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| The San Francisco Appeal |
The article about SEIU-UHW’s Leon Chow has been published… and it looks it was well worth the
wait.
Chow, a top SEIU-UHW official, is trying
to unseat San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos in a campaign that’s bank-rolled
by SEIU-UHW and Dave Regan’s
downtown business allies.
Today’s article in the San Francisco Appeal focuses on
serious irregularities in Leon Chow’s residential and voting records.
According to
voting laws, Chow is supposed to actually live in the district where he casts
his ballot or runs for public office. It looks like Chow may have broken both
of these rules and he could be subject to felony criminal prosecution for such violations.
Here are some highlights from the article:
Less defensible is Chow's voting and residence history, which includes instances of possible voter fraud, perjury, and strong ties to Walnut Creek, where Chow said he lived while voting in San Francisco and still owns a condo, according to records.
The article cites records indicating that from 2004 to 2008,
Chow registered to vote at the offices of a non-profit organization in San
Francisco’s Chinatown called the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA). And he voted
four times from the CPA’s offices, according to voting
records that are linked to the article.
The article continues:
California law requires voters to provide home addresses, not work addresses, when registering to vote…
Business addresses "are considered invalid" for voter registration purposes, according to John Arntz, the director of the city Elections Department.Artnz did not comment on Chow's situation, but said in an e-mail that "it would seem a person commits perjury if he or she is registered to vote in one location and then swears under oath that he or she lives elsewhere."
Then, in 2008, Chow registered to vote at a residence in San
Francisco’s District 11, where Chow is now a candidate for the Board of
Supervisors. Chow’s campaign website claims he’s a "longtime" resident of the
neighborhood.
The San Francisco Appeal, however, found serious contradictions
in Chow’s story. In December of 2009, Chow testified in a sworn court
deposition that he lived in Contra Costa County -- an entirely different county
that’s many miles away -- where Chow happens to have owned a condominium since
1988 and “has conducted much of his personal affairs in Contra Costa County,
including a 2005 divorce,” according to the article.
The article even features a photo of the telephone call box at
Chow’s condominium complex in Contra Costa County that still features Chow’s
name as the resident of Unit 26. Here’s the picture:
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| The electronic call box from Chow's condo in Contra Costa County. |
The journalist allowed Chow to comment on his findings,
and Chow serves up some super-defensive, foot-in-mouth material. For example, Chow claims he
lives in an in-law apartment that’s attached to a house in District 11. The
journalist checked up on Chow’s claims, and found that “all three homes are
listed as single-unit dwellings, according to Assessor records.” Check out Chow's other implausible responses.
So is it really possible that Chow could face criminal
prosecution? Well, check out this this article in the Los Angeles Times. In 2009, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged a man with four felonies
for registering to vote from his work address even though he lived in a
different county. Sound familiar?
According to the Times, the man was charged
with fraudulent voter registration, fraudulent document filing,
perjury and fraudulent voting. The paper noted:
A warrant was issued for his arrest and bail was set at $10,000. The offenses carry penalties of up to three years in prison.
Looks like Chow had better start looking for an attorney!
