Ed Lee
Edwin M. Lee 李孟賢 | |
|---|---|
| File:Mayor Ed Lee at Rocket Space2.jpg | |
| 43rd Mayor of San Francisco | |
| Assumed office January 11, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Gavin Newsom |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 5, 1952 Seattle, Washington |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence(s) | San Francisco, California |
| Alma mater | Bowdoin College UC Berkeley School of Law |
Edwin Mah Lee (simplified Chinese: 李孟贤; traditional Chinese: 李孟賢; pinyin: Lǐ Mèngxián; Cantonese Yale: Leih Maahngyìhn;[1] born May 5, 1952)[2][3] is the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco, California. He was appointed by the Board of Supervisors on January 11, 2011[4] to serve out the remainder of former mayor Gavin Newsom's term, after Newsom resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California.[5]
Lee is the first Asian American mayor in San Francisco's history. Before being appointed mayor, he was City Administrator.[6]
Personal life
Lee was born in 1952 in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. His parents immigrated to the United States from Guangdong provinceChina in the 1930s.[2] Lee's father fought in World War II and worked as a cook, while his mother was a seamstress and waitress.[7] Lee has five siblings. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bowdoin College in Maine in 1974 and from the University of California, Berkeley Law School in 1978. He married his wife Anita in 1980 and has two daughters, Tania and Brianna.[7]
San Francisco government
After completing law school, Lee worked as Managing Attorney for the San Francisco Asian Law Caucus where he was an advocate for affordable housing and the rights of immigrants and renters.[7] In 1989, Lee was appointed by Mayor Art Agnos as the City's first investigator under the city's Whistleblower Ordinance. Agnos later appointed him deputy director of human relations. In 1991, he was hired as executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, serving in that capacity under Mayors Agnos, Frank Jordan, and Willie Brown. Brown appointed him Director of City Purchasing, where, among other responsibilities, he ran the City's first Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise program.[6]
In 2000, he was appointed Director of Public Works for the City, and in 2005 was appointed by Mayor Newsom to a five-year term as City Administrator, to which he was reappointed in 2010. As City Administrator, Lee oversaw the reduction of city government and implemented the city’s first ever Ten Year Capital Plan.[6]
Appointment as mayor
Under the San Francisco City Charter, vacancies in the mayoral office may be filled by a majority vote of the Board of Supervisors, in which each supervisor is barred from voting for himself or herself.[8] Speculation about possible appointees and debate on whether or not the old Board of Supervisors should cast vote for the new mayor soon followed after Newsom's election as lieutenant governor. (Four old supervisors were term-limited and four new people were elected in the 2010 election to take their place)
The Board of Supervisors nominated four people: former Mayor Art Agnos, Sheriff Michael Hennessey, former Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin, and Lee. None of them captured the necessary six votes at a meeting of the board on January 4, 2011, but after an acrimonious debate, some supervisors expressed willingness to switch their support to Lee,[9] and the meeting was recessed until January 7. At the January 7 meeting, the old board voted 10-1 to elect Lee as mayor, with outgoing Supervisor Chris Daly casting the lone "no" vote.[10] At the time, Lee pledged not to seek election if appointed, a statement which helped to gain support for his appointment. The board included people who aimed to run in the November 2011 mayoral elections; none of them wished to give the mayoral position to someone who might be their competitor in those elections, which would give that person the significant political advantages of incumbency.[11]
The vote was preliminary and non-binding as Newsom had delayed his resignation until new members of the Board take office. A final vote was taken on January 11 by the new board to confirm Lee, one day after Newsom's resignation. The board voted unanimously for Lee and he took office immediately thereafter.
As mayor, Lee reached an agreement with the Board of Supervisors to close a $380 million budget deficit.[7]
2011 election
Lee's term expires in January 2012, at which time the winner of the November 2011 mayoral election would take office. Lee originally pledged not to run in that election.[12] However, some San Francisco activists, including Rose Pak and Eddy Zheng, started a "Run Ed Run" campaign in June 2011 to encourage him to put his name on the ballot.[13] By July 28, Lee stated that he had visited his daughters in Washington state and discussed with them the possibility of his standing for election, but had still not made up his mind. Senator Dianne Feinstein, herself a former appointee mayor who had gone on to win re-election for two terms, publicly supported a Lee candidacy. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that unnamed city officials close to Lee stated to the media that Lee had "nearly finalized his decision" to run.[14]
On August 7, 2011, Lee formally announced his decision to seek election, breaking his earlier pledge not to seek election. He stated that the atmosphere of political cooperation during his months in office had inspired him to run.[11] A week later, the United States Attorney's Office reportedly began gathering information about Progress For All, which had organized the "Run, Ed, Run" campaign; local political figures including Superior Court judge Quentin Kopp and Democratic Party chair Aaron Peskin had both requested investigations into Progress For All's Conduct.[15] It later emerged that on July 21, city Ethics Commission head John St. Croix requested that Lee file an officeholder and candidate campaign statement, listing "all committees of which you have knowledge that are primarily formed to receive contributions or to make expenditures on behalf of your candidacy". Lee listed the "Run, Ed, Run" campaign on that form at St. Croix's direction. Commentators suggested that this showed Lee's intent to run, more than two weeks in advance of his announcement of his candidacy, raising questions of ethics and campaign finance. However, according to St. Croix, the form must be filed by an incumbent office-holder in advance of an election, regardless of whether the office-holder intends to run. Tony Winnicker, Lee's campaign manager, stated that speculations of ethical issues were "just another desperate attempt to make something out of nothing by people who would rather attack Mayor Lee than talk about jobs and getting things done for San Francisco".[16]
Awards and honors
In April 2011, Mayor Lee was awarded the inaugural Coro Community Catalyst award for "his longtime commitment to bringing together varied special interests and agendas to address the greater needs of the community".[17]
References
- ^ California Fair Political Practices Commission Form 700, Statement of Economic Interests, filed March 31, 2010
- ^ a b Shih, Gerry (January 15, 2011), "Mayor Lee Leads Growing Asian-American Clout", The New York Times, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Dalton, Andrew (May 11, 2011), "Board of Supervisors Weekly Power Rankings", SFist, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Coté, John (January 11, 2011), "Ed Lee becomes the city's first Chinese American mayor", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Coté, John; Gordon, Rachel (January 11, 2011), "Gavin Newsom changes offices at last", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ a b c Edwin M. Lee - Biography, Government Services Agency, City and County of San Francisco, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ a b c d , Ed Lee for Mayor 2011 http://www.mayoredlee.com/ed, retrieved 2011-09-25
{{citation}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ San Francisco, California Charter Article XIII: Elections
- ^ "Editorial: Newsom's delayed departure brings out supes' worst", San Francisco Chronicle, January 6, 2011, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Gordon, Rachel (January 7, 2011), "Supervisors vote 10-1 to make Ed Lee Mayor", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ a b Coté, John (August 8, 2011), "SF Mayor Ed Lee changes mind, will seek full term", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Coté, John (June 27, 2011), "SF Mayor Ed Lee pledges new political era", San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ Matier, Phillip; Ross, Andrew (2011-06-26), "Ed Lee's backers face questions of disclosure", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-07-06
- ^ Coté, John (2011-07-28), "Sources say Ed Lee leaning toward run for SF mayor", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Coté, John (2011-08-15), "U.S. attorney gathering info on "Run, Ed, Run," source says", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ Coté, John; Gordon, Rachel, "Lee's early campaign filing was required", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2011-09-11
- ^ 16th Annual Leadership Luncheon, San Francisco: Coro Center for Civic Leadership, April 29, 2011, retrieved 2011-09-11
External links
Media related to Edwin M. Lee at Wikimedia Commons
