F. Joseph Butler to Challenge David Chiu in District 3

Michelle Deasy

Candidate, tree-planter

Earlier this year, Chinatown power broker Rose Pak threatened to run against Board President David Chiu in District 3. That'd be a neat trick. Pak would have to: A) Move to District 3, and; B) Become a registered voter.

That isn't happening. Thus far, Chiu faces an exceedingly light field in his bid for re-election. Only Chinese opera-singing perennial candidate Wilma Pang has filed the papers to run for supervisor. Chiu hasn't filed his yet. Neither has F. Joseph Butler -- but in the very short term, that will change.

The 57-year-old architect pulled his nomination package on Aug. 6, and confirmed to SF Weekly he's nearly done with the mound of paperwork he'll soon turn in. The candidate-to-be kept his answers very vanilla when asked what he offers to the voting public. But it figures that with Muni scheduled to turn North Beach into a Central Subway construction zone starting Monday and extending for many years, locals may turn their ire toward their incumbent representative.

It remains to be seen if this translates into votes for a political naif in his quest to unseat the president of the board.

"I've been serving the people of San Francisco for almost 30 years," says Butler. "I think I've planted a tree in every district in San Francisco." He pauses. "I'll check on that."

If elected, he continues, he wants to "represent everyone, not just District 3."

That'll be for the people of District 3 to decide, however. They'll be the ones choosing between the prez, the opera singer, and the new guy who plants trees.

Follow us on Twitter at @TheSnitchSF and @SFWeekly