Ammiano Leads In
Supes President Race
By Sara Needham
Matthai Kuruvila
Harry Mok
and Lisa Munoz

Tom Ammiano was leading in Tuesday's race for president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the second most powerful position in San Francisco politics.

With 54 percent of the vote counted, Ammiano had 49,593 votes to Gavin Newsom's 41,406, with Mabel Teng running third with 35,287 votes.

“It looks good, but it aint over yet,” said Ammiano, who is viewed as an independent voice on the board.

Teng, who was expected to make a strong showing, remained upbeat last night despite trailing in the race.

“I'm patiently waiting for the fat lady to sing,” said Teng.

As expected, the three incumbent supervisors were all easily winning reelection, and the only question was who would be the top vote getter in the city-wide race for five seats on the board. That person automatically becomes president of the board.

Ammiano, 56, was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1994. He is considered to be the most liberal and outspoken of the three.

Ammiano is a staunch supporter of gay rights, the environment, civil rights issues, organized labor, tenant's rights and business taxation.

He co-authored the city's Equal-Benefits Ordinance, which requires city-contracted businesses to provide domestic partner benefits to gay, lesbian and straight couples.

Another hot San Francisco issue central to his campaign is housing. He

co-authored the Owner Move-In Eviction Moratorium, which prohibits landlords

from evicting disabled and terminally ill people, and senior citizens. And he

supported Proposition G, the ballot measure that would further restricts landlords from evicting tenants.

He stuck to his slogan as "an independent voice," often in opposition to Willie Brown.

"He is independent of big downtown business, of Willie Brown and the political

machine," said Victor Valdiviezo, Volunteer Coordinator for Ammiano's reelection campaign.

“He's looking out for the interests of average San Franciscans,” said Robert Gordon, a smoke free advocate and Ammiano supporter.

Yet Ammiano has been criticized for his often unyielding and extremely liberal

stance on many issues.

He has angered many within the business community, such as when he suggested downtown businesses pay a fee to help support and improve the Muni transit system. And he advocates the restriction of Market Street to bikes and public transportation.

Newsom, 31, was considered the dark horse of the three way battle for the presidency. His lead Tuesday night over Teng, who was considered to be the Mayor's unconfirmed choice to win the presidency, was surprising, even to Newsom.

“It's a shock to everybody,” Newsom said.

A relative rookie, Newsom was appointed to the board last year by Willie Brown. Newsom said the central issues in his campaign were dealing with homelessness, the housing crisis and clean streets.

Newsom said he was about "results not rhetoric."

"In the last seventeen months I have put forth over a hundred substantive pieces of legislation," Newsom said.

He initiated legislation to put cameras at busy intersections to stop red light runners. He promoted the ability of private physicians to prescribe methadone. And he turned around the taxi cab industry when he chaired the task force that brought 400 more taxi cabs to San Francisco.

The owner of twelve businesses, Newsom is supported by many in the corporate

community. He has often voted against labor backed initiatives.

One of the biggest criticisms of Newsom is that he is too tightly allied with

the mayor.

"He's an appendage of Willie Brown," State Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-San

Francisco told the San Francisco Examiner.

Newsom has denied the allegation and has often voted against issues that Brown supports.

Teng emphasized consensus-building throughout her campaign.

“We built bridges, we built coalitions,” said Teng.

Teng, 44, was the first Asian American woman elected to the board in 1994. Her

chief ally is Mayor Brown.

She has a history of fighting for civil rights - especially those of immigrants. She enacted legislation that provided tax credits for people in the garment industry.

“She is supported by all races and all different people,” said Barry Wong, President of the Northern California Chinese Contractors Association and a Teng supporter.

Teng has emphasized families and kids in her campaign. She authored the San Francisco Universal Child Care Policy that allocated funds from this year's budget to provide accessible health care for San Francisco families.

Teng is considered more moderate when it comes to economic issues and has been criticized for being too pro big business. She was supported and endorsed by many influential business people within the city. Among her contributors were members of the Shorenstein family, and businesses like the Gap and McKesson Corporation.

Teng's attempts to remain in the middle on most issues also got her in trouble. Recently she angered both tenant's rights advocates and landlords by attempting to satisfy both when negotiating the terms of the Owner Move-In Eviction Moratorium.

This is the last election in which supervisors will run city-wide. District elections will take effect in two years.