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Judge Rules in Favor of Alioto-Pier's Bid to Run for Re-Election

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) - A San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled Thursday Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier is eligible to run for re-election in November.


Alioto-Pier was appointed in 2004 by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the previous District 2 supervisor, to replace him after he was elected mayor.

She then won an election in November 2004 to serve out the remaining two years of the four-year term, and she was re-elected to another four-year term in 2006.

The city charter limits supervisors to two successive four-year terms.

Alioto-Pier, whose current term expires in January, challenged a city attorney's office decision that she could not run for an additional term, and Thursday Judge Peter Busch ruled in her favor.

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District 2 includes the Marina, Pacific Heights and Russian Hill neighborhoods in the northern part of the city.

Alioto-Pier said by phone she was very pleased with the decision and intends to run for one final term.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera had argued that Alioto-Pier's appointment and subsequent two-year elected term should, under the city charter, be rounded up to constitute a full term of office.

Alioto-Pier maintained it did not, but Herrera spokesman Matt Dorsey differed in his analysis of the ruling.

"Right now there is a rounding-up provision in the city charter, which voters put there to govern mid-term board appointments," Dorsey said. "With Judge Busch's ruling Thursday, that voter-enacted provision can no longer be applied. It's without effect, even though voters did nothing to repeal it."

He said the city attorney would therefore likely decide over the next several days whether to appeal the ruling or not.

The decision also impacts District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu, who Newsom appointed in September 2007 to fill the Sunset District seat vacated by former Supervisor Ed Jew. Chu then won an election to complete his four-year term in November 2008.

She is running for re-election this November for what would be her first four-year term.

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