KPFA News: San Francisco Supes Meet Re Who Will Be Mayor, 4:00 P.M. Tuesday, City Hall

KPFA WEEKEND NEWS TRANSCRIPT:

KPFA/Anthony Fest:
Turning now to Bay Area News, earlier this week Oakland City Council member Jean Quan was declared the winner of the Oakland mayor's race. She'll become the first woman and the first Asian American to be elected Mayor of Oakland.

San Francisco will soon have a new mayor, although the office was not on this month's ballot, but incumbent Mayor Gavin Newsom won the race for Lieutenant Governor, and will resign as mayor once he's sworn into the statewide office. Newsom's impending resignation has touched off widespread media speculation about who the next mayor will be. It's the cover story of this week's Bay Guardian and also has been heavily covered by San Francisco Chronicle political columnists. If the Board of Supervisors takes no action, Board Chair David Chiu will become Acting Mayor. However, by majority vote, the Board could choose an interim mayor to serve out the remaining year of Newsom's term.

Current State Assembly Member and former mayoral candidate Tom Ammiano is considered the only prospect who could win a majority vote of the Supervisors, but Ammiano has said he wants to stay in his present job.

The Board will begin discussion of the issue at its meeting this coming Tuesday. Supervisor Chris Daly told KPFA he hopes the City will finally get a mayor from the progressive wing of San Francisco politics, and he says he also thinks it important that the choice take place as a public debate.

San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly:
Hopefully we'll see dozens if not hundreds of folks who care about San Francisco, who care about progressive politics and what is to become of the Mayor's office in San Francisco, say that 'Hey, we do need a very public process, that the discussion needs to happen with full sunshine, sooner rather than later. And, that what we don't want to see is downtown special interests to continue their rule in San Francisco.'

KPFA/Anthony Fest:
So do you anticipate taking up nominations on Tuesday?

Supervisor Chris Daly:
It's unclear right now, y'know, where the votes are. I think that it's safe to say that there isn't any individual name at the moment who is likely to emerge with the appointment, as successor mayor on Tuesday. But that may be a good thing.

Hopefully we can have a more robust discussion on Tuesday, and that discussion can continue, but, at a certain point, it would be nice if the next Mayor of San Francisco had at least a few weeks for the transition.

KPFA/Anthony Fest:
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly; his essay about the mayor succession can be read at FogCityJournal.com, http://goo.gl/NCZEe.

The Board of Supervisors will meet this coming Tuesday at City Hall. The regular meeting begins at 2:00 P.M. and the mayoral succession issue will be addressed at 4:00 o'clock.