We have asked a lot of our online community over the last 10 months. You have been there with us, and for us, every step of the way.

You helped us get the campaign started – donating 20 hours of volunteer time or $20 to the campaign through our 20/20 program.

You helped us put together coffees in every corner of the city so we could meet your friends and neighbors.

You packed the house at our campaign kick-off event in May.

You gathered so many signatures that we were the only campaign to file more than 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

You helped us earn the support of the Sierra Club, teachers, the CA Nurses, the SF Labor Council and over 46 other community organizations representing hundreds of thousands of our friends and neighbors.

Over 2,000 of you have donated to our cause.

We are right on the verge of winning this race and creating an independent City Hall for the next four years. We need your help now more than ever.

We have 3 days to go until the campaign fundraising deadline at midnight on Saturday. Our goal is 100 online donations by midnight on Saturday. Will you help us win this race by making a contribution before the deadline?

In the past two weeks, we released our 20-point plans for improving our public schools and continuing San Francisco’s environmental leadership. We have released more public plans with more detail than any other campaign.

We have received the endorsement of the teachers and the San Francisco Labor Council. Our volunteers just finished door knocking their 300th precinct!

You have helped build this campaign from the start.

We have seven weeks to go to change City Hall and take back our city. This is our time.

We have 3 days to go until the campaign fundraising deadline at midnight on Saturday. Our goal is 100 online donations by midnight on Saturday. Will you help us win this race by making a contribution before the deadline?

Thank you for everything that you have done.

Sincerely,

Leland Yee

PS – We are on the verge of winning this campaign and taking back City Hall from the inside power brokers. Please help put us over the top with a donation.

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, Mayoral candidate and Senator Leland Yee unveiled his policy plan to strengthen San Francisco’s public schools. The plan, entitled “It Takes a Community,” contains 22 specific commitments that Yee will embark on as Mayor to address the underlying problems facing the city’s school system and to help turn around public education within San Francisco.

Yee – the only candidate to attend San Francisco public schools as well as send his four children to public schools – unveiled his plan today along side teachers, parents and former students at Gordon J. Lau Elementary School (formerly Commodore Stockton School), where Yee was a student as a young child.

Yee’s plan includes policies to provide affordable housing for teachers, time off for parents to participate, free Muni for low-income students, community services through school programs, and more college savings accounts.

“The best way to keep families in San Francisco is to improve public education,” said Yee. “A fully engaged and committed Mayor, who works in partnership with the school district, teachers, and parents, can make a real difference. This 22 point plan will not only help our kids, but will help our entire community and improve our economy.”

Yee began his political career as member of the San Francisco Board of Education in 1988.  Prior to serving as a Commissioner, Yee was an educator and child psychologist in the public schools. As a state legislator, Yee has fought for students and teachers – from authoring legislation to increase mental health services to voting against budget cuts to education.

As a result of his experience and commitment to public education, Yee is endorsed by the United Educators of San Francisco, California School Employees Association, and the California Nurses Association.

Yee has also been honored as the “Legislator of the Year” by the California Association of School Psychologists, California School Nutrition Association, California School Employees Association, Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, Associated Students of the University of California, and the California Faculty Association, among others.

“Leland Yee has been a child psychologist, a teacher in the classroom, and will always be an educator in his heart,” said Kim-Shree Maufas, Board of Education Commissioner. “He’s one of us, he’s been there for us, and he’s the mayor who will be best for our schools.”

“Yee’s plan for schools demonstrates his commitment to education,” said Dennis Kelly, President of the United Educators of San Francisco. “San Francisco Teachers trust Leland to prioritize our kids and schools and we are proud to support Leland Yee for Mayor.”

The highlights of Yee’s plan include:

PUT STUDENTS FIRST

1. Increase student success with wrap-around “community school” services
2. Prioritize underperforming schools for community school reforms
3. Reduce truancy and dropout rates, and expand programs for at-risk youth
4. Free Muni for public school kids
5. Promote school-based healthcare services for the entire family
6. Expand nutrition education to improve healthy eating at home
7. Bridge the digital divide
8. Make college a goal for every student
9. Make the Dream Act a reality
10. Improve language proficiency for all students

RESPECT AND REWARD TEACHERS

11. Expand teacher recognition and incentive programs
12. Teacher Power: appoint educators to city boards and commissions
13. Develop the best future educators by recruiting the best college graduates
14. Real affordable housing for educators
15. Help teachers pay for classroom materials

PROMOTE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

16. Create network of community partners to expand reach of wrap-around services
17. Expand and formalize partnerships with universities to share space, service-learning opportunities, and align strategic plans
18. Expand partnerships with businesses to ensure college and career connectivity
19. Create alliance of school and parent advocacy groups to improve connectivity and collaboration

ENCOURAGE PARENT PARTICIPATION

20. Time off to attend school functions and parent-teacher conferences
21. Support and promote the SFUSD Parent Engagement and Partnership Plan
22. Community school wrap-around services for parents

To read Yee’s entire plan, visit www.LelandYee.com.

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Yee immigrated to San Francisco at the age of 3. His father, a veteran, served in the US Army and the Merchant Marine, and his mother was a local seamstress. Yee graduated from the University of California – Berkeley, then earned a Ph.D. in Child Psychology, and later served in various mental health and school settings. He and his wife, Maxine, have raised four children who all attended San Francisco public schools. Yee has served in the State Legislature, Board of Supervisors and Board of Education.

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SEIU 1021 reject Lee, back Yee in Mayor’s Race

SAN FRANCISCO – Senator Leland Yee has landed the first choice endorsement of the largest organization of city workers – Service Employees International Union (SEIU 1021) – in his campaign for San Francisco Mayor. The move by the 54,000 member union is a complete rejection of the city’s top official, interim Mayor Ed Lee.

The endorsement comes after Yee has landed virtually every major labor endorsement in the race, including the California Nurses Association, California School Employees Association, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, Laborers International Union, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Communication Workers of America, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, among others.

Yee has also been endorsed by the major environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and San Francisco Tomorrow.

“I am proud to be the labor candidate in this race and honored to receive the endorsement from SEIU 1021 and our city’s workforce, who run our city and provide us essential services,” said Yee. “SEIU 1021 represents some of our lowest paid and hardest working employees, including healthcare workers, nurses, and janitors. Together, we have fought to ensure greater transparency and accountability at City Hall and within state government. I look forward to working with SEIU as we move San Francisco forward.”

“Clearly, Leland Yee is the best choice to stand up for working families,” said Jim Stearns, Yee’s campaign manager. “Unlike some candidates, Leland doesn’t believe public employees are the enemy and he’ll fight for good-paying jobs and benefits for those who provide essential services to San Francisco residents.”

SEIU 1021 also endorsed John Avalos as a first or second choice and Bevan Dufty as a third choice.

SEIU 1021 was founded in 2007 when 10 local unions came together in northern California to form one larger, more powerful union. SEIU 1021 represents public service workers in cities, counties, courts, schools, private non-profits, special districts, public health care, and nursing.

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Yee immigrated to San Francisco at the age of 3. His father, a veteran, served in the US Army and the Merchant Marine, and his mother was a local seamstress. Yee graduated from the University of California – Berkeley, then earned a Ph.D. in Child Psychology, and later served in various mental health and school settings. He and his wife, Maxine, have raised four children who all attended San Francisco public schools. Yee has served in the State Legislature, Board of Supervisors and Board of Education.

Read more at www.lelandyee.com

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Do you think the SFMTA President should have received a $384,000 golden parachute for walking off the job 6 months after he signed a new contract?

Is it acceptable that the San Francisco Ethics Commission is appointed by the same politicians it is supposed to be policing?

Does it help the city that unregistered lobbyists, representing downtown interests, spend hours in City Hall bending the ears of our leaders?

No way. But that’s what’s happening right now. Help us stop it.

This past weekend, we are released our plan and petition for an independent City Hall direct to the voters via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Will you join me and let the insiders know you won’t take it anymore? Read the plan. Sign the petition.

For 23 years, I have been a champion of open government and a proud independent voice — independent of the downtown interests, of the city hall insiders, and the political powerbrokers.

Join me in creating an independent City Hall and let the insiders know you won’t take it anymore. Read the plan. Sign the petition.

Recently, the San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote about the tight-knit group of shadowy powerbrokers that run City Hall.

“They desperately fear that Yee will win the mayor’s race and clean house, kicking out…all of the…cronies, greatly reducing their power in San Francisco.”

It’s time to create an independent City Hall. Here’s what I’ll do:

• Create a Citizen Ethics Commission. No longer will city politicians appoint the very people assigned to watch them and monitor ethical violations.
• No more golden parachutes. Insider appointees get special treatment. It’s not fair to the taxpayers and it’s bad for the city.
• Crackdown on unregistered lobbyists. Powerful, political insiders are gaming the system to their advantage. It’s time to stop them.
• Increased enforcement from Ethics Commission. Without sufficient enforcement, shadowy outside groups break campaign rules without fear of punishment, hurt our democracy and impact key policy decisions.
• Improve sunshine ordinances. Our open government and sunshine laws have become toothless. We need to create a faster more accessible way to make records available to the public for review.

Will you join me and let the insiders know you won’t take it anymore? Send them a message that it’s time for an independent City Hall. Sign the petition.

Last night, the Sierra Club endorsed Leland as their choice for the next Mayor of San Francisco.

The Sierra Club is the oldest and largest environment organization in the country with over 30,000 members in the San Francisco Bay Chapter alone.  We could not be more honored to have their support.

Will you make a contribution right now to help us get the message out on the big news.

Every contribution to the campaign is matched 4 to 1 – so a $20 donation today is worth $100 to the campaign.  Please donate.

Last year in the State Senate, Leland was one of only two Senators to receive a 100% rating from the Sierra Club, League of Conversation Voters, and Clean Water Action.

Recently, Leland authored and passed legislation to stop offshore oil drilling, protect the Farollon Islands, build the Devil’s Slide Tunnel along Highway 1 and respond to the 2007 San Francisco Bay Cosco Busan oil spill.

That’s why John Rizzo, Political Chair of the Sierra Club – San Francisco Bay Chapter, said “Leland’s vision will help San Francisco lead the nation in environmental stewardship.”

As the race for mayor starts to heat up, you can make a big difference.

Will you make a contribution to help us get the message out about the Sierra Club endorsement?

We have many environmental successes in our city but there is much more we can do.  That’s why Leland’s goal is for San Francisco to have 100% clean energy and recycle 100% of our waste by the year 2020.

Help Leland get to City Hall so we can turn these goals into realities.

If you can, please make a contribution today and help San Francisco become the greatest city in American by 2020.

Thank you for all your help and support.

Sincerely,

Jim Stearns

Campaign Manager

We’ve got a lot going on at Yee campaign headquarters these days with our official kick-off event this Saturday, May 7 at 10:30 AM. Click here to RSVP.

Our social media question time topic this week is small business.  What do you think we should do to improve the climate for small business growth in San Francisco?  What questions do you have for Leland about his policy positions on small business?

Enter your questions or ideas in the comment thread and we’ll respond to three of the questions next week.

Last week, we started social media question time, taking your questions on health care for Senator Yee to answer. Below, you’ll find three questions from our community this past week and Senator Yee’s response. Thanks to everyone for submitting questions. We’ll post a new topic next week!

Joanne M. Maerklen – Why is it so hard to find a doctor to take Medi-Cal?

ANSWER:  You’re right, Joanne, it’s incredibly difficult.  It’s mostly because reimbursement rates are often lower than the cost of providing services, so the number of doctors that take Medi-Cal patients is low.  That’s why a single-payer universal health care system is still such an important goal in the long term.  And that’s why we must look at ways to expand our health care network in San Francisco – HealthySF is a great model to provide services for the uninsured, but we also need to provide a robust network for patients who use Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and Healthy Kids.

Cesar Manuel Escobar – Why are the hospitals that make outrageous mistakes not liable for their shortcomings?  Meaning: Why is everything so hush-hush?  Shouldn’t their mistakes be public record?

ANSWER:  I agree. I’ve been a staunch advocate for open records and transparency for years – I’ve worked hard to improve transparency at the UC, and have supported efforts to increase transparency in hospitals. I’ve authored and passed legislation that requires public release of audits, a bill which stemmed from a problem at UCSF Medical Center in which the University tried to hide the results of the audit to the public. But there’s more we can do, and I’m already talking with the Nurses about how we can improve transparency in San Francisco’s health care system.

Tamara Ching – Please bless the public health clinics … without them, S.F. would be a doomed city. remembers getting her polio shots in Chinatown, and vaccinations from DPH to travel oversees. Plus our immigrants get their initial checkup and medications through our public health clinics.

ANSWER:  San Francisco has been a leader in providing safety net healthcare services – our public health clinics are absolutely essential to providing services through HeathySF, Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.  City funding keeps them afloat, and in these tough budget times we cannot sustain any further cuts to these essential services. That’s why I helped save funding for non-profit community health centers like the Women’s Community Clinic when I was Finance Chair on the Board of Supervisors; it’s why I’ve stood against these types of cuts at the state level; and it’s why I’ll make funding public health clinics a priority as Mayor.

In honor of the Mayor meeting with the Board of Supervisors for the first-ever question time this week, the Yee campaign has decided to start social media question time.  Each week, we’ll post one topic for Senator Yee to take questions on from our social media community!

Leland and the campaign team will select three questions to answer from the questions submitted and we’ll post the answers to those questions the following week.

This week’s topic is health care.

So it’s time to submit your questions!

Here’s what to do.  We will be taking questions in three places:

1.  On our Facebook page.  Make sure to like our Facebook page and look for the appropriate comment thread.

2.  On Twitter.  Make sure to hashtag your question with #LelandYee.  You can direct the question @LelandYee if you want.  But they MUST have hashtag #LelandYee.

3.  On our Calitics and DailyKos blog.  These will be the only posts that we’re taking questions in, so if you post it in the forums or comment another blog post, we won’t consider it.

We close for questions on Friday, April 15th at 6:00 PM (PDT).

Six months ago, I walked into City Hall with my family and announced my exploratory campaign for Mayor of San Francisco.

Today, I’m making my campaign for Mayor of San Francisco official.

You’re invited to join me at our special launch event on Saturday, May 7th at 10:30 AM. RSVP.

Since that day six months ago, I have held 37 coffee conversations and attended hundreds of community meetings in neighborhoods across the city to hear your ideas for our shared future together in San Francisco.   We’ve heard from thousands of San Franciscans eager to see our city continue its leadership on health care policy, economic innovation and the environment.  And people have asked the hard questions of how we will reform education, make it easier to raise a family in the city and improve Muni.

My commitment to you is no will work harder to help San Francisco reach its full potential but I need your help.

Will you join me at our special launch event on Saturday, May 7th at 10:30 AM? RSVP.

Everything I am today, I owe to San Francisco.  I came here as an immigrant at the age of 3, went to local public schools and got a chance to go to college.

I raised my family in San Francisco.  I want my kids to raise their families in San Francisco.  But most of all, I wan to make sure we leave them a San Francisco that reaches its full potential and leads the nation.  Together, I know we can do this.

I hope you will join me out our special launch event on Saturday, May 7th at 10:30 AM. RSVP.

Sincerely,

Leland Yee

I wanted to give you a quick updated from the campaign trail.

Help us build our online community – share this note on Facebook with your friends

Nurses Endorse Yee

Leland received the sole endorsement of the California Nurses Association – the bigges endorsement in the race to date.  “His record in areas such as mental health service, HIV funding, children’s health and hospital disclosure should make every San Francisco proud.”  Press release. Bay Citizen Story.

Building a clear vision for San Francisco’s future

And having a lot of coffee along the way!  This week, we held our 35th 20/20 coffee conversation about our shared future in San Francisco.  It feels great to see so many of you out on the campaign trail so early.  If you have not joined us for a 20/20 coffee conversation – come meet Leland and share your thoughts.  Upcoming coffee conversations.

Showing our civic pride…Go Giants!

We’re excited for the Giants season and really enjoyed being able to connect with other Giant fans and show our civic pride through the campaign.  Congratulations to our winners Zach Austin, Katrina Lezcano and Jonathan Louie and a special thanks to everyone who participated in our Facebook sweepstakes.  Join Leland on Facebook.

New team members

We’re pleased to announce several new members of the Yee campaign team – Anthony (Field Director), Laura (Field Organizer), Nate (Field Organizer) and Vince (Volunteer Coordinator)!  Help keep the campfires burning late at the Yee headquarters.  Donate.

Thanks

Campaigns – especially in San Francisco – are won with an army of volunteers and supporters.  If you want to lend a hand, we would love your help.  We need phone bankers, canvassers and folks to answer the phone, Facebook captains, food for volunteers and staff working late and more. Can you lend a hand?

Sincerely,

Jim Stearns

Campaign Manager