FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Deepa@sftu.org October 21, 2016
San Francisco Tenants Union Condemns Scott Wiener’s Misleading Mailer on Tenants’ Record
Mailer Altered Cover Of Guardian with Out of Context Quote from former SFTU Executive Director Ted Gullicksen
Union Calls for Wiener to Apologize to Voters
San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco Tenants Union (SFTU) today strongly condemned the recent mailing from corporate candidate Scott Wiener that altered the cover of a 2013 issue of the Guardian to mislead voters on his record on tenants’ rights. SFTU has endorsed Jane Kim for State Senate because she has a record of standing up for renters while Wiener has consistently sided with the big landlords who are bankrolling his campaign.
As reported by the Bay Guardian, the deceitful mailer intentionally leaves voters with the impression Wiener has the Guardian endorsement – which he does not. Worse, it also misuses the words of Ted Gullicksen, former Executive Director for SFTU who has since passed away.
“I am appalled by this mail piece,” said [Deepa Varma from the San Francisco Tenants Union]. “It tarnishes the legacy of Ted, a man who spent decades fighting for tenants’ rights and fighting politicians like Scott Wiener. Scott Wiener’s record on the Board of Supervisors has shown him to be a tool of the landlords, big realtors and special interests. That is precisely the opposite of everything Ted stood for. Wiener should be ashamed. He should apologize to voters to set the record straight. It’s so telling that instead of telling the truth about his real record, Weiner has chosen to mislead San Franciscans who are desperate to see their representatives stand up to real estate interests.”
Tim Redmond, the author of today’s article wrote, “I’ve never seen anything remotely as bad as this. It’s just dishonest; there’s no other way to describe it.”
The altered cover image (reproduced below) uses a paraphrase of a quote from Gullicksen to state that “Wiener has a history of supporting pro-tenant legislation.” The actual subheadline on the 2013 cover stated, “Scott Wiener is relentless, driven, prolific – and changing San Francisco in sometimes alarming ways.” And the full paragraph on Gullicksen’s remarks make clear he was disappointed that Wiener had sold out helping tenants in order to advance his political career:
“Gullicksen acknowledged that Wiener has a history of supporting pro-tenant legislation, particularly during his time on the DCCC when tenants were at war with Wiener’s predecessor, Bevan Duty, and then-Mayor Gavin Newsom. But he said that Wiener changed after the progressives took over the DCCC and prepared to run for supervisor in a district that has gentrified, largely because of apartments being turned into TICs and condos.
“He made the decision that he was not going to be with the progressives and to ally himself with the conservatives, moderates, and real estate people,” Gullicksen said.”
Among other stances, Gullicksen opposed Wiener’s efforts to make it easier to evict tenants and convert rental units into condos, worked to pass anti-real estate speculation legislation that Wiener opposed and worked to prevent the destruction of rent controlled apartments in a new development supported by Wiener.
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