The Political Reform Act (aka Gov. Code sections 8100091014) requires state and local public officials to make an annual public filing that discloses their personal assets and income. San Francisco officials who miss the spring deadlines to file the Statement of Economic Interest get fines and low-level shaming on the Ethics Commission website — here are the scofflaws from 2015 — and those who do file end up in Ethics' filings database, which is a lot of fun if you enjoy that kind of thing! I do, and so, it appears, does the Chron, which dutifully checked out this year's filings and learned that our elected officials are given many free things, as they must list all gifts worth more than $25. Let's look at the numbers, shall we?

  • $2,317: The cost of a trip to New York taken by London Breed and paid for by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
  • $100: The value of a ticket given to Breed by HBO to attend the Game of Thrones premiere.
  • $375: The cost of a ticket to Outside Lands given to Eric Mar by Another Planet Entertainment
  • $10,297: The cost of a six-day trip Malia Cohen took to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Golan Heights, paid for by "the American-Israel Education Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee"
  • $596.20: How much "Local Progress, a network of local progressive elected officials" spent to send John Avalos to Washington, D.C.
  • $1,750: The cost of a trip Norman Yee took to Baltimore and Cincinnati, paid for by the "Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropic group dedicated to child welfare issues"
  • $441: The value of frequent-flier miles given to Aaron Peskin and his wife by real estate developer Walter Wong "to upgrade from economy to first class on their trip to Nepal after the November election"
  • $320: The value of tickets given to Jane Kim by the San Francisco Symphony
  • $2,750: The cost of a trip Mayor Ed Lee and his wife, Anita, took to Rome, paid for by the "nonprofit Friends of the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women"
  • $179.99: The current list price of an Amazon Echo, one of which was given to Lee by "politically connected real estate agent Victor Makras"
  • $250: The value of a basketball ticket given to Lee by Kevin Heneghan "Lee’s campaign treasurer in his 2011 mayoral run who is now a senior policy counsel at Airbnb"

All facts and figures: Sports tickets, a Mideast trip, a drone: freebies given to SF officials, SF Chronicle, April 7 2016