Well, it’s not officially over yet, as the Department of Elections has not certified the results, and the Board of Supervisors has not acknowledged the certification. But for all practical purposes, the votes have been counted and these final two extremely tight races have drawn to a close.
A couple of weeks ago, we provided you with the bios of the winners in District 6 and District 8, Jane Kim and Scott Wiener. Today, we do the same for Mark Farrell and Malia Cohen.
Mark Farrell – District 2
This race was the closest of all, with a mere 270 votes separating Janet Riley and Mark out of a total 27,989 ballots cast. That puts Mark at 50.62% of the total after just two rounds of Ranked Choice Voting, enough to be the next Supervisor for D-2.
Mark Farrell was born and raised in the City, going to school at Stuart Hall and then Saint Ignatius. After graduating from both Loyola Marymount and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he returned to San Francisco.
Mark has been an attorney for three years, and an investment banker for five years. As an attorney he represented pro bono clients, assisting both 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations as well as representing political asylum applicants in front of the Department of Homeland Security. As an investment banker, he founded his firm’s first internship program for inner-city high school students. He is involved with the Jordan Park Improvement Association and serves on the Board of Directors at San Francisco SAFE and Plan C. Mark also serves on the Advisory Board of the Marina Earthquake Monument.
Malia Cohen – District 10
This was by far the most wide open race, with 21 candidates participating, and 19 (yes 19…) rounds of RCV before Malia Cohen rose to the top with 52.6% of the vote. Out of more than 19,669 ballots cast, 4,173 was all Malia needed to break the 50% barrier. Such is the strangeness that is ranked choice voting. The runner up was Tony Kelly with 3761 votes.
Malia Cohen is a former member of the Corporate Strategy and Communications team for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Currently, Malia is a Managing Partner with Power Forward Consulting, a public affairs, media and policy consulting firm. Power Forward helps businesses and nonprofits create public policy. Prior to establishing Power Forward Consulting, Malia served as Chief Legislative Aide to a member of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors (her website does not indicate which Supervisor). She served two years with the executive staff of San Francisco City Hall. Malia held key posts including: Executive Assistant to the Mayor, Executive Assistant to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and Policy Analyst for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
She has also served as Assistant Executive Director of the Hunters Point Youth Park Foundation. Recently, Malia ended a two-year term as a delegate to the California State Democratic Party Convention. She serves on the Board of Directors for Emerge CA, New Leaders Council, SF Conservation Corp and The Community Leadership Academy & Emergency Response Project.
Malia earned a Bachelor’s in Political Science, with honors from Fisk University, and was awarded a Coro Fellowship in 2001. She earned a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
We Finally Have a Seventh Commissioner
Any concerns some Supervisors may have had over the nomination of Rodney Fong to the vacant Planning Commission seat seem to have faded before the Board of Supervisors hearing this afternoon. By a unanimous vote, the Board confirmed his nomination to the Planning Commission. Fong is expected to sit at the next Planning Commission hearing, on December 2. The Planning Commission has been operating with only 6 members since August.
The issues discussed in this update are not intended to be legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is established with the recipient. Readers should consult with legal counsel before relying on any of the information contained herein. Reuben & Junius, LLP is a full service real estate law firm. We specialize in land use, development and entitlement law. We also provide a wide range of transactional services, including leasing, acquisitions and sales, formation of limited liability companies and other entities, lending/workout assistance, subdivision and condominium work.
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