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Campaign ad by Leland Yee Tying Rose Pak to Ed Lee
SAN FRANCISCO—The campaign office of San Francisco mayoral candidate State Senator Leland Yee has launched a round of advertising attacking the credibility of interim Mayor Ed Lee and drawing attention to his ties with Chinatown political operator Rose Pak.
The campaign, under the tutelage of local political mastermind Jim Stearns, will attempt to drum into audiences the fact that Ed Lee reneged on his promise not to run for mayor due to the influence of Pak.
“Ed Lee broke his word to the people of San Francisco,” Yee is quoted as saying. “But I think it is more important who made him break that promise and why.”
According to Stearns, Pak, a short, 63-year-old resident of Chinatown whose official title is General Consultant to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, is “the power behind the throne,” according to Stearns. A press release issued by Yee’s campaign decries Lee’s “tight affiliation with the city’s powerbrokers” and quotes Supervisor David Chiu as saying Pak and former mayor Willie Brown influenced Lee’s decision to run.
Pak is known to have played a large role in orchestrating the installation of Lee as interim mayor early this year. A key to that success was Lee’s promise not to run for mayor.
“She and the corporate interests she is allied with would love to have a ‘yes man’ in City Hall for the next four years,” Stearns is quoted as saying. “It’s why she’s been attacking Leland Yee for months, and it’s why we’re now fighting back.”
Stearns continues, in the release: “Leland Yee has always been independent of powerbrokers like Rose Pak, while Ed Lee is beholden to her.”
The press release does not clarify in what manner Pak exercises leverage over Lee, or how he will serve her alleged corporate interests, nor does it elaborate on the planned broadcast coverage or budget of the advertising campaign. Leland Yee’s campaign office did not return calls seeking comment on those and other matters.
Ed Lee’s spokesman Tony Winnicker dismissed the ad as a “phony show-buy” which only cost $3,000. “There’s not one word about jobs, all of this is just negative attacks,” he said in a telephone interview.
Yee’s campaign could not immediately confirm the $3,000 claim.
Rose Pak and allies of Ed Lee have called Aaron Peskin, former president of the Board of Supervisors, a racist because of his criticism of Pak and Lee. Peskin is Caucasian. It’s unlikely that Leland Yee will be marred with the racist brush after this new attack, since he himself is Chinese-American.More on Politics and Influence in the San Francisco Mayoral Election
