Murase Running for S.F. Democratic County Central Committee

SAN FRANCISCO — Emily Murase, a member of the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, is running for the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) in the June 7 primary election.

“The DCCC registers voters, meets to take positions on key legislation, and endorses candidates,” she said in a statement. “I am seeking election to the DCCC from Assembly District 19, the westside of San Francisco, where there are 10 seats up for election (and over 20 candidates in the race!).

“I am running for three primary reasons:

Emily Murase

“To bring education issues to the forefront of the Democratic Party. I am in my second term on the San Francisco Board of Education, having just completed my tenure as president, and it is very clear to me that that party must prioritize education, locally, state-wide, and nationally. While state funds are flowing to school districts at the highest levels in recent years, we are barely reaching funding levels equal to what we had in 2007. California continues to rank towards the bottom of all states in per-pupil funding. This must change. Education is too important to continue to short-change. We need to register more parents and young people to get results.

“To put responding to the scourge of human trafficking on the party agenda. The FBI has named San Francisco on its top-13 list of cities for child sex trafficking. According to State Attorney General Kamala Harris, California is one of the nation’s top four destination states for human trafficking. We need to raise awareness among voters to end modern-day slavery.

“To elect a Democrat to the White House. The country is at a turning point in terms of national politics. We have witnessed a presidential candidate engage in rhetoric riddled with overt bigotry. We must stand up, fight back, and elect Hillary Clinton as president!

“Qualifications: I have been a life-long Democrat. In a previous life, when I worked in Tokyo, I served as president of Democrats Abroad Japan. In 1992, I represented the club at the Asia Regional Caucus in Hong Kong, where we introduced a platform plank condemning hate crimes. I took the proposal to the Global Caucus of Democrats Abroad in Rome and to the 1992 Democratic National Convention held at Madison Square Gardens. The following year, I joined the first Clinton White House as a director of international economic affairs for the National Economic Council/National Security Council to work on trade issues.

“Since returning to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1996 to pursue a doctorate degree in communication at Stanford and start a family, I have been deeply engaged in public policy, first on the Commission on the Status of Women, appointed by Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., then, in 2004, as executive director of the Department on the Status of Women, appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, where I have served ever since, proud to be working for Mayor Edwin Lee to advance the human rights of women and girls in San Francisco and beyond.

“My husband and I are raising two daughters who are students in San Francisco public schools. After years of advocacy for quality public education, I was elected to the San Francisco Board of Education in 2010, the first Japanese American to ever do so in the board’s 160+ year history, and re-elected in 2014 as the top vote-getter, with over 80,000 votes. I have worked on anti-bullying projects, strengthening foreign language pathways, crafting a Vision 2025, and focusing on African American student achievement.

“Now I am ready to work with fellow Democrats to strengthen the party, register voters, and engage community leaders on issues we care about most. Please join me!”

Murase is running on a Progress Democrats slate along with Keith Baraka, Joel Engardio, Mary Jung, Supervisor Mark Farrell, Board of Education Commissioner Rachel Norton, Tom A. Hsieh, Trevor McNeil, Kat Anderson and Marjan Philhour.

“We are for progress, not gridlock and divisiveness,” they said in a statement. “We are proven grassroots activists who are building a stronger San Francisco Democratic Party. We are neighborhood-based and independent. We get the job done by righting for more affordable housing, better transit, safer streets and open government. We will always stand up to the divisive politics of the career politicians and self-styled ‘reformers’ and their special interests who have divided our city …

“We registered 28,000 new voters, mostly women and communities of color.

“We support building more affordable housing. We need to build affordable housing at every level.

“We are committed to diversity, Progress Democrats have appointed more diverse leaders to the Democratic Party than ever in the past decade.

“We are building a new generation of leadership, mentoring young Democrats to lead the future of our party.”

The other District 19 DCCC candidates are Angela Alioto, Kat Anderson, Brigitte Davila, Bill Fazio, Board of Education Commissioner Sandra Lee Fewer, Hene Kelly, Samuel Kwong, Leah LaCroix, Supervisor Eric Mar, Gabriel Medina, Myrna Melgar, and Supervisor Norman Yee.

Murase’s endorsers include: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jackie Speier, State Attorney General Kamala Harris, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma, Assemblymember David Chiu and Phil Ting, San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Carmen Chu, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Board of Education Commissioner Rachel Norton, San Francisco Supervisors London Breed, Katy Tang and Scott Wiener.