SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 4.16.2025
The San Francisco Chronicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Chronicle prides itself on promoting progressive social values. When these values don’t upend the entrenched political establishment. Behind this hip veneer the city’s only daily newspaper has historically followed the money. Big development, law and order are the historical political touchstones of this publication.
Julie Pitta is President of The Phoenix Project founded in 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_Project_(San_Francisco) A non-profit news organization shining a light on the real power elite of San Francisco. Recently she interviewed the editor of The San Francisco Chronicle, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz.
Excerpted article by Julie Pitta – President The Phoenix Project – April 2025
San Francisco Chronicle editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz’s lack of self-awareness and commitment to circular thinking is galling. He made an editorial decision that created a perception that crime had become a crisis, and then feigned surprise when San Franciscans expressed their belief that crime, indeed, was a crisis.
When I tried to draw a connection between the tech titans who cut their political teeth in San Francisco politics and are now advising President Trump, Garcia-Ruiz became angry.
Billionaire Levi’s scion Daniel Lurie. The Chronicle choice for Mayor
He compared me to Trump, the implication being that these ties do not exist and that I had concocted them from thin air. He seemed particularly bothered by my description of Garry Tan and Elon Musk as aspiring fascists.
I pointed out that the term “techno-fascist” had, for good reason, become a popular label among members of the national press.
Garcia-Ruiz rejected the idea that San Francisco had been a warm-up for the likes of Tan, Musk and David Sacks, a tech investor and leading contributor to the School Board and Boudin recalls, who are now focusing their efforts on national politics. Sacks, in fact, was recently appointed as the White House’s first artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, payback for his generous support to the Trump campaign.
The decision to report on misdemeanors would prove devastating for District Attorney Chesa Boudin as he faced a recall funded by the Astroturf Network*, an effort driven substantially by the Chronicle’s unrelenting crime coverage.
An “Astroturf network*” refers to a collection of individuals or organizations that are ostensibly grassroots movements, but are actually created, funded, and controlled by a larger entity like a corporation, political group, or PR firm. The goal is to create the illusion of widespread public support for a particular issue or product.
Garcia-Ruiz also refused to address questions about former Chronicle columnist Heather Knight, (currently New York Times San Francisco bureau chief) a frequent Boudin critic and Astroturf Network favorite.
In July 2022, Knight wrote a glowing profile of prosecutor Brooke Jenkins, asserting that Jenkins left the district attorney’s office to “volunteer” on the recall. Jenkins, according to Knight’s account, claimed that Boudin prioritized ideology over outcomes. Left out of Knight’s account was the fact that Jenkins had been hired by William Oberndorf, the billionaire donor to numerous conservative causes, who created Neighbors for a Better San Francisco. Oberndorf paid Jenkins a handsome $100,000 for six-months work on a report that never saw the light of day. With his backing, Jenkins was appointed Boudin’s successor.
Garcia-Ruiz bristled at the mention of Knight, who wrote for the Chronicle from 1999 to 2023: “You’re asking me about a columnist who no longer works for this paper? I suggest you talk to her.” He reminded me that the Chronicle had opposed Boudin’s recall. However, by the time the Chronicle’s editorial board weighed in, Boudin was mortally wounded, in no small part, by Garcia-Ruiz’s newspaper.
https://westsideobserver.com/25/4-the-chronicle-and-lavishly-funded-political-groups.php
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