Supervisor agrees to step down
A city supervisor charged with demanding bribes from businessmen and lying about where he lives to run for office has agreed to resign, city officials announced Thursday.
Supervisor Ed Jew had been suspended from the 11-member board pending the outcome of proceedings against him. In a statement read by his attorney, Jew said he was resigning “not only from the Board of Supervisors but from public service.”
Jew said he decided to leave office because the cost of defending the civil and criminal cases was too much to bear.
In November, Jew pleaded not guilty in federal court to bribery, extortion and fraud for allegedly demanding $80,000 from fast-food restaurant owners to help expedite permits and other business with the planning department.
He faces separate state charges of election fraud for allegedly lying about living in San Francisco to qualify to represent the city’s western neighborhoods. He has pleaded not guilty in that case as well.
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