San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee could be announcing a decision by Monday on whether he will run for mayor in November, the head of the city’s police union said Thursday.
“Our information is that there will be a clear picture of the current mayor’s decision by close of business on Monday,” San Francisco Police Officers Association President Gary Delagnes said Thursday afternoon.
Delagnes said the union had been in contact with the mayor’s office to invite Lee to participate in a mayoral forum it hosted Thursday night.
Mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey would not confirm whether Lee would make an announcement on Monday.
“He’s making a decision next week,” Falvey said.
Delagnes said the union was told by the mayor’s office that Lee would not be attending the debate because he has not yet made a decision on whether to run.
Delagnes said it will be difficult for the police union to give Lee an endorsement if he decides to run, given the lateness of his entry into the race and the union’s ties to many of the other candidates.
“One of the problems a lot of people are having in the city is that many of us have good relations with many of the candidates,” he said. “These are people that have been friends with us and our organizations for years, so we’re being put in a very difficult spot.”
Thursday night’s debate featured seven of the top candidates currently in the race: Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Supervisor John Avalos, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, former supervisors Bevan Dufty and Michela Alioto-Pier, Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting and venture capitalist Joanna Rees.
Delagnes said state Sen. Leland Yee, another candidate in the race, was not able to attend because of a prior commitment, and the police union has decided not to invite former Supervisor Tony Hall, who has attended other mayoral forums.
Delagnes said the union did not invite Hall in part because it disagrees with his statements on pension reform.
Hall has called for more savings than would be achieved in dueling pension reform measures from the mayor and Public Defender Jeff Adachi that are headed to the November ballot.
Hall issued a statement earlier this week upon hearing that he was not invited to the debate, saying that being excluded from the event “reinforces my point that I am the only candidate for mayor willing to ask more of stakeholders in the pension debate.”
Lee, who was named interim mayor in January following the election of former Mayor Gavin Newsom to the post of lieutenant governor, previously said he planned to return to his old job as city administrator after his term ended but now says he is considering running for mayor.
Lee said earlier this week that he was still undecided on whether to run, and that a decision would come next week. The deadline for filing to run is next Friday, Aug. 12.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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