The Board of Supervisors voted 5-4 today to reject Mayor London Breed’s nominations to two city commissions. The vote seemed to say: Leave it to the next mayor.
“I think it is the obligation of this board to put our foot down and reject these, and let a new mayor nominate whoever he chooses,” said board President Aaron Peskin. “I would rather give the new mayor a clean slate.”
Breed had nominated former California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge Joanna Gubman to the Board of Appeals, transit planner and Apple transportation product manager Sara Barz to the Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors, and attorney James Byrne to fill the Police Commission seat vacated by Debra Walker, who Breed recently appointed to the Arts Commission.
The Board of Supervisors Rules Committee rejected all three nominations last week. Peskin said today that the committee made those rejections so as “not to ram through a number of last-minute appointments to very high-profile commissions that have terms of four years.”
Just before today’s Board of Supervisors meeting, an email reviewed by Mission Local shows that Breed withdrew her nomination of Byrne — a former police commissioner — to the Police Commission.
In a final show of power against Breed, supervisors Peskin, Dean Preston, Ahsha Safaí, Hillary Ronen, and Shamann Walton voted down the mayor’s remaining two nominations. District 2 has no sitting supervisor and awaits Breed’s appointment, and Supervisor Connie Chan was absent.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar made a motion to continue the issue until the new year, at which point Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie could choose whether to keep or withdraw the nominations, but that motion was rejected by the same five supervisors. Melgar’s motion received support from supervisors Matt Dorsey, Joel Engardio and Rafael Mandelman.
Melgar said the nominees were technically qualified for their roles, and willing to serve on the two boards.
“I think by putting [these nominees] forward for the ability of this mayor to either withdraw the nomination or not,” Melgar said, “is giving the new mayor a clean slate — and giving him a little bit of a heads up that these are really good nominations.”
Well, there is a bit of hope for SF!
Not really, Peskin, Preston and Ronen won’t get to vote next time and 2 of them are being replaced by moderates
Melgar, Mandelman, Dorsey and Engardio: all willing to lick Breed’s shoe leather. All Breed poodles.
At least Engardio is on his way out when he’s soon to be recalled. The other 3 districts could take a page on handling baldfaced liars.
I can see their point, since Breed’s term is ending she shouldn’t get to make last minute appointments or major policy decisions.
Oh, wait…just last week Peskin, Preston, Safaí, and Ronen voted to overturn the SFMTA RV overnight parking ban, a large and controversial move.
What a bunch of hypocrites! I’m so glad we won’t have to deal with them on the board anymore.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comment.
It is so frustrating to see the outgoing supervisors behaving this way. Melgar’s alternative — keep the nominations of these highly qualified nominees active and for the incoming mayor to approve (or disapprove) — threaded the needle. Everyone could have gotten what they profess to want: competence and the new mayor’s ability to shape commissions.
But, no, it was more important for these four outgoing supervisors to express their distaste for a rival, Mayor Breed.
Such pettiness does not make me want to elect any of them to any further office.
Why should they keep the outgoing mayor’s hand-picks? Let me break this down for you – we as a city are no longer beholden to corrupt, ridiculously dishonest, constantly lying London Breed or her web of giveaway politics. The City REJECTED HER, and rightly so. We need to clean house of everything that corrupt pocket-liner ever touched, and that includes her nominations no matter how qualified. If they’re THAT GOOD, we can pick them again no problem. I tend to think it’s better to cut that rotten limb off right at the rotten stump, and I’m thankful they did. We can literally pick anyone. We don’t need London Greed to personally profit from it anymore. #rejected! We can and WILL do much better without her BS.
Melgar is still a loyal Breed lapdog how shocking.