Eric Lee Mar 馬兆光
Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from District 1
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 8, 2009
Preceded by	Jake McGoldrick
Born	August 15, 1962 (1962-08-15) (age 47) San Francisco, California
Nationality	United States
Political party	Democratic
Residence	San Francisco, California
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Asian American Studies teacher

Eric Lee Mar (Chinese: 馬兆光, born August 15, 1962) is a California politician, previously serving on the San Francisco Board of Education and San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee. In 2008, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 1.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Political career 3 Controversies 3.1 Acrimonious relationship with Arlene Ackerman 3.2 Mandatory anti-war rally 3.3 Criticism by African-American community 4 External links 5 References

[edit] Biography

Mar has worked as an associate professor at San Francisco State University since 1992. He teaches Asian American and Ethnic Studies. ^[1] As an associate professor, he mentored and supported hundreds of young people to become active in their communities and the political process.

From 1993-97, Mar was the Assistant Dean for New College Law School in San Francisco, the oldest public interest law school in the country, where he taught a course on critical race theory.^[2]

Mar has served on the Human Rights Committee of the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Mar is a board member of the Chinese Progressive Association and a founding member of API-FORCE (Asians and Pacific Islanders for Community Empowerment) and the Institute for Multiracial Justice. He is a past executive board member of the Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. In 1999, Mar received the community service award from the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). He is a former shop steward for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790.

In 2000, Eric Mar's house burned down and on the same day, his daughter Jade was born.^[1]

[edit] Political career

In 1998, Mar was elected to the San Francisco County & Central Committee of the Democratic Party.

Eric has lived in the Richmond District for over 22 years with his wife Sandra Chin-Mar, a public school teacher. Their daughter Jade Mar is a 3rd grader at McCoppin Elementary School in the Richmond District. As a longtime community leader, Eric has led neighborhood and citywide efforts to preserve and expand affordable housing, to increase funding for parks and libraries, to improve services for youth and seniors, and to protect locally owned neighborhood businesses from unfair competition from big corporations like Starbucks.

After his house burned down in April, 2000, Mar was ineligible to run for Supervisor as he had planned.^[3] Instead, he ran for the Board of Education, placing second. As a Commissioner for the Board of Education he

• Co-authored with Tom Ammiano and led the campaign to pass Proposition H in 2004 which spends up to $60 million per year in funding to for school programs;
• Addressed fiscal corruption and mismanagement in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD);
• Created the Parent Advisory Council to the SFUSD, which strengthened parent, student and community involvement in SFUSD policy-making;
• Authored legislation on closing the achievement gap^{[citation needed]} and on fostering healthier and safer schools;
• Led to the creation of a model "green building" facility at Argonne Child Development Center in the Richmond District;
• Served on the Select Committee of the Board of Supervisors and Board of Education, which coordinates policy-making between city government and the school district.

In 2008 Mar ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District One and won the election, defeating planning commissioner Sue Lee in November.^[4]Mar took office on January 8, 2009.

[edit] Controversies

Eric Mar has been at the center of several controversies during his tenure on the San Francisco Board of Educaton. Mar was criticized by the Richmond Review for allowing local school children be bused across the city rather than to attend school in their neighborhoods ^[5]

AsianWeek newspaper criticized Mar for his support of closing down the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in San Francisco high schools. ^[6]

[edit] Acrimonious relationship with Arlene Ackerman

The San Francisco Chronicle blamed Mar and two other Board of Education members for the tense relationship the Board had with former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman:

What (Ackerman) doesn't need is sniping and second-guessing from elected officials whose job is to set broad policies, not micromanage the superintendent's daily conduct. Tensions between school board members and superintendents come with the territory. But in San Francisco, those tensions had gone far beyond the limits of acceptability. 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.^[7]

Beyond Chron, however, had a different opinion, placing blame instead with Ackerman:

At a September 2003 meeting of the Board of Education, Mar was among "three board members with whom Ackerman has locked horns said they remain steadfast in their objections to her management of the district, which they characterize as autocratic and unyielding to differing views."^[8]

The Examiner and Chronicle have been shameless propagandists for Arlene Ackerman. To their credit City voters saw through the smokescreen. 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. Instead she stuck around to complain about commissioners city voters chose to re-elect...[claiming] she represents the "silent majority."^[9]

[edit] Mandatory anti-war rally

In 2003, Mar, along with School Board members Sara Lipson and Mark Sanchez, floated a resolution to establish a district-wide anti-war rally in protest against the pending U.S. invasion of Iraq and to create a peace curriculum. Ackerman and other board members objected to the resolution calling it one-sided and for taking students out of school to participate in the rally. "The proposal failed but a watered-down version that passed the board called for a day of on-campus public discussion about the possibility of a war in Iraq.".^[10]

[edit] Criticism by African-American community

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 would be considered in the board of education's yearly evaluation of her performance. Ackerman is an African-American. Cedric Jackson, president of the San Francisco Black Leadership Forum, condemned Mar's actions as "unacceptable, irresponsible, intolerable behavior."^[11]

[edit] External links

• Mar's campaign site

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by Jake McGoldrick	Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 1 2009–present	Incumbent

v • d • e San Francisco Board of Supervisors Mar • Alioto-Pier • Chiu • Chu • Mirkarimi • Daly • Elsbernd • Dufty • Campos • Maxwell • Avalos