District 5 Diary: Mark Leno won't run against Mayor Lee

Matier & Ross in the Chronicle (below in italics):

Leno’s possible entry into the 2015 mayoral sweepstakes began in August. While on break from the Legislature, he was repeatedly approached by various labor, business and neighborhood leaders upset about the direction of the city under Lee. In particular, they pointed to the explosion of high-rises and influx of tech companies into the city. The resulting rent hikes and general feeling that longtime residents are being priced out to make way for newcomers was an oft-repeated concern.

Mark Leno has no serious political and policy differences with Mayor Lee, since he belongs to the same city family political machine, the Democratic Party. He would get some gay chauvinist votes and support from the remnants of the Bay Guardian left but not much else. Leno would have had the same problems running against Lee that Tom Ammiano recognized several months ago.

Leno on housing? He was involved in allowing UC to hijack the old UC extension site once gay housing was involved in that betrayal of the people of San Francisco. Has Leno ever dissented from City Hall's "smart growth" development policies that are turning the city into Highriseville? Nope. Leno is just another Democratic Party lib-lab who supports the same policies as Mayor Lee.

For once Randy Shaw at Beyond Chron cuts through the crap about "progressive" decline in San Francisco, which is a good news/bad news deal: good on social and economic issues, bad on the dumb smart growth planning policies and bad on the trendy anti-car policies redesigning city streets on behalf of an obnoxious minority of bike zealots.

After weeks of examining San Francisco’s political landscape, State Sen. Mark Leno has decided not to run for mayor against incumbent Ed Lee.

“After significant consideration and examination, I have determined that now is not the time for me to enter the race,” Leno tells us.

Leno’s possible entry into the 2015 mayoral sweepstakes began in August. While on break from the Legislature, he was repeatedly approached by various labor, business and neighborhood leaders upset about the direction of the city under Lee.

In particular, they pointed to the explosion of high-rises and influx of tech companies into the city. The resulting rent hikes and general feeling that longtime residents are being priced out to make way for newcomers was an oft-repeated concern.

Some of the talk was fueled by a poll taken earlier this year, showing Leno could beat Lee in a head-to-head race.

On the other hand, those close to Leno say it was clear that his longtime campaign managers, John Whitehurst and Mark Mosher---who have worked with the Lee administration on various ballot measures in recent years---were not enamored with the idea of running someone against the mayor.

Plus, Lee is expected to raise and spend $3 million to $4 million---a considerable sum for any challenger to match given the city’s $500 individual contribution limits.

In the end, it also became clear to Leno that while there was a significant bloc of voters who wanted change, it wasn’t large enough to oust a sitting mayor.

So instead, Leno will concentrate on his final two years as the city’s only state senator and “make the very most of that responsibility and that opportunity.”