Ed Jew

Shortly after the raid, the city attorney began investigating Jew for violating residency requirements necessary to hold his supervisor position.

His grandfather James Jew, who arrived to the city in 1913, established an employment agency in 1925 and the Canton Flower Shop in Chinatown in 1927.

Among other enterprises, he managed his family's flower shop and owned a local taxi company named Howard Mock Jew, Inc.[citation needed] In addition, he invested in real estate.

[4] Jew began his political career in the 1980s, establishing the Chinese Neighborhood Resource Center, which helped to clean up alleyways in Chinatown.

[3] Jew once served as vice chairman of the San Francisco County Republican Central Committee before re-registering as an Independent and then as a Democrat.

[11][12] In December 2006, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Jew to serve out the remainder of Ma's term; he took office in January 2007.

The FBI sought evidence in Jew's computers and records regarding "potentially criminal allegations" surrounding an extortion attempt.

He questioned what influence he could have over the issuing of permits, and reiterated his refusal to resign his position, despite insistence from Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Jew claimed that he spent most of his time at his flower shop, but was not able to provide more information in response to City Attorney Dennis Herrera's formal requests.

[19][20] On June 12, 2007, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris issued a warrant for Jew's arrest, and charged him with nine felony counts of perjury, election code violations, voter fraud, and providing false documents.

In his defense, Jew produced a jury duty summons to indicate his address in San Francisco, and questioned the possible bias of the witnesses against him.

[28][29] On September 25, 2007, Mayor Gavin Newsom suspended Jew for alleged official misconduct and began the process of removing him from office.

[30] On January 10, 2008, Jew tendered his resignation in exchange for Herrera and Newsom dropping both the civil lawsuit and misconduct proceeding before the Ethics Commission regarding his residency violation.

In a letter, he noted that he resigned due to tremendous legal expenses and swore never to seek public office again in the best interest of his family.

Prosecutors stated that he "preyed upon and victimized the very people whom he had proposed to support in his campaign: small business owners in the Sunset District.

[36] In late 2014, he took up a low-paying job in a city-funded program targeting illegal garbage dumping in Chinatown, a position he still held in 2016.