San Francisco Mayor Breed won’t attend League of Women Voters forum

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Mayor London Breed has withdrawn from the latest forum between candidates, this time from one for the San Francisco League of Women Voters. 
The group’s president Allison Goh said her team was surprised and disappointed to hear the mayor would miss the event that she said had been planned for months. 
“Time is ticking, and ballots are going to be in our mailboxes next week. So, there’s only a number of days left to really speak to San Franciscans, and it’s really disappointing that this opportunity will be missed,” Goh told CBS News Bay Area. 
Candidates Aaron Peskin, Mark Farrell, Daniel Lurie and Ahsha Safaí have all recommitted their participation in the forum. 
It’s not the first time the mayor has withdrawn from a debate or forum citing scheduling conflicts.
In a statement to CBS News Bay Area, campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano said “Mayor Breed has a scheduling conflict tonight. That being said, she has attended six debates and countless forums, including two this past weekend. Mark Farrell skipped both weekend events and ducked the opportunity to speak to the city’s Black and Brown communities. With 37 days left until Election Day, not every event will be able to be accommodated.”
Over the weekend Farrell was absent from a forum hosted by the Latino Party and Equity Coalition forum as well as a forum hosted by the NAACP. The four other leading candidates for mayor, including Breed, were present at both. 
Farrell cited a previously scheduled event at his daughter’s college on the East Coast for his absence. 
Fellow candidate and Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin said he is “disappointed that the Mayor has chosen once again not to answer the hard questions that voters are eager to hear at debates that are a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.” 
Nonprofit executive and mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie told CBS News Bay Area in a statement, “These insiders grew and exploited a corrupt bureaucracy for decades, delivering worse outcomes with bigger budgets. They claim they’re the only ones that can fix it, and the mayor can’t even be bothered to defend her record. We are facing a safety, affordability and economic recovery crisis, and I’m eager to share my vision to turn the page and innovate for our future.”
But amid a flurry of forums and debates, political expert and USF professor James Taylor said Breed’s absence could be strategic.
“She has the advantage of incumbency. It can be a blessing and a curse,” Taylor explained. “Appearing to be and projecting herself as a busy mayor, too busy for this, she’s trying to save the school district, she responded to that emergency with her hands on the plow, and so it’s sort of like [she’s saying] ‘I have a city to run. You guys can talk about how bad I do it. But in the meantime, I have a city to run.'”
But for a 100-year-old group like the League of Women Voters, Taylor said Breed’s absence is a missed opportunity for her to send a message to a key group of voters she needs to take a lead in the tight race. 
“This is different,” he explained. “This is the premier women’s elections organization in America, and they’re very strong in San Francisco, and have been the sponsor of many debates in San Francisco. So, I think it’s a slight. I think it’s a historic slight.”
“We’re all voters in San Francisco, and we are just hoping that our voters in San Francisco, that we educate as our members and as people who live here can hear from all the candidates so that we can make informed and educated decisions about who and what we will vote for on Nov. 5,” said Goh.