After a less-than-successful showing in last November’s elections, there’s another shakeup at the tech PAC TogetherSF, as they now call themselves Blueprint for a Better San Francisco, but apparently they do not have Michael Moritz money anymore.

The above image, including a picture of large sums of cash being flushed down a toilet, are mailers from last November’s elections largely paid for by tech-money-funded moderate political pressure groups called Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and TogetherSF. But despite raising and spending north of $10 million supporting Mark Farrell for mayor and the City Hall commission reform measure Prop D, both of those efforts got crushed in the election results.

Though as those in the tech industry often do, the groups tried to sell their failure as a massive success. Neighbors for a Better SF and TogetherSF merged into one organization in January, with TogetherSF executive director Jay Cheng saying at the time, “It’s a new era in the city right now, and this merged, unified organization helps us to be in a position to be a catalyst for all of that improvement and that important work we think is going to come in the coming years.”


But now, very puzzlingly (at least to those of us who do not work as six-figure political consultants), Politico reported Wednesday that TogetherSF was rebranding as a new group called Blueprint for a Better San Francisco. The name "Blueprint" is apparently a little play on words, as they say they’re providing a model for influencing government in “blue” (Democrat-leaning) cities.

According to Politico, they’re being bankrolled by Republican megadonor Bill Oberndorf, our old friend Ron Conway, venture capitalist Steven Merrill, hotel business heir John Pritzker, and maybe not particularly successful former First Republic Bank president Katherine August-deWilde. And it does not seem like they’re “grassroots” given that Blueprint for a Better SF’s kickoff party was Wednesday night on the top floor of the Westin St. Francis hotel.


Though it seems like a real and significant break-up that primary Together SF donor and billionaire SF Standard financier Michael Moritz is no longer involved. Politico’s report says Moritz "backed away," and a Mission Local report from Wednesday night’s soirée says Moritz “did not appear to be at Wednesday’s event.” Mission Local adds that “Blueprint does not appear to have the backing of Moritz,” and that Moritz “declined to answer” whether he was involved, and that “he was not named as a benefactor by Cheng” when they asked about donors.

That is significant, because Moritz had pledged $17 million to the former TogetherSF. Politico adds that the new Blueprint for a Better SF has a “$2 million annual budget,” and that is a far cry from $17 million.

Also significant is the fact that Jay Cheng is completely on the outs with Mayor Daniel Lurie, because TogetherSF was very much in the tank for Mark Farrell’s campaign, and has a history of ethics violation allegations. The SF Standard reported in November that the Lurie administration “will not work with Cheng or any group with which he collaborates.”

That may be why this rebrand is happening, and it's perhaps an attempt to butter Lurie up and make amends. Also notable is that Blueprint for a Better SF has elevated unsuccessful District 5 supervisor candidate Scotty Jacobs as its "director" and seemingly main spokesperson, and he’s making it sound like they’re going to bat for Lurie (who’s been known to kick down political donations).

“The best thing that we can do right now,” Jacobs told Mission Local, “is to stand behind Mayor Lurie and make sure that he knows that he has the mandate from the people that very clearly elected him to do what needs to get done to put our city on the right footing again.”

And we can’t help but notice Blueprint for a Better SF seems to be offering no help to recall-imperiled Supervisor Joel Engardio. The Chronicle's report on Blueprint for a Better SF’s launch party notes that “Neighbors and Blueprint don’t plan to get involved in Supervisor Joel Engardio’s recall election, though they support Engardio and want to see a moderate in the seat no matter the outcome.”

That line that they “want to see a moderate in the seat no matter the outcome” almost indicates they see Engardio as a lost cause (and perhaps want to whisper in Lurie’s ear when he’s naming a replacement). Mission Local’s report adds that Wednesday night’s party had in attendance “at least three members of the Board of Supervisors: Rafael Mandelman, Bilal Mahmood and Matt Dorsey.” No Joel Engardio mention there.

With less money to spend we probably should not expect more marketing campaigns like those “That’s Fentlife” ads that the old TogetherSF put out. But it definitely means there’s more high-paid work for centrist-friendly political consultants.

Related: Tuesday's Election Did Not Produce Big Wins For TogetherSF, Despite Spending a Lot of Michael Moritz's Money [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist