SF Blueprint is a rebrand tale as old as time: convince San Franciscians that giving billionaires political influence is what’s best for the city.
San Francisco’s politics are famous (and infamous) for a laundry list of dystopianism, one of which is how big money and billionaires influence local elections. Millions of dollars were spent by individual donors and conservative political action committees, many of whom and many of which were located out of the city and out of the state, to successfully recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022. His subsequent replacement, Brooke Jenkins, has found herself embattled with controversies, all of which range from hiring unqualified friends to invoking Trump-like intimidation practices, violating the rights of criminal defendants.
Two TogetherSF entities, a billionaire-backed pair that included a civic organization and political action committee (PAC), played tremendous roles in pushing moderate agendas across San Francisco politics. But the subsequent years following that nationally watched recall election saw the groups struggle to gain influence. The 2024 general election saw ballot-wide failures for the PAC, seeing most of its backed proposals and candidates fail to either pass or be elected. It’s increasingly clear that these largely pandemic-born big money PACs and organizations are floundering — and now having to consolidate or rebrand entirely.
The newly announced SF Blueprint is the pinnacle nexus of both the former and the latter, “merging” with an allied group, Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, in January. Blueprint is (of course) rebranding TogetherSF’s abject failure as an “evolution” of the effectively folded PAC and birthing “project” of Neighbors.
The group’s gauzy, high-brow cocktail hour last Wednesday at the Westin St. Francis hotel — an event that saw a collection of San Francisco’s more conservative and moderate elected officials like District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey and State Senator Scott Weiner — proved that nothing changed; Blueprint isn’t revolutionary nor organized around a better San Francisco for all … it’s merely a cerulean strap pulled from fitting rack and fashioned onto a same-framed fit model.
The rebrand is also … likely … incredibly cringey and uncomfortably laughable.
The group’s new director, former District 5 supervisor candidate Scotty Jacobs (who supported partnering with ICE while on the campaign trail) has become known for, in addition to being a “nightlife enthusiast,” clapping back to his critics on social media with snarky one-liners that follow an orchestra of tiny violins. It’s the sort of behavior you’d expect from, say, a nameless troll or twentysomething whose prefrontal cortex hasn’t fully developed.
But no: These are comments left by a thirtysomething adult whose job is to funnel massive donations under the guise of “the government should only serve those with the most disposable income.”
What’s even more ~omg I want to look away but I can’t get me another Diet Coke~ is that Mayor Lurie wants absolutely nothing to do with Blueprint, despite the group’s incessant, desperate-seeking efforts to collaborate with him.
Mission Local shared that shortly after last year’s mayoral election, the Lurie made it clear that he didn’t want to be associated with the Neighbors executive director Jay Cheng — and by proxy, its association with Blueprint— after sexaul assault alligations and potential donation mishandlings were raised against Cheng; Lurie’s “inner circle” has reiterated that the mayor still feels that way; Lurie has yet to respond to any of the dozens of post across social media by Blueprint talking about Lurie’s policies, advocating for his decisions (which included some on-the-street segments), and ongoing City budget proposals/decisions.
The cherry on top of this proverbial Sunday is that The Phoenix Project, a progressive group in San Francisco focused on highlighting corruption in local politics, announced last week it has begun the process of filing a lawsuit against TogetherSF for operating as an undeclared political committee without proper licensing.
With all San Francisco elections set on even number years — sans recall elections; a September recall for District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who was previously endorsed by TogetherSF, will go out to voters as a ballot measure September 15th this year — we’ll have to wait and see how Blueprint’s hyped plans and translucent influence pans out. But the outlook isn’t good and is giving major “she doesn’t go here” Mean Girls energy.
