Would-be District 4 supervisorial candidate Leanna Louie held herself a rally/press conference Tuesday morning to announce that she is suing the city over being struck from the November ballot over residency issues.
This all feels like some classic San Francisco political comedy, but this has been no joke to Leanna Louie, clearly, and now she's lawyering up.
We learned Friday that Louie had been struck from the November ballot, on which she hoped to vie for Gordon Mar's District 4 supervisor seat, after the City Attorney's Office determined that Louie's residency in the district was not satisfactorily proven. City Attorney David Chiu found that Louie had not given up her "long-time District 10 family home" when she allegedly took up residency in the Sunset in March — via a $500/mo rented room.
Under the city charter, a candidate must establish their "legal domicile" in a district in which they are running no less than 30 days before declaring their candidacy.
In a 16-page memo to the Department of Elections, Chiu said that Louie had admitted in interviews to regularly sleeping at three other addresses outside of District 4, despite renting the room and throwing a housewarming potluck there in April. She also voted in a special election this spring from her District 10 address — the contest between Matt Haney and David Campos for Assembly, which Louie would not have been eligible to vote in if she lived in her District 4 room.
There was also a question about where Louie intended to reside with her fiance after the November election, which was apparently not yet decided.
Mission Local broke the story about Louie's residency issues, to which Louie responded by repeatedly comparing the publication to the radical leftist group the Weather Underground — and calling reporter Joe Eskanazi a Nazi, for which she later apologized. Louie proclaimed Mission Local's reporting "fake news," and said she had proven her residency, "END OF STORY." But that wasn't the end of the story, and the Department of Elections announced Friday that her candidacy in District 4 was deemed invalid.
Part 3/3…Dept of Elections (DOE) staff verbally apologized & fixed the issue. I voted in person at Dept of Elections to oust Chesa Boudin on 5/9.
— Leanna Louie 雷千紅 for District 4 Supervisor (@LeannaLouieD4SF) August 11, 2022
DOE received a complaint questioning residency last week. DOE asked me for proof of residency. I provided proof. END OF STORY.
Louie held her rally on the steps of City Hall Tuesday morning, and announced she would file a lawsuit challenging the Department of Elections' decision.
Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the City Attorney's Office, said in a statement to the Chronicle, "While it is Ms. Louie’s right to take this matter to court, we stand by our facts and conclusions."
Previously: Supervisor Candidate Leanna Louie Booted Off the Ballot Over Residency Issues
