Phony news releases wrongly attributed to San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill have found their way into inboxes and onto doorsteps twice over the course of the last month. It’s unclear who is behind either of the statements or whether they are connected.
The releases “fraudulently” used official city letterhead and San Francisco’s seal, though neither had been written or distributed by his office or staff, Sherrill said in a statement Saturday. It is a misdemeanor to “maliciously” misuse the city seal, according to city code.
“Any individual or entity that exploits official insignia to spread misinformation undermines that trust and erodes confidence in our institutions,” Sherrill said in the statement, urging constituents who had received them to “share any relevant information.”
Sherrill is up for election in June for the first time since his 2024 appointment by then-Mayor London Breed. He faces a robust challenge from Lori Brooke, a community organizer and critic of plans to upzone parts of the district, which includes affluent neighborhoods in the Marina and Pacific Heights.
The first fictitious release, dated Feb. 10, was sent from a Gmail address unaffiliated with Sherrill’s campaign or official City Hall office. It purported to be a response from the supervisor to a story in the California Post that raised questions about why Breed had selected him to fill the vacant board seat.
San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, the target of phony news releases, is up for election in June for the first time since his 2024 appointment. (Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle)
Formatted to look like official releases from Sherrill’s office, the statement was snarky, plainly satirical and apparently intended to call attention to a potential political vulnerability for the incumbent.
“Overwhelming evidence should not lead voters to conclude I am in this job because of blatant, inexcusable corruption,” the statement said. “That is a hurtful, entirely accurate thing to say.”
Neither Breed nor Sherrill has been accused of misconduct related to his appointment. Sherrill told the Post that the vetting process that led to his selection was thorough, legitimate and fair, and Breed called the accusation that it was anything otherwise “offensive and deeply disrespectful.”
On Friday, just a few weeks later, another fake release was distributed to District 2 residents. This one arrived in the form of a printed half-sheet of paper, again bearing the city’s seal and Sherrill’s name, tucked into doorways around the Marina.
Under the heading “Statement re: The Red Bull F1 Event,” the three-paragraph statement was written in the first person, addressed “to my Marina neighbors.” The writer, posing as Sherrill, appeared to blame Mayor Daniel Lurie for a disorganized, chaotic race car demonstration down Marina Boulevard last weekend.
“If you have feedback or concerns or are seeking reimbursement for damages, though, please know this event was directed through Mayor Lurie’s office,” the statement said. It also encouraged residents “to contact the Mayor directly, and not my office,” and suggested that city departments would “address outstanding issues.”
San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill says the mailing of fake news releases by an anonymous source “erodes confidence in our institutions.” (Manuel Orbegozo/For the S.F. Chronicle)
The statement seemed to intentionally distort or directly contradict parts of a legitimate release actually distributed last week by Sherrill’s City Hall staff responding to complaints about the Red Bull event. In that statement, Sherrill urged Marina residents to directly contact his office, not the mayor, and said he would work to hold Red Bull, not city departments, accountable for fixing damages.
Sherill’s official statement also said he would “convene City departments to review what occurred.”
Sherrill has proved to be a staunch ally for Lurie on the Board of Supervisors, supporting many of the mayor’s hallmark pieces of legislation including the “Family Zoning” plan and permitting reforms. Lurie endorsed Sherrill’s campaign in December, the mayor’s first endorsement of the 2026 cycle.
The last seven digits of a phone number listed at the bottom of the release, just below Sherrill’s name, matched his City Hall office number. But the first three had been swapped from the office’s actual 415 area code to a Manhattan code. A person who answered the line Sunday declined to give his name but said the number was for a private business in New York that was unaffiliated with Sherrill, the Marina district or San Francisco government.
This article originally published at S.F. lawmaker warns of ‘false statements’ made in his name.