Jade Feng: San Francisco politician Leanna Louie faces ‘Nazi’ & Fraud scandals as well as Anti-Gay slur mess

Leanna Louie holds up her fist at a rally outside City Hall on Tuesday where she announced a challenge to a city attorney decision striking her from the November ballot as a District 4 supervisor candidate.

Leanna Louie just can’t help it. After being booted off of the ballot by City Attorney David Chiu last week for failing to prove her residency in District 4, the scandal-dogged wannabe Board of Supervisors candidate on Tuesday announced plans to challenge the decision.

But Louie’s continued presence on the political stage could complicate things for her political allies, such as fellow D4 candidate Joel Engardio and interim District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. Chiu may have done everyone a favor by kicking Louie off the ballot, since the loose-cannon candidate’s determination to stay in the D4 race will only lead to more embarrassment.

Case in point: When news of Chiu’s decision landed, I shelved a column I was writing about her apparent anti-gay, anti-trans behavior on social media. Now it’s relevant again.

Already under investigation for residency fraud — and under fire for referring to a Jewish journalist as a “Nazi” — Louie can add a new charge to her growing list of public offenses: homophobia.

On May 31, Louie expressed support for a post in which a commenter referred to former District Attorney Chesa Boudin using an anti-gay slur. Louie — described by the San Francisco Standard as Boudin’s “#1 hater” during the recall — liked a comment that referred to Boudin as “Chesa – that f-g!”

In a statement, Louie refused to address the issue.

“We will not be engaging in addressing the selective social media word picking to create issues,” she said in an email.

“Her dishonesty and hateful behavior speak for themselves,” wrote Boudin, when asked for comment.

And there’s more. In a Twitter post on Nov. 24 of last year, Louie made a mocking joke that could be seen as insensitive to transgender people. Asked whether her recall campaign group was among those represented by Republican attorney Harmeet Dhillon, Louie responded: “Who is that? Never heard of that name? Is that a man or woman or transgender?”

In July, Louie liked an anti-trans themed tweet from pro-Trump musician Ted Nugent. It read: “Why is talking sexually in the workplace considered sexual harassment to adults … but talking about sexuality to children K-3 at school considered essential???”

Engardio, also a staunch supporter of the Boudin recall, condemned Louie’s social media antics.

“I immediately and strongly condemned Louie’s antisemitic statements,” said Engardio in a statement. “Of course I condemn her anti-LGBTQ statements, I am gay.”

Louie’s approval of the anti-gay slur against Boudin is just the latest self-inflicted blow to a campaign that had already grown shaky under the weight of mounting legal troubles.

Last week, Louie launched her antisemitic attack on Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi due to her frustrations with stories that raised questions about whether she might have committed residency fraud and voter fraud. Eskenazi’s stories highlighted the fact that Louie voted in District 10 while claiming to live in District 4.

His dogged reporting clearly got under Louie’s skin. Her decision to refer to him as a “Nazi” drew widespread condemnation, spawning news stores as far away as Jerusalem. The Examiner Editorial Board joined a number of public officials and political groups in calling for Louie to end her campaign.

Louie’s public train wreck hurts Engardio’s political chances. A July 30 story in the San Francisco Chronicle essentially cast them as running mates hoping to take down Mar by manipulating the dynamic of ranked-choice voting.

“Engardio and Louie’s strategy for beating Mar goes beyond attacking his record,” wrote the Chronicle’s J.D. Morris. “They want to take advantage of the city’s ranked-choice voting system by asking voters to pick either of them as their first or second choices, hoping to increase the odds of ousting Mar.”

Engardio denies any collaboration.

“I have not endorsed Leanna Louie or coordinated with her campaign,” he said.

Yet he declined to call on Louie to drop out of the race.

“I can’t demand that someone not run for office,” he said.

His condemnation of her “Nazi” comment drew a warning from one Twitter user.

“Be careful!” one tweeter going by the name of “Linda Plano” told Engardio. “Don’t say Stupid thing(s) about Leanna Louie, otherwise we won’t select you as the second choice!!”

Engardio’s stance also drew criticism from the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, which issued a public letter blasting both candidates and calling out what it described as Louie’s “long history of homophobia, transphobia and racism.” The letter called on Engardio to “immediately apologize for his complicity” and “cease all campaign coordination with her.”

“If he does not, we call on fellow LGBTQ groups and advocates, like the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club and state Senator Scott Wiener, to rescind their endorsements of Engardio,” read the letter.

Engardio claims he can win without Louie, but that seems questionable. Mar won his last race handily. Besides, Louie’s residency fraud scandal is a result of her hasty, last-minute decision to enter the D4 race. Why would she rush to establish a fake residence in the district when Engardio, her ally, was already going to win?

Louie’s persistence also creates a big headache for interim DA Jenkins, whom Louie portrays as a close friend. Pictures from the recall during the recall campaign show the two hugging, as well as posing for the camera in matching “Recall Chesa Boudin” sweatshirts.

“I am proud to be one of the original supporters who sign(ed) Brooke Jenkins’ petition to run for SFDA office this year,” wrote Louie after Mayor London Breed appointed the new interim DA in July. “Go Brooke! You got this, sister!!”

Last week, Jenkins remained silent as her campaign buddy weathered criticism over her attack on Eskenazi and her legal issues.

On Wednesday, Jenkins spokesman Randy Quezada said the DA was “shocked” by Louie’s “Nazi” comment but would not be making any public comment in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. He also appeared to distance Jenkins from Louie.

“While they have been seen in photographs together at public events, they do not interact regularly,” he said in a statement.

Yet Jenkins’ office will soon have some serious interactions with Louie. Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has declined the DA’s request to take over the investigation into whether Louie committed voter fraud, thus kicking the task back to Jenkins’ office. Quezada said the office will “maintain a strict firewall” between the DA and the investigation.

“The attorney general’s office declined the request as they were confident that the matter could be investigated and prosecuted impartially in full accordance with the law by this office,” he said.

What a twist of fate for Louie, who crusaded for a crackdown on crime during the recall but now finds herself in the prosecutorial sights of an office now run by a woman she calls “sister.”