Jane Kim Tops All District Signature Gathering Campaigns

Written by Luke Thomas. Posted in News, Politics

Published on July 29, 2010 with 6 Comments

Candidate for District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim submitted to the San Francisco Department of Elections, July 22, more valid signatures in lieu than any other candidate in all races for District supervisor.

By Luke Thomas

July 29, 2010

In the race to replace District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly, San Francisco School Board President Jane Kim collected more valid signatures than any other District supervisoral candidates, according to documents obtained from the Department of Elections.

Before the July 22 deadline for submitting signatures in lieu, Kim submitted 1,281 valid signatures.  Candidates who submit a minimum of 1,000 valid signatures from registered District voters are exempted from paying a $500 filing fee.

Kim is also leading all District supervisoral candidates in public campaign financing. According to the Department of Ethics, Kim has been awarded $71,148 in public campaign funds.

Though both measures are not an indicator of how well a candidate will fair on Election Day, signature gathering is the purest, non-scientific indicator of boots on the ground campaign strength.

Department of Building Inspection Commissioner Debra Walker, Kim’s closest signature gathering competitor in the District 6 contest, submitted 1,041 valid signatures and has been awarded $57,344 in public campaign funds. Human Rights Commission Executive Director Theresa Sparks submitted just 19 valid signatures but has qualified for $10 thousand in public campaign funds.

In the hotly contested race with the most candidates declared (25), former Supervisor Daly volunteer James Keys fell short of reaching the 1,000 signatures mark.  Of the 1,337 signatures Keyes submitted, 537 were deemed valid.

In the battle to replace District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Scott Wiener leads the field in valid signatures (1,264) over Rebecca Prozan (1,056) and Rafael Mandelman (1,011).

Mandelman has received $60,503 in public campaign funds compared to Wiener who has received $10 thousand. Prozan told FCJ she does not expect to file for public campaign financing unless the individual spending cap of $143 thousand is breached by other candidates in the race.

In the race to replace District 10 Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, Steven Moss submitted the most valid signatures (955) followed by Chris Jackson (802) and Marlene Tran (574).

Malia Cohen leads the field in public campaign financing ($53,671), followed by Moss ($53,284) and Chris Jackson ($50,220).

In the race to replace incumbent District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, Kat Anderson submitted 82 valid signatures. She also leads in collecting public campaign funds ($40,480) followed by Abraham Simmons ($36,160).

Incumbent District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu, who is running unopposed, submitted 282 valid signatures. She has not filed to receive public campaign funds.

Update, 5:51 pm:  Correction.  Rebecca Prozan will file for public campaign financing “next week.”  Prozan told FCJ she fully expects the $143 thousand spending cap to be broken by candidates who benefit from independent expenditures.

Update, 7/30, 9:13 am: Correction. Prozan campaign manager Stephanie Ong Stillman points out that Prozan submitted 3,100 signatures before the deadline on July 22.  However, because Prozan had already reached the minimum 1,000 valid signatures threshold on June 1 after submitting 1,056 valid signatures, the excess signatures were not verified or counted by the Department of Elections.  Stillman also says the Prozan campaign was the first supervisoral campaign across all Districts to qualify for a filing fee exemption.

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

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  • Nate Miller

    Valid Signature count does not always indicate that a particular candidate has more ‘boots on the ground.’ Anecdotally, in 2008, Ahsha Safai, submitted many more signatures that Avalos, which caused some to speculate that he was indeed the front runner. In reality, the guy just had tons of time on his hands and personally walked a huge portion of the district for months. Avalos spent this time building a campaign base, and while it was not initially more efficient, it soon completely eclipsed Safai’s 1 man show.

    Recently, I have ridden my bike through the Castro and seen Weiner on a couple of occasions heading door to door alone. While personal contact is invaluable and effective for getting 1000 + signatures, it does not necessarily translate into building a cadre of boots on the ground for a GOTV effort.

  • paulhogarth

    Jane’s campaign had an all-volunteer signature gathering army. But some other candidates who had paid folks (which is ironic, given that the whole point of signatures in lieu of a filing fee is that you don’t have to pay a filing fee.)

  • http://10thanniversarytac.blogspot.com/ Michael Nulty

    So which campaigns had paid signature gathers?

  • http://generic1.tumblr.com/ generic

    If we were serious about using signatures as a measure of “boots on the ground” then we wouldn’t care about the validity of the signature count, would we? It represents the effort of a volunteer attempting to get one unit of support.

  • http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/author/hbrown/ Harold Brown

    Paul,

    “Volunteer” is a relative term isn’t it? Your THC gives rent reductions to around 50 tenants (some in each building) whom you use (with extra pay) to do flyers and leaflets and attend public gatherings on your behalf. Essentially SF taxpayers pay for you and Randy’s political outreach from publishing Beyond Chron to your ‘volunteer’ army.

    Be honest here, Shaw and henchlady, Rose Pak are backing Kim to make certain Debra Walker isn’t elected cause Walker wouldn’t roll over for Randy at Joe O’Donoghue at DBT.

    And, why isn’t Beyond Chron covering union demonstrations led by Walker and Gabriel Haaland and Chris Jackson in your own THC offices? Not newsworthy?

    So, you’re the best political blogger in the State? Imagine if you told both sides of the story how good you’d be.

    Go Gigantes!

    h.

  • ricksf1

    What are the union organizing efforts at THC?