Retaliatory attempt to recall Supervisor who exercised First Amendment rights

A group of retaliatory minded San Francisco voters want to recall an elected official for calling out  lies and defamatory statements by the Police Officers Association.

What was Supervisor Sandy Fewer upset about on election night two weeks ago?

The vicious POA campaign which spent over $600,000 in a futile obscene and defamatory effort to derail the winning campaign of District Attorney elect Chesa Boudin.

Even more ridiculous is the fact the Supervisor is up for re-election in November 2020. Sandy Fewer’s constituents can make a determination then.

My prediction. This nonsense recall effort just guaranteed her election to four more years in office.

San Francisco Chronicle 11.19.2019

A group of Richmond district residents filed a petition with the Department of Elections Tuesday to initiate a recall of Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, weeks after she led a controversial chant against the Police Officers Association at an election night party.

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The group of 31 residents signed the petition after Fewer grabbed the microphone at an election night party for Chesa Boudin, the progressive district attorney, and began a chant against the city’s nearly 2,000-member police union: “F— the POA! F— the POA! F— the POA!”

“She has insulted the hard working men and women of San Francisco’s police force, who do their best to protect our community,” according to the letter, obtained by The Chronicle. “She has embarrassed our city before the rest of the country.”

The Notice of Intention is the first step to initiating a recall petition. The District 1 Supervisor, who represents the Richmond district, has seven days to respond. The petition must gather signatures from 20% of the 42,713 registered voters in the district.Then, if the department certifies the signatures, it will call for a recall election, where voters must pass a simple majority to unseat the official. The mayor will then appoint a replacement.

Recall attempts are uncommon in San Francisco, and seldom successful. Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein was the subject of a failed recall election in 1983. More recently, a group of residents unsuccessfully attempted to recall Supervisor Aaron Peskin and former Supervisor Jake McGoldrick in 2007, and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell in 2004.

Fewer could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

The “unhinged attack,” he wrote, “made our officers’ job more dangerous.”

Fewer attempted to clarify her words the next day. She apologized to the officers in the San Francisco Police Department, but stood by her negative feelings toward the union, saying the “organization has an continues to incite fear in our city.”

Her chant on election night highlighted the tense relationship between the association and progressive politicians in the city.

Fewer must run for re-election in November 2020. She previously told The Chronicle that she is “90% going to run for re-election,” though she has yet to file any papers for the November 2020 election.

Alexandra Jansen, a Richmond district resident who serves on the neighborhood’s community police board and is behind the recall effort, said she was “not happy” with Fewer before the chant — but her election night words were the final straw.

While she said the recall is probably an “unrealistic goal,” she said the group of residents want to send her a message.

“We deserve better with our neighborhood,” she said. “Let’s show her that we’re unhappy.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Recall-started-for-SF-supervisor-who-led-14847816.php