Milk Club to Probe Alleged Irregularities in Endorsement Process
Club President Jeffrey Kwong is stepping down " in order for a full investigation to proceed"
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The executive board of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, one of San Francisco’s most influential progressive political advocacy groups, announced Saturday that it had found that several endorsement votes had been compromised “and potentially fraudulent” and is launching an inquiry into the matter. Additionally, club president Jeffrey Kwong has stepped down.
“We’ve got unfortunate news to tell you. It has come to our attention this week that a number of our recent endorsement votes (PAC and General Membership) have been compromised and potentially fraudulent, and through the process of identifying the various related issues, we’ve also found other irregularities in our systems. Overnight on Friday, most of our operational accounts for a number of committees had been deleted,” the committee stated in an email sent out to members on Aug. 31.
The email also announced Kwong’s resignation so the investigation could proceed. “As President of the club during these systems compromises, Jeffrey thought it best for the credibility of the club and our endorsed candidates to remove himself,” the email stated.
frisko:politics confirmed attribution of the email with club vice president for communications Gary McCoy Saturday.
According to the email, the club’s executive committee held a special meeting on Friday to discuss the matter. Kwong offered to step down, and Melissa Hernandez, vice president of membership, will act as president until a special election to elect an interim president takes place next Saturday. A special subcommittee was also formed to investigate the suspect endorsements, and it is expected to make an initial report at that time.
The club’s endorsements which will be under inquiry are for US Senate [Adam Schiff], San Francisco City Attorney [David Chiu], School Board [Jaime Huling, Matt Alexander, and Virginia Cheung], College Board [Alan Wong, Luis Zamora], Proposition F [police deferred retirement - No Position], Proposition K [Great Highway closure - No Position], as well as a vote to rescind the endorsement of state Sen. Scott Wiener, which had failed to pass.
The club will also hold a re-vote on these endorsements at the Sep. 7 meeting. Members who attend in person or virtually will be required to verify their identity.
The Milk Club is one of San Francisco’s largest Democratic clubs, and its slate card is widely distributed in election cycles. It was founded as the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club in 1976 and renamed for assassinated Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.