up with finger pointing politicians like Philhour and Breed.
Let’s be honest: Philhour is Breed’s friend. She was her campaign fundraiser for years. Between March and April of 2018, the mayor paid Philhour’s fund-raising business more than $57,000. In July of that year. the mayor hired Philhour as a civil servant “Senior Advisor” leading Mayor Breed’s homeless initiatives. And how did that go for us? Like Breed’s public safety plans, her homeless initiatives have been abysmal failures. Of course, Philhour cannot correctly identify what is wrong with our public safety policies.
And by the way, inexpiably, when the mayor rewarded Philhour with a job, it was one at the same top level civil service classification as her chief of staff, costing the City a whopping $411,571 in salary and benefits during Philhour’s short two-year stay on the mayor’s taxpayer supported staff.
All of this is totally typical of Philhour and her allies. In her many runs for office, she’s never failed to follow the prevailing winds. In 2020, she supported “reallocating” police funding out of the Department. In 2024, she’s changed course. Neither of these positions are authentic and both simply mirror Breed’s ever-changing positions.
Here are some facts Marjan Philhour doesn’t want you to know: Supervisor Connie Chan has voted for every SFPD budget request that has come to the Board since she took office. She has pushed the Breed Administration to stop ignoring the Richmond District and send resources to our neighborhoods. Connie has supported efforts to increase recruitment of police officers for our city (including supporting $166.5 million in pay increases and retention bonuses), and she co-sponsored and helped pass legislation to mandate foot and bike patrol officers in our neighborhoods.
Philhour is only too happy to point fingers, just so long as it’s not at the person with the most power, Mayor Breed. That’s not leadership. And it’s certainly not what we need in the Richmond.
I’ll end with one final question: If Marjan Philhour really cares about these issues, where has she been for the last three years? And when she does turn-up, Philhour hasn’t had any trouble spending millions of dollars on her failed election bids before she disappears again.
David Heller, Geary Boulevard Merchant
Categories: Commentary
Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon 
As a former resident of District 1, I agree with David Heller.The neighborhoods have been shamefully neglected.Presently as a resident in assisted living, I am being spared these problems which David has cited.Connie Chan is concerned while Marjan Philhour is on London Breed’s payroll.Marjan has crashed in previous elections for District 1 with this being another play for office.If I were still residing in District 1, I would vote for Connie.I may disagree with her on some issues, but Marjan represents the New San Francisco which is destroying the neighborhoods.My thanks to Connie. Herbert J. WeinerDistrict 11
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The one illuminating truism that flows through David Heller’s hit piece is that Connie Chan has never been a “Progressive. “Supervisor Connie Chan has voted for every SFPD budget request that has come to the Board since she took office.” Unwittingly, by citing her record, David gives the lie to Chameleon Connie’s “In solidarity” 2020 campaign. Which she won by 125 votes after duping D1 “Progressives” to support her candidacy. The honest reason for David writing this piece is that he is a strident foe of the Geary Boulevard transit project. Connie Chan, arguably the most car centric Supervisor at City Hall, has fought this years in the making transit improvement effort every step of the way. This is the same Connie who almost single handedly destroyed JFK Promenade. This Oped is David’s way of thanking Connie for doing his political chores.
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So you’d rather a phony puppet who is part of the corruption that surrounds Mayor Breed? How does Connie Chan voting for every SFPD budget request square with the fact that she called a hearing for the SFPD to explain itself instead of carte-blanche giving SFPD? She got a lot of flack for that, and was accused of “defunding the police” btw.
So what are you talking about Lee?
Connie did not single-handedly destroy anything except your own skewed views about JFK Promenade. It’s called compromise Lee. Look it up. There are voters who disagree with you. They are not wrong, and most of them are not pugnaciously self-righteous.
The reason Connie won, was because Marjan is a phony. Her handlers run ads that are flouting campaign finance laws, and Marjan plays dumb. David Heller is writing what he feels is true because what he says is true, and that has nothing to with Connie at all.
You tend to commingle your rigid views with reconstructions of the historical truth.
Connie Chan is genuine. She is a moderate, but she does believe in fairness and does her best for all the residents of District 1. She is not a political stair climber or a puppet for the donor classes.
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There is nothing in Mr. Heidhues reply to David Heller about phony puppets or reconstructions of historical truths or any of the outlandish convulsions the individual going by “jonsdarc” has worked himself into a froth about.
On the contrary, Mr. Heidhues was merely pointing out the duplicitous politics marking Connie Chan’s tenure since she sought and won the endorsement of the Sunrise Bay Area environmental group, squeaking her to Supervisor by a slim margin of 125 votes in 2020. If Ms. Chan were not in dire need of the environmentalists’ vote, she would not have engaged in the dramatic publicity sound bite she did — about signing the Green New Deal Pledge against a backdrop of orange, climate wildfire skies, in the fall of 2020.
Once in office, Ms. Chan has done everything she can to sabotage pro-environmental causes and to prioritize the interests and lifestyles of her motorist constituents over her non-motoring ones.
Supervisor Chan met with Platinum Advisors, lobbyists for the well-connected de Young Museum, a whopping 14X, misusing the power of her office to join forces with the Museum’s well-endowed $800,000 war chest against Prop J, making JFK Drive permanently car free. Were it not for Mr. Heidhues’ diligence and hard work, Connie Chan’s back room shenanigans with the lobbyists for the de Young would never have been discovered. He did a records request, poring over hundreds of pages of documents to learn the extent of the connection between Connie Chan’s office and the de Young and its massive outpouring of money for Proposition I. Ms. Chan misused the power of her office to influence the passage of Prop. I and to defeat Prop. J. That reeks of corruption.
Ms. Chan is not an “environmental wonk” as her campaign manager in 2020 mislead everyone to think. She did not grow her “bicycle friendly policy” as her campaign manager in 2020 promised she would, if she were elected Supervisor. On the contrary, she has ignored the bicyclists’ needs for protected bike lanes, for car restricted corridors, for infrastructure reducing speeding of motorists and calming traffic.
Connie Chan has flip-flopped on pro-climate projects – using the power of her office to destroy or weaken car free policies and places – from car free JFK Dr to The Great Highway Park to Slow Streets and more. She has not backed programs to reduce her constituents dependence on the personal automobile in a Transit First city where public transit and modes of travel other than automobiles are crucial.
Connie Chan campaigned for Supervisor on a platform of improving public transit access. Yet last year she vehemently opposed SFMTA’s long delayed improvements to the Rapid Geary Bus lines. She sided with merchants instead of her own constituents who had long asked for a speedy bus line to commute to work, essential appointments, shopping, school, and social engagements, waiting years for the improvements to happen.
As for the reasoning that Connie Chan is a progressive because accusations were flung at her about “defunding the police” — so what? Mayor London Breed, whom “jonsdarc” describes as corrupt, was also accused of defunding the police. Such an accusation is inconsequential in SF politics. Connie Chan, as Chair of the BOS finance committee, approved every SFPD budget request just as Mr. Heller said she did, and which Mr. Heidhues was only bringing to the public’s attention. Connie Chan’s wholehearted support for the supplemental requests for police overtime, a massive increase in police salaries and recruitment bonuses, and funding for SFPD’s lethal robots, though she flip-flopped on that after being publicly decried, is not where progressive politicians stand. Progressive politicians do not identify as law and order prizefighters. “Jonsdarc” said it himself in stating Ms. Chan is a “moderate”.
Connie Chan’s 2020 campaign manager said Chan is a “progressive” Democrat and Philhour is a “moderate” one. Ms. Chan has shown by her actions, by her politics, by her flip-flopping on environmental issues, public transit improvements, and law and order funding, she is NOT a progressive. Which is all Mr. Heidhues was alluding to, not the pot of disinformation, misstatements, and distortions “jonsdarc” threw, hoping something would stick, like the proverbial pot of spaghetti thrown at the wall, to Mr. Heidhues’ reputation.
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As a merchant, I’ve seen brazen burglaries of mine and customers cars, graffiti that’s ongoing along our streets, and the shoplifting and blatant robberies that have closed down Walgreens and the likes of which make me wonder how it’s gotten so bad.
The police funding should not be reallocated, this city has gotten lawless and it’s a shame.
I agree there are problems with the way this city is run.
Native San Franciscan, lifetime resident, and merchant for 30 years, get it together San Francisco.
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Great article, David! Thank you for highlighting these important points. Our community is lucky to have your leadership.
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Thank you for this information. Marjan Philhour sounds very biased, and now I understand why.
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This is a replacement for the comment sent a few minutes ago. it had some errors.
David Heller was right when he wrote “Isn’t it that rising crime in San Francisco represents a failure of the Breed administration?” The Breed administration has failed to solve just about every problem
it has tried to solve. District 1 needs an independent supervisor who is not an ally of Breed and will work for the residents and businesses of the district.
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Philhour is the first candidate to be endorsed by the police officers association in many cycles. They didn’t endorse Chan in 2020 nor in 2024. Heller after reading this it seems to me the only one who’s off base and misleading is YOU.
“perennial candidate” … lol … folks like Engardio, Mandelman and many others try over and over to break in from the outside because folks like Peskin’s cop hating receptionist Connie Chan are foisted on us from the top down. Those many who run multiple times should be exalted not denigrated.
Connie Chan voted with her 6 other radical cop hating buddies to reappoint Police Commissioner Cindy Elias to a second term 5 months before her 1st term was up. And they did so without hearing from a single applicant despite a troubling list of conflicts and controversies that caused Stefanie, Engardio, Dorsey and Mandelman to responsibly say NO to this reappointment.
Chan was recently on the wrong side of a vote to put a phony police staffing amendment on the ballot. Prop B. Safai hijacked a great proposal by Dorsey then killed it with a poison pill that will result in NO police recruitment. This is why police defunder Chan is huffing and puffing to pass Prop B; she knows it will mean NO police are recruited but can at the same time use it to pretend she supports the police.
“fire the police chief” … lol … the police commission and NOT the mayor can approve a replacement for chief of police, so no, the Mayor doesn’t have a choice here. And the Mayor can only nominate people for the police commission while the supervisors have TOTAL control over all 7 seats since not ONE of the 7 commissioners may be seated without first being approved by the supervisors.
Your commentary is obviously personal in nature here Heller. What’s your beef with Philhour?
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Was the phrase “cop hating” vetted out by your friends at the meeting where you decided that was the appropriate label for people you don’t back?
When did Connie Chan “defund” the police? Was it when she was “huffing and puffing” to pass a Proposition you don’t explain correctly. Now why might that be? Hmmm ..
Here’s the background: Supervisor Matt Dorsey drafted a proposition to mandate more new police hiring and retention WITHOUT A SOURCE FOR FUNDING, which is policy code for “cut other City services to pay for recruiting bonuses”. Then Supervisor (and mayoral challenger) Ahsha Safaí amended the prop, making police hiring DEPENDENT UPON future new funding, most likely a tax, and the supes voted to put it on the ballot. Breed and Dorsey went ballistic, calling the amended version a devious “cop tax.” Now public-sector unions (which want more public safety hiring, including medics and firefighters) are backing it, and Breed and her allies are urging voters to vote no.
On top of the minimum staffing nonsense, Prop B would require an expensive new tax, take money away from the city’s general fund, and establish a “Police Officer Staffing Fund” which the department would then have broad discretion over — i.e. a nice little SFPD recruiting slush fund. What could possibly go wrong?
Philhour is a phony. Name a single thing she has done in the last decade. Before you do, realize she couldn’t name a single thing herself in an 11 page biography she posted on cloudfront.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/harveymilkclub/pages/231/attachments/original/1595559579/D1_Supervisor_-_Marjan_Philhour__Policy_Positions.pdf?1595559579
BTW that same Harveymilkclub filed an ethics complaint against Marjan.
https://missionlocal.org/2024/03/district-1-supervisor-candidate-marjan-philhour-hit-with-ethics-complaint/
But feel free to toss out the tawdry adjectives and hyperbolic ventilation. Did you learn this from focus groups or is that just part of your profession?
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Connie Chan is a cop hating radical. That’s why the Police Officer Association is endorsing Philhour and not Chan.
It looks like you and I are both supporting NO on Prop B, although for different rteasons.
There are three reasons Chan is supporting B and you can see them here https://youtu.be/ffebDUXyp9Q?si=Tz3WLUigUldPXab3
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You are funny man. I care about history. I am not a partisan.
I also don’t understand why you have to accuse someone of being a “cop hating radical” without any substantive reference whatsoever. The Police Officer Association makes choices for whatever reason, but that is not a reason to accuse someone so reprehensibly as you are doing.
You can have policy disagreements. That does not involve hate. That does not involve being radical.
I am sad because we have real issues and need to discuss solutions to real issues, but people like you throw out the words “hate” and the words “radical” not because you want honest genuine discussion, but because you are rooting for your team.
Group think and tribalism gets us nowhere man.
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We can have policy differences and not use the words “hate” or “radical”.
I hope.
I am not a partisan. I would rather disagree with a genuine person than presume a phony has my best interest.
But feel free to promote your tribe.
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Its harsh … honestly it makes me wince a bit to write “cop hating radical”.
But I reserve descriptions like that for only those who’ve earned them. Chan truly has.
Chan’s BLM activist thug friends from Watsonville crashed “ice cream with a cop” events with her, bringing kids who organize them to tears every time.
Chan opposed the Chesa Boudin recall and vigorously campaigned to fight it. (BTW, separately, Chan also fought the school board recall. Chan then later pulled her child out of public schools to enroll in private school)
Chan voted with other radicals on the SFBOS to reappoint Cindy Elias, one of the biggest handcuffers of the @SFPD ,to the @SFPDCommission 5 months before her term was up and without considering any other applicants.
Chan recently voted to condition securing minimum police staffing on raising new taxes that might not be approved by voters for years and will then certainly face a court challenge.
Why is ANYONE surprised Connie Chan’s Richmond is feeling the pain?
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For over 25 years, David Heller has been one of the most respected small business leaders in the Richmond District. As a neighbor, I want to thank you for sharing your perspective with us. Regards David Lee
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Unfortunately this is just another textbook attack that come out every 4 years to keep the status quo- Mar, Fewer, and now Chan – entrenched in power. How is the status quo working out for Geary Boulevard store-owners, or the rest of us?
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David, thank you for thanking David Heller for sharing his perspective with us.
David given that you’re running for an Assembly seat, would you mind sharing YOUR perspective with us here about Marjan Philhour being personally “offbase and misleading” as Heller describes her here?
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Which textbook might you be referring to as regards the opinion of a long-term Richmond district business owner? Someone who gets elected by the voters to be a district supervisor is also not “entrenched”. When you say that word, you are completely disrespecting the choice made by the voters because they didn’t vote the way you wanted them to.
Someone who speaks truth is not attacking. They are speaking truth. Attaching the word “textbook” to the word “attack” is another way people tell themselves that they know better than other people, who should of course support other people instead of the people the voters actually choose.
The socio-economic environment is also not something a supervisor can control. So mentioning “status quo” is a cheap shot that has nothing to do with actual policy positions and areas where a supervisor actually does have some decision part of the process.
If you wanna make a point about the weather, don’t blame the seagulls.
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Please, please please…to say that Connie Chan has done anything to increase supporting the police is just not true. Pointing to her vote for increased foot patrol when she knows full well that it can never happen due to a deficit of officers is pure political gamesmanship. It’s actually a burden on SPFD since they are so understaffed. She delayed a vote on license plate readers for SFPD which even our SFMTA uses, and it is funded by the STATE. She blocked Nancy Tung for police commission and now we have the most anti-law enforcement commission in SF history. This of course, hurts morale and makes it harder to recruit police officers. But what strikes me the most is the tone of the commentary…does the Richmond, or SF or even our country need more hostility in politics? Anyone with a working knowledge of Connie Chan’s record knows full well she does not support the police. And we also know that Marjan does…not sure why you clearly have a grudge against Marjan but please keep it to yourself. Nobody needs to hear more biased opinions or irrelevant chatter. Just take your own opinion and go privately vote what’s on your heart. You are not adding anything of factual bases or value to the discourse
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So let me understand something. You criticize Connie Chan for supporting foot patrols because … she knows “full well that it can never happen due to a deficit of officers.” That’s rich.
That is also called “political gamesmanship”. And it is you sir who are doing it.
Blocking Nancy Tung has nothing to do with what you describe. People can proclaim policy positions and have disagreements without being labeled. What exactly is “anti-law enforcement” about the current commission? Please be more specific, because making blanket statements without specific explanations about what you think is “anti-law enforcement” belittles whatever point you want to make.
If you are truly concerned about “tone” however, you should re-read the “tone” of what you yourself write.
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Connie Chan has been supervisor for 4 years and the entire city has been on a downward spiral that whole time. We need to replace all of the failed politicians currently in city hall as soon as we can to reverse this. Please vote for Marjan Philhour.
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Connie Chan sways with the wind. She has NOT been good for law and order in The Richmond, or for much at all in The Richmond for that matter. Chan represents the faction at City Hall that has dug San Francisco into the hole it’s in now, so she needs to GO. She’s done nothing but damage SFPD by failing to support Nancy Tung as Police Commissioner and the damaging, pandering act of voting (with Safai) to require bike and foot patrols in the face of 600 Officer short-staffing was like pouring salt in the wound. Richmond station has only 8 officers per shift: how are they supposed to divert any officers to foot/bike patrols? No more Chan. She’s just not good for the Richmond District.
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political word salad is somehow becoming the norm on this commentary blog.
It however fascinates me how many similar sounding comments are occurring pounding the same themes. Maybe this is a strategy be pestering us with repetition of refuted nonsense, but please don’t assume this is an actual discussion amongst citizenry.
A tautology is not a policy position. It’s a contrived meandering statement meant to appeal to low information voters.
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Having lived in the inner richmond for over 20 years I have seen the ups and downs. We are currently experiencing a very dark time in the inner richmond. Small businesses have been decimated. To deny that would be laughable. Our streets are not safe. What you have done is blamed everything on the Mayor. That is fine to a point. It was Connie Chan’s job, however, to advocate for the Richmond district and she FAILED. Plain and simple. If she has been so supportive of the police why did they not endorse her? This was nothing more than a biased hit piece. I get you are angry with the mayor. That is clear. We are electing a supervisor. I do not support DSA and will not be voting for Connie Chan. I will be voting for Marjan as she has clear ideas to make the richmond district safe again for our families and our small businesses. We want them all to flourish. This is a very exciting time for SF as we see a major shift in SF politics on the Horizon. Things will get better in the Richmond District with new competent leadership.
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Under Connie Chan, crime has increased in the District. Chan has NOT supported the police and then complained when there are no police in the Richmond. I talk with voters everyday and you know what they say? They say, “Where is Connie?” They have a number of complaints and they feel no one is listening.
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SF resident for 20yrs, it’s heartbreaking to see what our beautiful city has become under rampant lawlessness, short 500 officers, serial thefts, catch & release judges Begert & Thompson, and anti-sfpd by police commission that is approved by board of supervisors. Connie is anti-sfpd, while pushing Prop B Cop Tax to delay sfpd hirings til a new tax is passed – which would be years. It makes no sense to attack marjan, she wasnt our supervisor when car rammings for atms at cvs took place under connie’s watch or when John was killed at a corner store. Brooke Jenkins is doing a great job & Im grateful Breed appointed her. Connie is NOT being endorsed by police assoc bc she’s anti-sfpd. She also has done nothing to condemn or stem the hate crimes against the Asian Americsn community that voted for her. It’s time for Connie to go – SF & Richmond suffered tremendously under her watch.
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At first I was surprised to see David Heller carrying water for Connie Chan’s desperate re-election bid by parroting her campaign’s talking points. But alas, it makes sense that Heller would align with Connie Chan since his toothless and useless Geary Merchant Association ALSO does next to nothing for the neighborhood. Clement and Balboa have thriving corridors receiving grants, making improvements and investments. They each work closely with community members and business owners of all stripes. But just ask any Geary merchant about the Geary Merchant’s Association and some will wince, most will give you blank stare. Shuttered businesses, disgusting sidewalks, the vacant Alexandria Theater – all while Heller holds a fake funeral PR stunt for a grocery store that shuttered long before the pandemic.
Heller, like Chan clings to old, failed ideologies and is completely out of touch with how to positively lift a community and small business successfully. Sorry, it’s not 1995 anymore. Chan and Heller appear to be cut from the same cloth : a huge lack of imagination and no results.
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I shop at Beauty Network; over the past ~ 20 years. I have found healthy shampoos, soap, and combs, and am cared for. Thanks David for the letter. I like Connie Chan myself, and voted for her last time.
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It feels like Connie has disappeared from the Richmond District. Seriously, name 3 noticeable improvements to the Richmond district since she has taken office?
Part of me thinks that it doesn’t matter who represents District 1 because nothing ever improves out here:
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Hi David, are you saying it’s bad that Marjan is running again, after losing by only 125 or so votes in the last election?
Was it also bad that superstar supe Engardio ran multiple times? And, are you saying that Marjan’s high visibility in this race so far is bad? I think this is part of the democratic process, no?
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David, Connie Chan supports the bailt-and-switch Prop B on Tuesday’s ballot. You know – the one that started as a solid prop and then got poison pulled at the last minute. The one that predicates any increased catch-up SFPD funding on a brand-new future tax. A new tax on the residents of San Francisco (absurd), which will for sure delay any forward motion on thus critical issue – possibly for years. David, if you cite Connie Chan’s abysmal record on public safety as a reason to support her, then you are not representing yourself as a serious person.
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