The recent brouhaha over a resolution by the local Democratic Party urging Airbnb to drop its tax lawsuit against San Francisco is yet another signal District 1 Supervisor and Budget Committee Chair Connie Chan will lock horns with Mayor Daniel Lurie during the upcoming budget process.
The voices rose at an April 23 meeting of the Democratic County Central Committee, the local governing body of the Democratic Party, where Chan is also an elected member. The online vacation rental marketplace filed a lawsuit against the city last year over what it claims is a misapplication of a gross receipts tax and a homelessness services tax, resulting in an overcharge of $120 million.
Airbnb is far from the only firm that has filed similar claims over the past few years. The city paid over $7 million to online payment service Square in 2020 and $18 million in use taxes to Twilio, a web-based telecom firm, in 2023. A settlement of $1.6 million to crypto firm Coinbase was passed just last week. According to a city hall report published in March, current claims are costing the city $415 million, accounting for half of the city’s current budget deficit. More recent policy-forward taxes, such as the homelessness services tax, figure prominently in the claims.
But what Chan seemed to be most furious about in the argument over the language of the resolution wasn’t about Airbnb or the money involved, but whether Mayor Lurie’s name should be mentioned.
‘I know I’m out of order, we’re all out of order.’
When other committee members suggested continuing the item because sponsor Gordon Mar wasn’t present, Chan became angry, rose from her seat, and threatened to quit the committee. A few moments later, when an amendment suggested removing language that appeared to put Lurie on the spot about opposing any lawsuits or settlements, Chan balked, and, in a speech so strident that it could’ve been workshopped in a Signal chat run by the Rose Pak Club, demanded to know “what was so precious about Mayor Lurie that he could not be called on” specifically to oppose the lawsuit.
Committee chair Nancy Tung responded that she felt the resolution should be directed at corporations, not Lurie or the Board of Supervisors, noting “this is litigation already pending before a court, and it’s the Board of Supervisors who approves settlements,” and pointing out that Chan herself had voted to approve other settlements with her board colleagues. Chan then rose from her seat and started shouting again, while holding a placard above her head and throwing another one around the room.
In the end, a compromise measure was proposed, calling on “the mayor” to oppose the suit publicly and for Airbnb to drop the lawsuit, and it was passed, though not without further debate and drama, egged on by members of several civil service and other unions in the audience. Progressive member and former Supervisor John Avalos yelled, “This is such a travesty.” When chair Tung advised Avalos that he was out of order, he continued to cry, “I know I’m out of order, we’re all out of order,” possibly as an overwrought homage to Al Pacino in the film And Justice For All.
Chan, representing the Richmond District, is part of the progressive minority on the Board of Supervisors, heavily supported by the San Francisco Labor Council as well as anti-housing neighborhood groups. This support ensured her reelection, despite often having conflicting positions on public safety and other issues with her constituents. She is also a protégé of former supervisor and mayoral contender Aaron Peskin, having worked in his office as a legislative aide. She is, again, part of a progressive minority on the Democratic Central Committee.
A former supervisor representing the Sunset District, Mar, the resolution sponsor, was defeated in his reelection bid by Joel Engardio in 2022. Chan, Mar, and his brother Eric Mar, who was a previous Richmond District supervisor, were all elected with support from the progressive labor alliance; Eric Mar’s record as supervisor is perhaps best remembered for his successful passage of a ban on McDonald’s Happy Meals in 2010.
More important, Chan is chair of the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee, and has been since 2023, when she was appointed by her mentor, Aaron Peskin. San Francisco’s budget process begins next month, and issues like the Trump administration’s reneging on Covid-19 and other assistance could increase the deficit from $800 million to $2 billion. The situation sets the stage for a confrontation over table scraps between Mayor Lurie and city worker unions and nonprofit contractors, which will likely parallel budget fights all over the state. Chan is firmly in the Labor Council’s corner.