Billionaire Flip-flop On Anti-Labor Prop B-Financier Warren Hellman gives $50,000 To Adach

Billionaire Flip-flop On Anti-Labor Prop B-Financier Warren Hellman gives $50,000 To Adachi's campaign and then jumps ship from pressure
Flip flop: Financier Warren Hellman was apparently persuaded over an early morning meeting at Il Fornaio in Levi's Plaza on Wednesday that backing Public Defender Jeff Adachi's Proposition B was bad business.

Hellman was one of many wealthy San Franciscans to give big chunks of cash to the Nov. 2 ballot measure to require city employees to pay more for their pensions and health care benefits. He donated $50,000 to the campaign that's raised a total of $720,000.

But after a discussion with Tom O'Connor, head of the firefighters' union, Hellman flip-flopped.

"We need a meaningful dialogue in San Francisco between business and labor to solve long-term problems threatening the city's future without name-calling and finger-pointing," Hellman said in a statement.

- Heather Knight