Extramarital affair causes examination of Phil Ting’s political career
A long time Chinese American elected official in San Francisco admitted and apologized for having an extramarital affair, shocking the local Chinese community as a large Chinese population resides within his district.
Phil Ting(丁右立), a state Assemblyman represents western San Francisco, was revealed to be in an extramarital relationship with Carmel Foster, a South African immigrant and domestic worker, causing his rising political career to be put on examination.
- A Four-year affair
Foster disclosed more details to the World Journal on June 21. She said that the entire extramarital affair started in 2016 and lasted four years. Her last contact with Ting was during the Chinese New Year in 2020.
The extramarital affair was first reported by a conservative media “Communities Digital News” on Friday, June 19. And Ting made a public apology the next day.
In the news article, Foster said she was “exploited” and mentioned “abuse”, including speaking up with her testimony in support of the state legislation AB5. And the speculation emerged that the issue could be politically motivated.
Foster strongly denied that she is politically motivated or with any political purposes, and asked to have a conversation with Ting on AB5.
AB5 was one of the most controversial bills of California in 2019. The original intent of the bill was to regulate the employment relationship of the drivers with the ride-hailing app companies, but later the bill developed to have a sweeping influence on the “gig workers”, granting more protections and rights for the contract workers and allowing them to be treated as employees with more benefits. Most Democrats supported the bill while the Republicans opposed it.
Foster said that she’s a Democrat, and had long been supporting the rights of immigrants. She said she spoke in support of AB5 with her testimony in the legislature, and now the passage of the bill affected many people, and she’s frustrated that she has never had a conversation with the author of the bill, state legislator Lorena Gonzalez. She said she felt like being “used” and being like “trash”.
Meanwhile, Ting, a Democrat, also supported the bill, so Foster requested to have a conversation with Ting on the contents of the bill, too.
- Politicians with affairs
In California and in the Bay Area, Phil Ting plays an iconic role in representing Chinese Americans in politics as he’s holding important public positions and political power. He was the Accessor-Recorder of San Francisco and elected to the state Assembly in 2012. Now he’s the Assembly Budget Committee chair.
His specialty in tax and budget financing would make him a strong candidate for the next California State Controller.
David Ho(何文健), a political consultant and a power broker in San Francisco, predicted the damage made from this affair will be limited.
“I still think he will be okay,” Ho told the World Journal, assuming no more information leaked to show that public funds were used or non-consensual conduct existed in this relationship.
“If you just look at California, obviously Gavin Newsom had it,” said Ho, and “it actually didn't impact him”.
Ho believed that the voters and the society have become more tolerant now, as extramarital news happened too often even to the U.S. presidents.
“It happens, you own it, you apologize, and you move on,” Ho said.
Moreover, Ho said that Ting has a long record of fighting for workers and pro-union, so he believed that this relationship had not affected his intention of voting on a certain piece of legislation.
Ho also cited the example of Kamala Harris, the U.S. Senator from California and a potential candidate for the Vice President, had extramarital affairs with the former mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown decades ago. Ho said that every time Harris ran for public offices the news would resurface but didn't affect her political career too much.
- Community regrets, allies send wishes
Ting’s marriage and his spouse have been widely publicized in the Chinese press. He, his wife Susan Sun(孫瑋), and their two daughters often attended public events together. When Ting filed paper to run for San Francisco Mayor in 2010, they all showed up in the Election Department in front of the media cameras.
Susan Sun was active in local politics and served as a campaign policy advisor to Mark Leno, a San Francisco mayoral candidate lost by 1% in 2018. In recent two years, she’s less involved in the public spotlight.
Jade Wu(伍玉珍), a Chinese American who works in Ting’s office for years, told the World Journal that after the news broke, she received a lot of messages from the community members expressing regrets. She emphasized that Ting has always worked for the community and since this is his personal relationship affair, she asked the public to give him more space and privacy.
She also clarified that Ting is currently seeking re-election of his legislator seat, and he will focus on serving his constituents in the 19th district of the state Assembly (western San Francisco and northern San Mateo County).
The rumors of Ting running for State Controller were widespread in the political field. There’s already a campaign committee registered with the Secretary of State named “Ting for Controller 2022”.
Ting’s allies and his colleagues in the Democratic Party have sent their wishes to him publicly, such as State Senator Scott Wiener, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.
David Chiu(邱信福), who represents the other half of San Francisco in the state Assembly and also a Chinese American elected official, responded to the World Journal with a brief statement.
“I wish Phil and his family all the best during this difficult time”, said Chiu.
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The Chinese language version of the story appeaered on the World Journal on June 22, 2020.
