Just a few minutes ago, City Administrator Ed Lee was selected as Interim Mayor for soon to depart (?) Gavin Newsom.

City Supervisors selected City Administrator Ed Lee as interim mayor, putting an end to a long and agonizing debate over who will replace outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom.

While away in Hong Kong, Lee has been the center of media attention and political discussion since Tuesday when his name emerged as the leading candidate for interim mayor. (SF Weekly Blog)

The vote went down at 10-1, with outgoing D6 supervisor Chris Daly being the lone dissenter.  Of that, Daly said:

I’ve seen go along to get along. If you want to do more than that, if you think there’s a fundamental problem with the way things are in this world, then go along to get along doesn’t do it. ([SFBG I’ve seen go along to get along. If you want to do more than that, if you think there’s a fundamental problem with the way things are in this world, then go along to get along doesn’t do it.”])

In the end, a strong show of support organized by Chinatown power broker Rose Pak and former Mayor Willie Brown pushed this historic mayor over the top.  Lee will become the first Asian-American Mayor of San Francisco, and will not be running for re-election.  Apparently, part of the deal was that Lee would retain much of Newsom’s staff for the duration of the term.

Not much is known about Lee, but he is said to be personally close with most of the supervisors.  His politics are unclear, but one can expect a pretty steady hand from Newsom’s administration.