No local politician is more connected to San Francisco’s Astroturf Network than District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio.

Now Engardio, the elected official who has served them so well, has become a liability. Not only is he likely to be recalled, leaving the Network without its most reliable ally on the Board of Supervisors, he has exposed their intentions. The Astroturf Network’s single aim is to allow its wealthy backers to wring more profit from a city that’s made them obscenely rich. 

This latest setback comes at a sensitive time. It has landed in the aftermath of disappointing results in the November 2024 election.  Should the recall be successful (and most believe it will), Engardio’s removal will occur  a year before the critical 2026 election when half the seats on the Board of Supervisors are up for grabs.

Engardio began currying favor with the Astroturf Network more than five years ago during the 2019 recalls of three members of the San Francisco School Board, and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, efforts that were bankrolled by billionaire-backed Neighbors for a Better San Francisco and GrowSF. He became among the recall’s most vocal supporters, making connections that would prove advantageous once he decided to run a fourth time for a seat on the Board of Supervisors.

His successful 2023 campaign for District 4 — three previous bids for office had failed — was made possible by redistricting, another Astroturf Network project. In 2020, the lines of the city’s 11 supervisorial districts were redrawn, under pressure on Mayor London Breed from conservative forces, as part of a multi-year plan to move San Francisco to the right. In the case of District 4, that meant slicing off a portion of the neighborhood inhabited by apartment dwellers and swapping it for an area that traditionally leaned conservative.

After beating Mar by a razor-thin margin, Engardio scrupulously followed that old political principle, “Dance with the one who brung ya.” He pushed for then-Mayor Breed’s housing plan, nothing less than a gift to real estate speculators and fervently supported by GrowSF. After Breed’s loss to Lurie, Engardio’s been a booster of the new Mayor’s more radical scheme. The plan is likely to render the Sunset, a quiet neighborhood of mostly modest homes, and mom-and-pop business, all, but unrecognizable.

Months after being elected, Engardio delivered for his wealthy donors: He sponsored Proposition K, a November 2024 ballot measure that closed a portion of the Upper Great Highway. Engardio’s move outraged his constituents, who opposed it by nearly two-thirds. Sunset residents said they felt blindsided by Engardio’s decision to place the measure on a city-wide ballot without consulting constituents. In recent weeks, it was revealed that Engardio had met with a representative from billionaire-backed Abundant SF, about three weeks before placing Prop K on the ballot.

A scrappy recall campaign gathered enough signatures to qualify for the September 16th ballot, leaving Engardio’s and his wealthy supporters scrambling. As of July 7th, “Stop the Recall” raised $667,089 with $200,000 coming from crypto king Chris Larsen, $175,000 from Yelp chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman, and $100,000 from Twilio cofounder John Wolthuis.

Engardio is using the money to pay door-to-door canvassers as well as to flood social media with his “accomplishments.” Among them is “returning” algebra to public school classrooms, a matter under the jurisdiction of the School Board and not the Board of Supervisors, and the once-popular night markets discontinued when merchant reimbursement checks were delayed by many months.

The Engardio debacle coincided with the retrenchment of the Astroturf Network after a disappointing November 2024 election. Stung by losses, especially that of mayoral candidate Mark Farrell who finished an embarrassing fourth, and Proposition D, billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz handed off TogetherSF to Neighbors for a Better San Francisco. (It has since re-emerged as Blueprint for a Better San Francisco, which has, to date, received rather anemic funding from Neighbors for a Better San Francisco.) Garry Tan stepped down from the GrowSF to focus on national issues.

For some, retrenchment means maintaining a healthy distance from Engardio. The San Francisco Democratic Party, bankrolled by many of the same billionaires that helped elect the District 4 Supervisor,, has deferred ruling on the recall until late August, nearly two weeks after voting has commenced.  Meanwhile, GrowSF announced it has begun interviewing candidates for the District 4 seat. 

Mission Local called the Engardio recall a “shot across the bow of every San Francisco elected official.” It also holds an important lesson for San Francisco voters: Beware of candidates bearing gifts from billionaires.