Carmen Chu: Interim supervisor becomes permanent replacement for Ed Jew

By John | Saturday, January 12, 2008 | 1 Comment

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Today’s San Francisco Chronicle reports on Carmen Chu, who was installed as interim supervisor while Ed Jew was being investigated, has now accepted to remain permanently, as reported in “Interim supervisor becomes permanent replacement for Ed Jew“:

“San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu was sworn in late Friday to replace her embattled predecessor Ed Jew, not long after her name had been scratched off her City Hall office door because she could not decide whether she actually wanted the job…After multiple meetings with the mayor, Chu ultimately decided to take the job, although it remains unclear whether she intends to run for the office in the Nov. 4 election or whether she essentially is serving a caretaker role and buying Newsom some time to find a willing recruit to run for the post. Chu, a 29-year-old political novice who has said she never considered running for office before she was named interim supervisor, did not return calls for comment Friday…Chu, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, speaks fluent Cantonese and was born and raised in Los Angeles. She moved to San Francisco in 2004 to take a job in Newsom’s administration as a budget analyst. She also worked as an intern in the Board of Supervisors’ Office of the Legislative Analyst while earning her master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.”

I have empathy for Carmen Chu – she was definitely put in an awkward situation when Mayor Gavin Newson appointed her to replace Chinese-American Ed Jew. Newson clearly wanted to have some Chinese-American representation on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors (since San Francisco is about 30% Asian American, predominantly Chinese). But from this article, I don’t think Chu’s apparent reluctance to take the position permanently is necessarily a good thing for her constituents and it will be interesting to see if she chooses to run for re-election this fall. I’m all for more Asian Americans in politics, but only if they truly want to serve!

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