I-Team Interviews Ed Jew about FBI Investigation

Give Supervisor Ed Jew the benefit of the doubt, for a moment.

He says some owners of Quickly Tapioca stores in San Francisco came to him, asking for help with their permits. Jew tells the businessmen they can use a consultant, Robert Chan, to help solve their problems. On May 4th, there’s no disputing that Ed Jew accepted $40,000 in cash from the businessmen at Jew’s Chinatown flower shop. Jew says the Quickly businessmen wanted him to give the money to the consultant – no real explanation why they wouldn’t pay the consultant directly. Jew gives Chan $20,000 and keeps $20,000 – he says, for a pet project – renovation of a park through “Friends of Sunset Playground”.

Jew’s lawyer, Steve Gruel, is a former federal prosecutor. Yesterday, he filed these documents with the Ethics Commission that show Ed Jew paid $10,000 to “Friends of Sunset Playground” on June 1st. The rules state that Jew had 30 days to report the payment to the group. The documents say that Jew will forward the final $10,000 to the group when/if the FBI returns it. Gruel tells us, the FBI only confiscated $10,000 during their May 18th raid of Jew’s City Hall office, his homes and his flower shop. Gruel also says paying for the playground was Jew’s plan all along.

There are some serious problems with the story. First of all, several leaders of “Friends of Sunset Playground” tell us they made it clear to Gruel last week, they don’t want the money. They will not cash Jew’s cashier’s check now, and they’re upset about being dragged into this controversy. They say they learned of Jew’s intention to help pay for the playground, only after reading about it after the scandal broke. In a phone call this evening, Steve Gruel disputes that, saying the Sunset playground leaders were happy about receiving the money and he wonders why they’re changing their story now.

Second, Quickly Tapioca store owners tell me Jew came to them seeking money; that they did not ask Jew for help. And, they believe Jew’s attempts to send money to “Friends of Sunset Playground” now is an attempt to cover his tracks.

The other issue is whether Jew was living in San Francisco as required by law, when he filed these papers to run for supervisor. Jew invited the Chinese media to his Sunset home on Sunday; he has another home in Burlingame. They didn’t press him beyond his statement, “I live here.” We asked Supervisor Jew about all these issues today. We’re streaming the entire uncut interview. Just click play on the viewer above.

We’ll stay on top of this, as all these issues play out in the coming weeks.

Comments

[independentvoice]

Jew was framed by people who do not want him in the Board of Supervisors. He is too independent for the politicians of city hall who are used to top to bottom pecking order -- deals are cut behind the scenes and people like Jew are supposed to execute.

The legal system is his best defense. He is entitled to due process of law.

The citizens of San Francisco need to feel confident that our legal system works.

[rob b]

Poor Ed
Off with his head!

He's a REPUBLICAN! They do this sort of thing (free market and all that), it's just that most of them are a little better at burying the cash. See if there's a Jack Abramoff in his address book.

[Arvin]

This guy is not fit to be working for such a great city. I feel he should be punished to the max extent of the law. Lying during election time is wrong also. What was this guy thinking!

[Francis]

Great interview with Ed Jew. What perplexes me is why he even hired an attorney. Even more troubling is why he comments on all of this with your camera on. I read through his original affadavit on residence and suitability for office and it looks to me like a very serious official document. Not mentioning any names but there's one other member of the BOS who really doesn't live here. Could this supervisor suffer the same difficulty over residency?

[independentvoice]

Newsom is trying to pull a double play to take over the Board of Supervisors - get rid of McGoldrick and Ed Jew. He plans to place Steve Kawa,his yes man in the Board.

If you will recall, Steve Kawa was Newsom's chieff of staff while Newsom was having an affair with Ruby Tourk. Steve Kawa allowed Room 200 to decay to the point that Tourk was not showing up for work and was signing her own time sheet.

Jew has proven to be a thorn on Newsom's back just like Dan Noyes has been a thorn on Newsom's back.

Newsom does not like that.

[anon]

I used to work around Ed Jew's Chinatown Flower Shop for almost 10 years. I know some of his employees, and all of them are shady in one way or the other. Doesn't surprise me that Jew is shady also.

[Dennis]

I personally believe what Ed is saying. I think there is absoultely no corruption or criminal activity involved here. it's simply a case of a small group of political buffons in the city working towards bringing down a potentially great civil servant. Ed is the man!!!

[fcheng]

Ed Jew is a disgrace. He betrays the trust given to him by all the people who voted for him. From watching the interview, he shows no remorse whatsoever.

[Clean up City Hall]

I support finding out all the truths and dirts of everyone working for San Francisco city government. I don't want to be lied to anymore. If Ed Jew doesn't live in Sunset, or other members of BOS do not reside in their district, PLEASE convict them all. Dennis Herrera, no discriminatory practices in terms of convicting liars at City Hall. Please investigate all City Hall politicians' residency status. Like Newsom alluded to previously, some other politicians don't live in their districts they serve either?!

Thank you.

[independentvoice]

Where is Mr. Mayor absentee today? Does he even know he has a job to do in San Francisco or is he jockeying to get a place in GQ Magazine again?

[moderate voice of reason]

why the HECK should a business having trouble with city bureaucrats have to a) pay a consultant a standing Supervisor knows 20,000 in "fees"

b) have to give that money to that supervisor

then

c) give ANOTHER 20,000 to a charity the Supervisor claims he's helping

all in cash?

what kind of liberal nonsense is it that a business has to pay cash to Ed's friends and Ed's charities just to get him to do the job he is paid over 100,000 TAXPAYER dollars to do?

and to top it off he can't speak the truth about where he lives, hides behind lawyers and is clearly one of the stupidest people ever lived.

This is not a conspiracy, dunces, this is just Ed being so freakin' stupid he's gonna go. Newsom has nothing to do with it, so put away the conpiracy theory, corruption defenders!

[Clean up City Hall]

Corruption and abuse of system and power ought to be looked at and dealt with, the conspiracy is only around selective prosecution, I'm saying no selective prosecution, prosecute them all who are corrupt.

i.e. Tourk's sick pay wasted $, give severe consequence to whomever that allowed that to happen...get the drift?

Get it? If not use moderate logic and reason...

[independentvoice]

Here's a thought. Why doesnt Dennis Herrera ask every single Board of Supervisor to prove their residency? He should ask each supervisor the same documents he ask Ed Jew.

While Herrera is at it, he should ask Newsom proof of schedule for the entire time he is mayor. How much time did he spend in city hall versus the time he spend out fundraising outside San Francisco?

[independentvoice]

Jew was framed???? First why he took the cash, as his position, he should know not to. Second he said he refer Chan to Quickly to solve the permit problem, and believe the cash was own to Chan. But from the news couple day ago, the planning department already said that Jew was the one told them to check on the Quickly stores. So how it add up, Jew complain about Quickly and then he introduce Chan to Quickly to solve the problems??? So what is Chan position then? And some of the Quickly stores even open for longer then 4 years so suddenly have a permit problem? Third he said some of the cash is for donation to rebuild the playground, but how come it just come right after the raid, and even the playground representative not even know about it, remember the max of the playground receive from donation in the past is only $2600 and now is talking about 4 times more. Fourth in a correct way, isn’t Chan suppose to file on receive of the cash first before he make any donation, since he was the bridgeway consultant owner? NOT JEW right? Doesn’t IRS need to know about it? Last, since he put everything to his flower shop address, took shower there, use the electricity there (might need to use candle or bottle water in he sunset home?), work and probably take a nap there. I believe ha should be a better person to represent the Chinatown district then Sunset.

[independentvoice]

The above post is a fake. I did not post at 12:01 pm. This website is contaminated. ITEAM beware!

Independentvoice

[xirxes]

Ed Jew is well liked because he is accessible and is responsive to people.

[brad]

I think everyone should focus on
Ed Jew accepting 40k in cash
from... anyone. No one does
that sort of cash transfer legitimately.

[xirxes]

Sounds like a case of entrapment. The money came from the FBI. Clearly a set up. This is bad for democracy.

The FBI must have khown that Jew is trying to raise monies for the parks in his district.

[SF Resident]

It is insane to say that Ed should not have taken the cash and that it was a "mistake". ITS NOT A MISTAKE IT CALLED BREAKING THE LAW.. any ordinary person would know that a politician is not supposed to accept 40K in cash and then split it with a consultant. You can't say you were going to give it to charity because you obviouly accepted cash and put it in your own safe, then went and deposited the funds into one of your own accounts so you could write a check to the charity in your name THATS TOTAL BS! My own company has donated hundreds of thousands to non-profits in response to a request by a politician and each and every time my company has written a check out directly to the organization {HELLO IRS!!}

You cant even give a politician a donation to their campaign in cash over $100. Ed is dirty PERIOD. He will not resign. Its obvious by his conduct he has too much pride for that. But ask yourself who was the last politician in San Francisco to resign? Mabel Teng! Another Chinese politician that was also linked to the julie lee pay to play politics.

On another note, I was invited to a dinner earlier this year for the Chinese Democratic Club that asked me for a donation of 1K-25K per table to support this organizaiton which has Ed Jew on the board of directors. I was somewhat familiar with the organization having been invited in the past but never saw price tags over $1K for a table. It was clearly a pay to play dinner. GO CHECK THAT OUT FBI... do an audit of that organization to see who else payed into the Ed Jew fund...

[Disgruntled Citizen]

The FBI was after Willie Brown for 30 years but they never got him.

You want to prohibit "pay for play"? Then you have to remove all politicians from office.

On the other hand, if you are only concerned about San Francisco, you have to start from the mayor on down. San Francisco City Hall politics is rotten to the core.

Those politicians who are screaming about Ed Jew are hypocrites.

They are all the same, if not worse. That is why the public could not care less. The public is worried about paying their bills, putting food on the table, keeping roofs over their heads, making sure that none of their family members do not become another statistic in our ever increasing homicide -- stuff that politicians do not seem to care about or merely pay lip service to.

So, stop preaching about clean or dirty.

Candidates for elective office who have integrity cannot win in this town because they are clean - they don't play the game. Does that tell you anything about our politics today?

[Pen]

Replace Ed Jew with Ron Dudum, who came in second by 50 or so votes. Ron Dudum has lived his entire life in the Sunset, so no question he was the top candidate in the election who actually lives in District 4.

[jonesy]

Whatever happened Supervisor Jew did not operate alone. Quickly wouldn't have had problems if the planning department hadn't gone along with Eds plan to cite them then demand they file for permits. Larry Badiner, the zoning administrator, admits to meeting with Ed and then shortly after the meeting apparently brings the whole power of his department after one legitimate business. This would be fine if every other business was treated in the same manner but they weren't. Badiner specifically chose to target Quickly and if you review the time it takes them to input and follow up on any other routine complaint the fact becomes obvious. Why did the zoning administrator do this, that's the question? And what did the zoning administrator, Larry Badiner seek to gain from going along with this and practicing selective enforcement?

[Reformist]

The city govenment is like a damaged ship caught in the middle of a storm and there no one at the helm.

Newsom is corrupt and ineffective overcome by his ambition for higher office. He has been selling out San Francisco piece by piece to his rich friends. Just look at the Google deal; San Francisco is tied up with this one company for 16 years when technology changes day to day.

How about all the bureacrats he hired from all over the country making almost half a million $ each. There's layers and layers of managers making anywhere from $100,000 to 400,000. San Francisco is midsize company with a $6.1 Billion budget 2/3 of which is payroll. That's $4.00 Billion in wages and benefits for 28,000 people when the population is less than 800,000.

There is corruption everywhere in city hall and they are hurting the public.

[Dennis Tani]

I saw supervisor Peskin's remarks today when asked wether Ed should resign. Peskin basivcally says that the charges are true, and Jew should resign. Who appointed Peskin judge, jury and executioner???? I always thouight that in the United States, people have rights? The right top be innocent until proven guilty....... Lookie what happened to former mayor Ron Gonzales today----- not enough evidence to prosecute. People need to think before opening their mouths- especially idiots like buffon peskin

[Disappointed at political opportunists]

Peskin: You are a traitor to the Chinese community in Chinatown - why are you against the Chinatown's city college building height, did the nearby hotel bribe you? No innocence until proven guilty for your political enemy?

Ed Jew may have lied about his residency, but so far he's done more for the Asian/Chinese community than you and will probably do more for the Asian/Chinese community than anyone of the BOS (except Sophie) will ever do, because people like Chris Daly do not authentically care about non-white people, won't see non-whites as equals and will only use non-whites' social problems to advance their own political careers. He's dumb for not fixing the residency situation, but he is not anti-Chinese like most of the BOS I bet, deep down.

Someone let Ruby Tourk use more than $40,000 in the CIP that is meant for the terminally ill, she was allowed to use it for alcohol abubse treatment and showed no signs of looking like her life was threaten by her alcohol abuse, and she even got another job while she used the CIP. Why is that less serious than lying about one's residency?

Bevan Dufty doesn't live in his district now, why isn't he prosecuted?

Quintin Kopp changed the law for himself when he didn't live in the district he work for as a Superior Court Judge.

Why is Ed being pursued so rigorously about his residency while some of these people committed more horrific crimes at least morally?!

Another shining moment for Chris...Chris Daly beat some guy up when he disagreed with how someone voted 10+ years ago, during re-districting. He should've been convicted for assault, left with a criminal record, and he would never have qualified to run for Supervisor, let alone be given the chance to mess up SF for almost everyone for so many years with the mindless anti-housing, anti-development, anti-home ownership movement.