A San Francisco publication is signaling that California Budget Chair and San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting is experiencing a political demise.
It couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy. <heavy sarc>.
Phil Ting is one of the most powerful politicians in San Francisco, having represented the western side of the city in the State Assembly for a decade. With no serious competition in the June 7 primary election, he’s virtually guaranteed to win the primary election and a sixth term in office this November.
But some civic clubs who once supported him are not endorsing him this time around. They cite revelations from 2020 that Ting allegedly impersonated another assemblymember while paying for a date on a website called “What’s Your Price,” then subsequently had an extended affair with the woman, a domestic worker experiencing homelessness. Even more egregiously in the eyes of critics, he also had her testify for a bill aimed at protecting gig economy workers.
It’s not the extramarital affair that is the problem, said Steven Buss, co-founder of GrowSF, a new civic group that sits on the moderate side of the local political equation and declined to endorse Ting.
“What I find really inappropriate is his abuse of power over this woman that he was having an affair with, and allegedly using the image of his coworker,” Buss said. “It’s a severe ethical lapse.”
While the publication links to a Cal Matters piece, the story about the Carmel Foster-Phil Ting affair was broken by yours truly at Communities Digital News (CDN) on June 19, 2020. It went national, but most of the legacy media that picked it up didn’t bother to acknowledge me or CDN, choosing to say it was posted by a “right-wing blog.” <insert *eyeroll* emoji>
It was picked up by the San Francisco Examiner, CBS News, the fish wrap of the state Sacramento Bee, and POLITICO. Other international, online, and print outlets grabbed it from there.
I felt the L.A. Weekly did the story the most justice, as well as acknowledged that the story was birthed at CDN.
All the legacy harpies fixated on the affair (which was bad enough), but glossed over the corruption and ethical violations of using someone’s life to craft legislation and take victory laps. Most egregious, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-DBag) of the corrupt 63rd District, rushed to defend his buddy, taking Ting’s apology on Twitter over the affair as evidence that he was sorry for his sins, and there was no corruption concerning the legislation that Ting was instrumental in getting passed.
Uh huh.
I was heartened by this tweet from San Franciscan and civil rights attorney Harmeet Dhillon:
It’s an epic thread.
I said it two years ago: Phil Ting is a a morally and ethically compromised legislator who should not have influence over California’s purse strings. In fact, all his political malfeasance needs to be called out and stopped in its tracks.
But, it looks like despite his easy ride into his last term in the Assembly, his political career is officially DOA.
According to the article mentioned above, San Francisco Mayor London Breed did not endorse him—telling.
In addition to GrowSF, the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee, the United Democratic Club and the Chinese American Democratic Club—who have endorsed Ting in the past—have declined to endorse him in this election.
Mayor London Breed has not endorsed Ting either. That’s unusual given Ting’s power and that he’s a shoo-in to win, political insiders say.
Breed’s office did not respond to inquiries on why she did not endorse Ting. The Chinese American Democratic Club said the decision was partially due to the circumstances of the affair and partially because they felt Ting wasn’t present enough during the pandemic. The United Democratic Club and SF Women’s Political Committee said they do not comment on internal club deliberations, but two sources familiar with their endorsement discussions confirmed that it was issues surrounding the affair that cost Ting their support.
Once again, they go into linking Cal Matters, but I am establishing the territory of my reporting here, because it marked the beginning of the end for Phil Ting. This is a good thing, and part of the intention behind the investigation.
Before the affair was exposed, Ting had big plans of running for California Controller in 2022. There was even a website and a finance committee set up for that purpose.
We are now headed to the midterm election in 2022, and the only two people on the ballot for state Controller are Lanhee Chen (Republican) and Malia Cohen (Democrat).
The moral of the story: There is a day of reckoning for those who do evil. It’s looking like Ting’s day of reckoning has only just begun.
Ma tha Siobhan.
It also affirms why I choose to do this type of investigative work. To shine a light on corruption and give a voice to those who have been marginalized, drowned out, targeted, or told to just shut up and take it.
Feeling vindicated today, and reminding the world how we got here. Since CDN has gone dark, and I own the copyright to the work, I have republished this three-part expose here on Substack.
Give them a read.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3: