The local pressure group and political action committee TogetherSF has $17 million of SF Standard owner Michael Moritz’s money and an agenda to stoke rage and “community dissatisfaction,” according to internal documents that were just leaked to the press.

The upcoming November election, and likely many future SF elections, will be awash in countless millions from an array of redundantly named tech PACs (political action committees) hoping to steer local public policy in favor of aggrieved venture capitalist and real estate industry types. So some local left-leaning outfit called the Phoenix Project started up in February in hopes of countering their message. But the Phoenix Project does not have any billionaires kicking down a ton of money to them. So how do they expect to make any difference?

Well, one method would be to somehow acquire secret documents from the tech PACs, and leak them to the press. And they’ve done just that, acquiring a secret 48-page internal strategy document from the political agitation group TogetherSF (best known for their “That’s Fentaife!” ad campaign and falsely claiming the Civic Center farmers’ market was closing down), and getting it published on Mission Local.      

The document is from July 2023, so it’s more than a year old. But TogetherSF CEO Kanishka Cheng put out a statement acknowledging the document is genuine.

The most stunning revelation is the degree to which the organization is funded almost entirely by SF Standard owner Michael Moritz. Again, this data is a year old. But at that time, Moritz (and his Crankstart Foundation) had given TogetherSF $17 million. This went to both TogetherSF and their affiliated PAC TogetherSF Action, which are two separate nonprofits. A PAC has to disclose its donors, but a nonprofit that is not a PAC does not have to disclose donors.

But what is also quite striking is how determined the group is to stoke local anger. One page from the document states a goal of “Growing and Engaged (and Enraged) Community,” and they come right out and say they hope to “Grow and sustain movement of community dissatisfaction.” There seems to be far more focus on stoking outrage about San Francisco’s problems, rather than actually solving San Francisco’s problems.

And there are a few surprises in the revelation of their board of directors. Above we see that Mark Farrell’s wife Liz Farrell is on the board, or at least was in July 2023. (Shocker, TogetherSF endorsed Mark Farrell). We also see Kim-Mai Cutler, formerly a TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal reporter, and these days a venture capitalist. That’s noteworthy, because Cutler had been scheduled to be a moderator at an early September mayoral debate that both Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin backed out of, saying it would be rigged in favor of Mark Farrell. That allegation seems prescient given this information.  

TogetherSF’s pet cause in the upcoming election is Prop D, which would limit the number of city commissions. Moritz has contributed $2.5 million to get it passed, and it has also received a more modest $157,000 from TogetherSF action.

But the real irony in all this is how a group called TogetherSF is trying so hard to divide SF, with a stated goal of stoking resentment and anger. And has a mountain of Michael Moritz's money to do so.

Related: TogetherSF Implies Civic Center Farmers' Market Is Shutting Down Due to Fentanyl, Then Apologizes Because It's Not [SFist]

Image: TogetherSF