As a Commissioner for the Board of Education he Mar voted in support of eliminating the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in San Francisco high schools.

[6] In January 2003, Mar, along with School Board members Sara Lipson and Mark Sanchez, backed a resolution that would have created a peace oriented curriculum and established a district-wide anti-war demonstration against the impending 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Three board members in particular—Eric Mar, Sarah Lipson and Mark Sanchez—need to start working with Ackerman, not fighting with her virtually on a daily basis.

Beyond Chron expressed an opposing view: "If Ackerman had any respect for what public votes mean she would have quit after the November 2004 election because that is what the voters were saying when they rejected the candidacies of Heather Hiles, David Weiner and Coach Kane.

"[11]Mar was criticized by members of the African-American community after he gave an interview to a Chinese-language newspaper in which he said Ackerman's attitude toward Asian-Americans should be considered in the board of education's yearly evaluation of her performance.

Cedric Jackson, president of the San Francisco Black Leadership Forum, condemned Mar's actions as "unacceptable, irresponsible, intolerable behavior.

"[12] In 2008, Mar ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District 1 and won the election, defeating planning commissioner Sue Lee.

[16] Mar was the chief supporter of a law to ban restaurants from providing toys to customers unless the meals served were nutritious (i.e., reduced sugar, fat and sodium content and included fruits and vegetables).

[24] Mar also directed the Budget and Legislative Analyst Office to identify potential opportunities to increase funding for bicycle infrastructure.

[27] Mar was criticized for complaining about Batkid, the five-year-old leukemia sufferer named Miles Scott, who was sent by the Make-A-Wish Foundation to "rescue" San Francisco.

"San Francisco city supervisor Eric Mar seems to have missed the heartwarming lesson behind the day, and instead decided to politicize the event," the publication wrote.

[29] In the course of what Mayor Ed Lee called "Batkid Day," the pint-sized superhero "saved" San Francisco from the Riddler and the Penguin.

Wrote the Chronicle, "San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar — the man who pushed to take the toys out of Happy Meals — couldn't help but snip the fun from Friday's mega-community celebration of Batkid.

[31] Mar was fined more than $26,000 on November 6, 2017 for state and city ethics violations associated with concert tickets he took from Another Planet Entertainment within months of sponsoring a board resolution to extend the company's permit for its Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park.