At Thursday’s press conference at City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie demonstrated that he has come into his own as a leader and a politician. While his handling of the threatened deployment of federal troops showed real political skill, so too did his deflection of reporters’ questions.
Lurie seems to have formulated perhaps a half-dozen rote responses, and deployed the best ones to fit each question posed. Which means that despite his successes this week, Lurie’s superficial responses to the most important questions — in some cases they were met with non sequiturs — left real concerns to fester.
The press room was full of almost three dozen reporters eager to ask questions, and the cameras trained on the mayor, who was flanked by city officials dressed for the occasion. The mayor’s press secretary told reporters to raise their hands and take turns asking questions.
One reporter asked the critical question of whether the threatened surge of federal agents and perhaps National Guard troops was called off for other cities in the Bay Area?
“What the President said to me is that he is calling off the potential surge. Secretary Noem reaffirmed that to me this morning,” Lurie said, referring to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
The reporter followed up, asking if that meant only in San Francisco, or the whole Bay Area?
“I was told in — the surge was being called off,” Lurrie replied. “He only spoke about San Francisco prior. So all I can say is what he told me.”
Not an answer.
Another reporter noted that in Lurie’s announcement late Wednesday he affirmed San Francisco’s policy as a sanctuary city, how he highlighted how closely the city has worked with the FBI and ATP, and that he invited further cooperation with other federal agencies that can turn immigrants over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What is your message to immigrant families who are concerned about that, the reporter asked?
“We have an ongoing partnership, we had it with the last administration, to tackle fentanyl,” Lurie said, completely ignoring the premise of the question and changing the topic to the city’s drug crisis.
The mayor’s non-answer answer continued to dwell on fentanyl. “We have weekly meetings where we are coordinating our efforts to take drugs, and fentanyl, off the streets. We have made progress, but we still have a lot of work to do on this front. Fentanyl is a scourge in our city, and we will work with anybody that will help us end the fentanyl crisis on our streets.”
An answer, but to a question not posed to him.
When it was my turn, I asked the mayor if he got an assurance from Trump that the surge of federal agents was called off, why does he feel compelled to keep city agencies and residents on high alert?
“I think we as a city should be prepared for any scenario,” Lurie said.
Breaking protocol slightly, I asked him a quick follow-up, pointing out that Trump has been known to change his mind. I asked Lurie if that tendency is behind his reasoning that San Francisco needs to remain vigilant?
“Every single day, my focus every single day, is public safety,” he said, which might generally be true, but not an answer to my question.
His answer, such as it was, didn’t address whether the problem is that Trump is a liar, scattered, erratic, capricious, or vengeful.
Another reporter asked if we know when the federal troops will leave the Bay Area.
“All I can tell you is the conversation I had last night, and the President told me he was calling off the potential federal surge,” Lurie said.
Factually true, but not a very reassuring answer.
This press conference left this reporter, and others, I imagine, feeling like they didn’t get much beyond what was in this morning’s announcement. If the threat of a deployment of federal agents returns, if our immigrant neighbors continue to be grabbed on the streets of San Francisco, or if the surge is redirected to other cities in Northern California, Lurie will have to come up with some answers.
