San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is popular \u2014 and if he gets his way this November, he\u2019ll be even more powerful, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For months, his campaign to pass three ballot measures \u2014 which is backed by some $9 million from wealthy allies and would further centralize power at City Hall \u2014 had roused no formal objections. Until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A group of activists and campaign consultants \u2014 some with ties to progressive stalwart and former supervisor Aaron Peskin \u2014 on Friday filed papers to form an official ballot committee called \u201cFair Ballot Access\u201d to oppose one of the three charter amendments Lurie wants voters to pass in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new committee opposes the Lurie measure that would increase the number of signatures<\/a> needed for a citizen-led initiative to qualify for the ballot. The threshold would go<\/a> from 2% of registered voters (some 10,700 today) to 8% (about 42,000).\u00a0<\/p>\n The measure would raise the hurdle for residents putting their own issues before voters. It would also bring San Francisco closer in line with other large California cities, which typically have much higher requirements (Oakland<\/a> and San Diego<\/a> are 10%, and Los Angeles<\/a> is 15%).<\/p>\n Fair Ballot Access is the first committee to form against any of the mayor\u2019s ballot measures, which are being heavily funded: Political donors have rallied<\/a> and put in $8.6 million so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of that, $2 million comes from Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz<\/a>, who previously backed<\/a> the losing city charter fight that went before voters in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n That year, he and the since-defunct moderate group TogetherSF<\/a> (now rebranded as Blueprint for a Better San Francisco<\/a>) supported Prop. D, which would have dramatically cut the number of city commissions.The measure failed despite its backers heavily outspending its opponents<\/a>, which included Peskin and former mayor London Breed: Prop. D had roughly $9 million in support vs. some $130,000 against.<\/p>\n But the TogetherSF measure was also tied at the hip<\/a> to mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, who was backed by Moritz and who had a committee that put $2 million into the measure.<\/p>\n Farrell was a polarizing figure, and campaign strategists said it was his unpopularity that likely tanked the measure. This time around, the charter efforts are tied to a very popular mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n