San Francisco mayoral debate canceled after candidates decline to attend
SF Firefighters Union grills top five mayoral candidates at debate
Five top mayoral candidates met with hundreds of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 union members Thursday for a debate and open discussion about issues that the firefighters say are important to them in the coming November election. The union plans to vote in the coming days on which candidate to endorse for the SF Mayor job.
SAN FRANCISCO - The next San Francisco mayoral debate has been canceled after at least two leading candidates declined to attend.
The Commonwealth Club World Affairs was supposed to host the debate on Wednesday but Mayor London Breed declined the invite to attend, saying that the two groups organizing the event endorsed one of her rivals.
"Our campaign is not participating in the Commonwealth Club debate because each of the hosting organizations (ConnectedSF and Voice of S.F.) have already committed to Mark Farrell," a spokesman for Breed said.
However, ConnectedSF refuted this claim, saying they have not endorsed any candidate for any race in San Francisco, including for mayor, and calls the claim "fabricated."
The organization said a spokesman for Breed's campaign informed them last month that they would not attend Wednesday's debate.
KTVU reached out to Breed's campaign for additional comment.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin also declined to attend the debate.
KTVU reached out for comment from Peskin. Mission Local reported the supervisor had scheduling conflicts.
"Both of them politely declined, and we respect their decisions. As much as we are grateful for the other top candidates who had confirmed their ability to participate, we didn’t think a 3-candidate debate, especially lacking the incumbent, would have been useful to the public, so we made the decision to cancel it," John Zipperer, vice president of media & editorial with the Commonwealth Club said in a statement.
Fellow candidates, former San Francisco Interim Mayor Mark Farrell, Supervisor Ahsha Safai, and philanthropist Daniel Lurie confirmed they would attend Wednesday's debate before its cancellation.
Like Breed, Peskin skipped a previous debate, saying that the group funding the hosting organization, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, has endorsed some of his opponents.
Fellow candidate Daniel Lurie didn't mince words when criticizing Breed for not attending.
"She can't defend her record," Lurie said Thursday in a statement. "San Franciscans need answers, accountability and leadership…She can't be bothered to show up."
Breed fired back, accusing the Lurie campaign of spreading lies.
Lurie himself had declined a debate.
According to the San Francisco Examiner, he declined to participate in a mayoral debate in May by political organizations TogetherSF Action and GrowSF, unless a "neutral journalist" hosted it.
The next debate for leading candidates, hosted by the Chronicle and KQED, is scheduled for Sept. 19.