Professor McDaniel Discusses Perceptions of Tech Industry Influence in San Francisco Politics

WIRED -- Jason McDaniel, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, says that the negative characterization of Ron Conway and his ilk was a tactic for galvanizing opposition, not a sign of anti-tech sentiment from voters. Conway “has been created into a populist villain, in the sense of the Koch brothers here in San Francisco, by a faction here that’s used to creating villains and running against the tech community,” says McDaniel. ...

“In San Francisco, if you say billionaire, the image is tech billionaires, it’s not William Randolph Hearst. It’s almost like the first name is Tech and the last name is Billionaire.”