Clint Reilly, a Bay Area milkman\u2019s son who rose to manage the campaigns of California\u2019s most influential political figures, has died at age 79.<\/p>\n
A savvy political consultant, Reilly spearheaded early winning campaigns for some of the most recognizable names in California politics: former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.<\/p>\n
Brandon Heist, Clint Reilly Organization\u2019s head of business operations, said in a statement to The Times that Reilly died over the weekend in San Francisco. He died surrounded by family, which requested privacy. The San Francisco Examiner newspaper, which Reilly bought in 2020, earlier announced<\/a> its owner\u2019s death Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cI will always be grateful for Clint\u2019s friendship and counsel over so many years,\u201d Pelosi said in a statement. \u201cAs the manager of my first campaign<\/a> for Congress in 1987, he brought his unmatched strategic mind to help create and amplify my slogan: A Voice That Will Be Heard.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 1987 article, The Times<\/a> attributed the success of Pelosi\u2019s congressional bid to money \u2014 her campaign spent $1 million, more than her 13 opponents combined \u2014 and a sophisticated voter turnout program devised by Reilly. At the time, Pelosi was a 46-year-old mother of five children and a party activist known for raising large sums for Democratic candidates.<\/p>\n Reflecting on Pelosi\u2019s rise last November, Reilly wrote in a San Francisco Examiner op-ed<\/a>, \u201cThe mystery of being a political consultant is that you never know how your winning candidate\u2019s career will turn out.\u201d<\/p>\n Reilly\u2019s legacy went beyond catapulting politicians into office.<\/p>\n He helped transform modern campaigning, said Oakland political consultant Jim Ross, who worked for Reilly throughout the \u201990s, including on the election and reelection campaigns of San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan. <\/p>\n In the \u201880s, Reilly was among the first consultants to merge grassroots organizing with new technology: using voter roll data to segment and target pivotal voters for turnout and persuasion, Ross said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a way to make sure that he spent resources effectively,\u201d Ross said. <\/p>\n Reilly\u2019s data-driven voter targeting tactics helped Feinstein, then-San Francisco mayor, beat a recall effort<\/a> in 1983. They later had a public falling-out<\/a> in 1989 during Feinstein\u2019s failed campaign for governor.<\/p>\n Reilly\u2019s portfolio wasn\u2019t strictly Democratic. In 1993, he coordinated businessman Richard Riordan\u2019s successful campaign for Los Angeles mayor<\/a> by targeting homeowners\u2019 anxieties<\/a> about unemployment, crime and other symptoms of urban decay. When elected, Riordan became the first Republican mayor of Los Angeles in 36 years \u2014 and no Republican has been elected to that office since.<\/p>\n Reilly also advised the California insurance industry. <\/p>\n In 1988, he led<\/a> the insurance industry\u2019s losing $60-million initiative campaigns for Propositions 104 and 106. The pair of insurance industry-sponsored measures was designed to compete with Propositions 100 and 103, initiatives backed by trial lawyers and consumer advocates who wanted to reform the industry.<\/p>\n Voters ultimately passed<\/a> Proposition 103, which promised insurance rate roll-backs and created the elected state insurance commissioner role. But Ross said it was one example of how Reilly would search for creative ways to achieve his client\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n \u201cClint really pioneered in that election the idea of running competing ballot measures,\u201d Ross said. \u201cThe reform measure was extraordinarily popular, it was going to pass, so instead of going at it directly, he ran a competing measure.\u201d <\/p>\n A 1994 profile<\/a> in The Times, from when Reilly was running Democrat Kathleen Brown\u2019s bid for governor, described him as \u201cone of the most powerful\u2013and feared\u2013political operatives in California.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhen the opponent knows you have (him) on your side, a chill goes up their spine,\u201d former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan told The Times. \u201cHe\u2019s certainly better to have inside the tent than outside.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Oakland in 1947, Reilly was drawn to politics from an early age. He ran successfully for class president during fifth grade, with a campaign slogan his sister devised: \u201cTake a Hint, Vote for Clint.\u201d<\/p>\n Reilly\u2019s relationship with Eugene Boyle<\/a>, a Bay Area Catholic priest and liberal activist known for supporting the Civil Rights Movement, shaped his political views. He was passionate about supporting \u201cthe underdogs,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n Reilly spent nine years in seminary before switching to pursue politics. His big break came in 1979, when he ran San Francisco Supervisor Quentin Kopp\u2019s campaign for mayor. Kopp lost, but Reilly\u2019s name stuck.<\/p>\n He soon developed a reputation for charging top dollar for his campaign strategy services and for his heavy campaign spending. In 1982, after Reilly brought Boxer to a decisive primary victory in her first congressional race, she fired<\/a> him over excessive campaign spending, the Times reported in the 1994 profile.<\/p>\n As a boss, Reilly was \u201cextraordinarily demanding,\u201d Ross said, adding, \u201cI reread pieces of direct mail five and six times now because of him.\u201d <\/p>\n He also had a generous side, Ross said. Reilly spent time teaching young staffers the art of campaigning, a rarity in politics. Even after he left political consulting and shifted his focus to real estate, Reilly continued to help candidates with fundraising and messaging.<\/p>\n Reilly ran unsuccessfully for San Francisco mayor in 1999 and later turned his attention to local media and philanthropy, founding a nonprofit<\/a> in 2008 to offer scholarships for low-income students to attend private college-preparatory high schools.<\/p>\n Reilly\u2019s passing will not change the structure or current operations of the Clint Reilly Organization, Heist said. The organization\u2019s media division includes the San Francisco Examiner \u2014 which Reilly acquired<\/a> in 2020 alongside its now-defunct<\/a> affiliate SF Weekly \u2014 and the Nob Hill Gazette, which he bought<\/a> in 2016. The organization also has a hospitality company and real estate division.<\/p>\n \u201cThe organization\u2019s commitment to its employees, partners, and the community remain firmly in place,\u201d Heist said.<\/p>\n Condolences poured in from leaders across California on Monday. <\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom in a statement honored Reilly as a \u201cSan Francisco institution\u201d with a brilliant mind and generous heart. <\/p>\n