SF Democrats nearing new sexual-harassment guidelines

The San Francisco Democratic Party is nearing completion of new draft guidelines to prevent sexual assault and harassment within its ranks following allegations against high-ranking local members earlier this year.

The local Democratic County Central Committee’s new principles are about 80% ready, according to Lily Ho, the chair of the Special Committee on Sexual Harassment in the San Francisco Political Community.

Ho told The Examiner that the committee, formed by the DCCC this spring, consulted with 15 chartered Democratic clubs in The City — including the Latinx Democratic Club, the former co-president of which has been accused of sexual assault — as well as survivors, stakeholders and experts, including the Ombudsman for California Democratic Party Code of Conduct and the San Francisco Office of Victim and Witness Services.

“We asked the question: What are we doing here?” Ho said. “What can we agree on? What is the objective?”

Nearly 64% of registered San Francisco voters are Democrats, according to the most recent state statistics, giving the DCCC a powerful voice in local politics. The local party held the first meeting of its special committee on May 2 , following allegations against a number of prominent party members.

The San Francisco Standard reported April 16 that three women had filed police reports against former Tenderloin and Owners Development Corporation director Jon Jacobo of domestic violence and sexual assault in the months after a woman publicly alleged in 2021 that he had raped her.

Ten days later, the DCCC announced the formation of its special committee. That same day, The Standard reported that the local party’s mention of a “current president of a chartered Democratic club "facing allegations referred to Kevin Ortiz, who stepped down as co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club earlier this month.

Ortiz left his position after Zahra Hajee — a former aide to San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla — told the San Francisco Chronicle that she had told police Ortiz sexually assaulted her twice in 2021 . The Latinx Club told the outlet July 8 it was launching an investigation .

The executive director of Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, Jay Cheng, has also faced renewed criticism for a 2011 accusation of sexual assault while he was attending UC Irvine. Cheng has denied the allegation, and Neighbors’ board said in May he would remain in the position.

Ho said that the public allegations weren’t “discussed at all” during the DCCC’s three workshops hosted since the committee’s inaugural May 2 meeting. She said the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club have been “excellent partners” in attending each one.

Ho said the workshops helped the committee settle on three main tenets behind its forthcoming guidelines: Be survivor-centric, focus on education, and ensure the agreed-upon guidelines are clear and useful.

The first point, Ho said, entails maintaining a focus upon the survivor and their perspective when issues are reported and a subsequent investigation takes place.

“The education piece was interesting because I think everyone wanted to know better how to create a safe space and environment for everyone,” she said. “These clubs vary in size and structure … there was a lot of emphasis around ‘What are you supposed to do when an incident happen?’ And if you're a leadership of a club, ‘What are you supposed to do with that information?’”

That, she added, spoke to the importance of making the guidelines as practical and applicable as possible.

“We didn't want a bunch of words on paper,” Ho said. “We wanted these policies to be useful to the clubs, something that they would be able to implement and understand.”

Ho said she hoped to formally present the guidelines sooner than August or September, but other members had reservations.

“We’re incomplete in some areas,” she said, adding that there will be three more workshops in the coming weeks to address some of these areas, including restorative justice and a template for clubs on how to intake reports of harassment or assault.

It’s a busy time for all those involved, with the Nov. 5 election around the corner. Ho said she is optimistic the committee can continue to make progress amid the ensuing months of electioneering and endorsements.

“We’ve achieved really good momentum, and we've gotten a lot done collaboratively in just the last two months alone,” Ho said.