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Noah Berger
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David vs. David
The fight over David Chiu's
newly-ratified Airbnb legislation heated up two weeks ago, when word got out that Airbnb investor Ron Conway and his wife, Gayle, had poured some
$75,000 into an independent expenditure committee to crush Chiu's rival, David Campos, in the assembly race this November.
And the money for "San Franciscans to Hold Campos Accountable" keeps rolling in, as more tech companies try to make good with the city family. Right now, the committee has more than
$700,000 in its coffers, and the meter keeps ticking up.
So far, the biggest contributor is LinkedIn co-founder — and early Airbnb backer — Reid Hoffman, whose $600,000 contributions account for the lion's share of the fund. Last week, SideCar founder Sunil Paul chipped in $5,000 of his own. Silicon Valley investor Justin Fishner-Wolfson, a managing partner in the firm 137 Ventures, donated $10,000 in early October.
Most of these donors are currently brokering deals with city and state regulators — such as SideCar's newly-inked agreement with
San Francisco International Airport — so it behooves them to have a tech-friendly politician in office. And Chiu, whose regulation of Airbnb did not include a precondition that the company pay $25 million in owed back taxes, has certainly shown a
soft spot for wealthy startups.
Campos, in contrast, has emerged as a vehement critic of Airbnb, which has become a major sticking point in the race. As a state representative, he's unlikely to reverse course.
