London Breed said she'd appoint Stephen Sherrill to curry favor with Bloomberg, 2 former staffers say

"Johnston says Breed in November 2024 told him that billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who has put millions into Breed's political career, personally called her and asked for Stephen Sherrill to be appointed to the vacant District 2 supervisorial seat. Sherrill, a native New Yorker, had previously worked for then-New York Mayor Bloomberg. Prior to his appointment as a San Francisco supervisor, Sherrill worked in Breed's office as the director of the Mayor's Office of Innovation, a Bloomberg-funded position."

"In the five weeks between Breed's defeat to now-Mayor Daniel Lurie and her appointment of the largely unknown Sherrill, Johnston says he and Breed had numerous discussions about the pending appointment. "During those conversations she told me things like 'this one's for me,' meaning this appointment," Johnston says. Other things Johnston recalls Breed saying at the time include "I'm 50 years old and about to be out of a job; I need to think about my financial future," "Mike Bloomberg called me and asked me," "They" - meaning Bloomberg World - "are going to set me up," "I have a lot of expenses, I need to worry about how I'm going to pay for things.""

"It was, Johnston continues, "a variety of comments along these lines. At every point I pushed back." In a videotaped interview with Mission Local last week, Johnston now says that the former mayor, "somebody I was close to, told me things that were just horribly wrong. And for 16, 18 months, I've wrestled with what to do with that.""

Conor Johnston worked as London Breed’s aide for five years until 2017, later becoming a prominent partisan supporter. In a recent interview, he said Breed told him information he believed was horribly wrong and that he wrestled with what to do for 16 to 18 months. Johnston said Breed told him in November 2024 that billionaire Michael Bloomberg personally called her and asked for Stephen Sherrill to be appointed to the vacant District 2 supervisorial seat. Johnston described multiple conversations in the five weeks after Breed’s defeat, where Breed said the appointment was for her, referenced being about to lose her job, and cited Bloomberg’s involvement and financial concerns. He said he pushed back at every point.

Read at Mission Local