Mayor London Breed won the coveted SF Police Officers Association endorsement Thursday, but members of the union are grumbling off the record that there was no real vote, and claim that there’s more support for Mark Farrell among the ranks.
While SF Mayor London Breed was off partying at the Democratic National Convention, some very welcome news fell in her lap Thursday. As the Chronicle reports, the police officers’ union known as the San Francisco Police Officers Association (SFPOA) gave Breed their sole endorsement in November’s mayoral race.
In a press release, they cited Breed getting that March ballot measure expanding police powers passed, procuring extra funding for the police, her role in the recent crime decrease, and perhaps most importantly, her support for giving police expanded retirement benefits for staying on the force.
But there’s a big difference between what the SFPOA is saying publicly, privately, and off-the-record when talking to reporters about this already controversial endorsement.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has been endorsed by the union representing the city’s police officers, a key political victory as she seeks to strengthen her reelection bid in a race dominated by voters’ public safety concerns. https://t.co/9G3wyLCfrv
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) August 23, 2024
First, here is the official word from the officers’ union. "Mayor Breed has consistently provided the leadership needed to ensure SFPD has the funding it needs to be effective, expanded efforts to recruit new officers and retain veteran officers, and moved public safety policy back in the right direction to hold criminals accountable and support crime victims," SFPOA president Tracy McCray said in a statement. “Mayor Breed has stood up for smart public safety policies, weathered the anti-policing attacks, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with San Francisco police officers as we've worked with the community to turn the tide on crime and lawlessness. It's working."
In a major pickup for Mayor London Breed, the SF Police Officers Association endorsed her re-election.
— Mission Local (@MLNow) August 23, 2024
But members of the union's Board of Directors say this action was taken unilaterally by president Tracy McCray, without a formal vote. https://t.co/jQGhKtoF9Z
And then there is what the union is saying amongst themselves. Mission Local obtained the internal union email announcing the endorsement (you can read it here). “Let's be frank. The SFPOA and Mayor Breed have had our differences. There is zero argument there,” McCray said in that email. “Despite our disagreements, over the last four years, the Mayor and the SFPOA worked together to make huge strides for our membership and the department.”
But lastly, there is what members are grumbling privately about the endorsement vote, or lack thereof. And mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, who had clearly wanted that endorsement, is using that private grumbling to paint himself as the real endorsee of the police union rank-and-file.
I have a message for every rank-and-file police officer: even though you didn’t get a chance to be heard in this endorsement process, I have heard you loud and clear about the state of public safety in our neighborhoods, and I will always fight for you in City Hall. pic.twitter.com/Bo1l85P37o
— Mark Farrell 🥥🌴 (@MarkFarrellSF) August 23, 2024
Farrell is correct to point out that one anonymous union member who attended the meeting told Mission Local that “There was never a formal vote done,” and that “No board members made a motion to have a formal vote.”
Though that is allowable by the union’s bylaws. Union spokesperson Alex Tourk said in a statement to Mission Local that McCray “made her recommendation to the Full Board and they voted as a Full Board to endorse Mayor Breed.”
Note, that is not a member vote, just a board vote. And those present say the board didn’t even actually vote, though it is apparently the case that the SFPOA president can declare an endorsement without any vote.
Between the Chronicle and Mission Local, there are three former SFPOA presidents who were scathing in their remarks to those publications about how this was handled.
“The replies I’m getting from the membership at large is, ‘How could this happen? We were all for Farrell,’” former president Martin Halloran (2013-2018) told the Chronicle.
“What [McCray] did was out of line and over the top,” another former president Gary Delagnes (2004-2013) told Mission Local. “I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on, this is wrong. This is not a democracy, it’s a banana republic.”
So Breed has the police union endorsement that she wanted. Farrell has the SF Deputy Sheriffs’ Association endorsement, as well as the San Francisco Firefighters Local union endorsement. All of these are crucial as Breed and Farrell try to duke it out on who’s really the “law and order” candidate.
But the way the police union endorsement went down, Farrell can (and already is) claiming he’s the real favorite among local police officers.
Image: @LondonBreed via Twitter
