Elite Dems Spent Big Money to Recall San Francisco DA who Promised to Address Racial Disparities in the Justice system, Reduce Incarceration and Hold Cops Accountable

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From [HERE] San Francisco residents voted to recall district attorney Chesa Boudin, one of the nation’s most progressive top prosecutors, on June 7. Political groups spending on efforts to recall Boudin reported raking in more than $7 million in contributions while the anti-recall camp raised about $3 million.

Several of the donors giving to recall Boudin are also frequent donors to Republican candidates and conservative causes.

Boudin, once a public defender who switched sides of the courtroom to become a prosecutor, was elected San Francisco’s DA in 2019 after he ran on a platform of addressing racial disparities in the justice system, reducing incarceration, lowering penalties for lower-level offenses and holding police accountable. His victory was one of the most prominent in a growing national progressive prosecutor movement.

But a recall campaign focused on concerns about crime and public safety proved to be Boudin’s downfall. In the final result of the recall, 55% of San Franciscans voted to recall Boudin – 122,588 San Franciscans voted “yes,” with 100,177 voting “no.” 

Pundits pointed to the election results as evidence of the growing discontent within the Democratic electorate with progressive policy on criminal justice, particularly in regards to low-income minority voters. Others have pushed back, emphasizing that many of the neighborhoods in San Francisco with the largest Black and Latino populations were least supportive of Boudin’s recall.

A single PAC, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, accounted for two-thirds of the money spent in favor of the recall campaign, according to San Francisco Ethics Commission data analyzed by OpenSecrets. In total, the PAC spent nearly $4.8 million of the roughly $7 million dropped against Boudin, the majority of which came from various wealthy donors in either the real estate industry or the finance industry.

The two largest donors to Neighbors For A Better San Francisco were Shorenstein Realty Services with $633,000 and local billionaire investor William Oberndorf with over $602,000. 

Shorenstein Realty Services is a San Francisco based property management company run by Brandon Shorenstein, son of the late San Francisco real estate mogul Doug Shorenstein and heir to the $1.3 billion Shorenstein family estate. Shorenstein is a financial supporter of the Democratic Party and has previously given to Democratic politicians including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).

“At Shorenstein, we take seriously our role as a corporate citizen, and are proud of our long history of investing behind initiatives and programs that advance the safety and betterment of San Francisco for all its residents,” said a spokesperson for Shorenstein Realty Services when reached for comment by OpenSecrets. “Our fellow San Franciscans have shown that leadership can and will be held accountable, and we look forward to continuing to work together to build a better, stronger and safer city.”

Oberndorf is the founder of Oberndorf Enterprises LLC, a San Francisco based investment firm. He is a regular donor to Republican politicians, including political contributions to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Oberndorf has given over $11 million in political contributions to Republican-aligned PACs and super PACs since 2011. 

Boudin told the New York Timesthat in 2019, Oberndorf offered to support Boudin’s campaign if he would oppose San Francisco’s status as a sanctuary city. Boudin claims he refused this offer and Oberndorf became upset. When Oberndorf was reached for comment by the New York Times he denied this allegation. 

The third-largest donor to the PAC is Jean-Pierre Conte, a managing director at San Francisco based private equity firm Genstar Capital, who gave $503,800. Although Conte has given considerably to various state-level Democratic committees, such as the Democratic Party of Nevada and the Democratic Party of New Mexico, he has also given political contributions to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. 

Other significant donors to the PAC are longtime financial contributors to Republican candidates and Republican-aligned PACs, including local real estate company Kilroy Realty Services, who donated $167,000, the chairwoman of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Diane Wilsey, who donated $50,000, and Route One Investment LLC founder William Duhamel, who gave $160,000. Duhamel also gave $40,000 to other groups spending on the recall.

Outside of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, the next biggest donations to the recall campaign all came from donors in the real estate, business, and tech industries:

Anti-recall contributions from criminal justice reform organizations and others not enough to bridge funding gap

A large portion of the money raised for the anti-recall campaign – over $700,000 – came from criminal justice reform groups like Smart Justice, Real Justice PAC and the American Civil Liberties Union. The anti-recall effort also received about $250,000 in contributions from two service employee unions, SEIU Local 2015 and SEIU Local 1021.

The anti-recall campaign didn’t drum up the same support from big donors as the pro-recall effort. Instead, the anti-recall camp received a significant portion of its funds from small donors.