Seven Candidates Vie for District 8 Supervisor Seat;
Campaigns receiving endorsements, public forum planned for Feb. 22

By Andy Sywak

With the November general election ten months away, several candidates have already announced their intention to run for the seat held by Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is termed out.

As of Dec. 29, seven individuals had filed a Declaration of Intent with the City Department of Elections, which is required by law before candidates begin accepting or soliciting contributions. The filing period is still open for other candidates to declare.

The seven candidates who have filed are:

• James Boeger, 57, lists his occupation as therapist on filing documents. Boeger has lived in the neighborhood since 2003 although he lived on Castro Street for a short time in 1973.
• Bill Hemenger, 40, works for Oracle and has lived in the area since 1997. He owns a home in Diamond Heights with his partner and has worked extensively in business development.
• Rafael Mandelman, 36, a land use and redevelopment attorney, is the current president of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club. He is a Commissioner on the City’s Board of Permit Appeals and is a native San Franciscan.
• Rebecca Prozan, 38, is an assistant district attorney who served as the Mayor’s District 8 Liaison under Mayor Willie Brown. She was later the mayor’s LGBT liaison and has served on the city’s Recreation and Park Commission and managed District Attorney Kamala Harris’ campaign as well as co-chaired Dufty’s first supervisor race.
• Laura Spanjian, 38, works for the SF Public Utilities Commission as an assistant general manager. She has served on the board of several neighborhood groups including Eureka Valley Library Rebuild and organized several local political campaigns. She also worked as the government relations manager for MUNI and has won the endorsement of Sheriff Michael Hennessey.
• Starchild, who lists his occupation as escort/exotic dancer, twice ran unsuccessfully for supervisor, garnering four percent of the vote in 2006.
• Scott Wiener, 39, is a deputy city attorney who helped found Castro Community on Patrol and was a founding board member of the LGBT Community Center. A former chairman of the SF Democratic Party, the thirteen-year Castro resident has won the endorsement of Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Of the seven, Mandelman, Prozan, Spanjian and Wiener have secured the most endorsements to date, mostly from neighborhood groups, supervisors and state assembly members.

“I think that this election in District 8 is unlike one that we’ve had in San Francisco in a while,” Jim Ross said, a veteran political consultant in the City. “It’s going to be very driven by local issues not by ideological issues that have shaped Supervisor races in the past. I don’t think it will be driven by who the more progressive candidate is — they’re all progressive — it’s going to go to the person who is going to be the greatest representative for the district.”

According to Ross, any of the four big names could take the race. “All are compelling and interesting candidates in their own right. Whoever runs the strongest campaign over the next year is going to win. They all have good ties to the district.”

In statements solicited for this article, several candidates talked about the need to provide better services to the neighborhood, especially improving public transportation. Candidates also asserted the need to ease the bureaucratic burden upon small businesses that constitute the backbone of merchant life in the neighborhood.

Dennis Richards, president of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association (DTNA), named the on-going struggles between tenant and property owner rights, neighborhood development and quality-of-life concerns as some of the major issues confronting the neighborhood.

“It’s great to have people on the inside who can pull all the levers but we’re looking for someone with vision,” he said. “Someone who can tell us where the city is going rather than just troubleshoot. We tend to get too parochial around our own district.” He added that he thought it to be the best field of candidates since he moved to the neighborhood.

In an early sign the race is not leading to a clear frontrunner, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club split its endorsement between Wiener and Prozan. Some neighborhood groups have made early endorsements while others are waiting.

“I think there are several well qualified candidates, but I’ve decided to support Rebecca (Prozan),” said Richard Magary, chair of the steering committee for the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association (BVNA), though the organization itself has not endorsed a candidate. “I respect her knowledge of details and the relationships she’s created in City Hall.”

The BVNA is co-sponsoring a forum on the supervisor race along with the Lower Haight Merchants and Neighbors Association on Monday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. The event will take place at the Harvey Milk Recreation Center in Duboce Park.

The contours of the Eighth Supervisor District resemble the state of Illinois on a map, stretching from Waller Street and Buena Vista Park in the north to Glen Park in the south with the east-west border jogging along San Jose streets and Twin Peaks, respectively. Dufty easily won the 2006 race with 58 percent of the vote.

As the current supervisor who has announced his candidacy for mayor, Dufty has not yet endorsed a candidate. A legislative aide in Dufty’s office said that the supervisor “has respect for all the candidates,” and has worked with several throughout his time in office and that an endorsement anytime soon would be unlikely. Some in the neighborhood believe it would be a big surprise if he does not back Prozan, who co-chaired his first supervisor campaign and also served as his aide.

Candidates will have between late May and July 22 to submit either $500 or 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot for the Nov. 2 General Election.

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Copyright 2010 Castro Courier