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San Francisco's Feinstein gets unexpected support

Winning the gay vote

By Fred Mann

Many

SAN FRANCISCO homosexuals in San Francisco neither trust nor like Dianne Feinstein, the 46-year old widow who won election to a full term as mayor last week.

The politically powerful gay community here has always viewed her as less committed to homosexual rights than was the late George · Moscone, the liberal mayor the gays helped elect in 1975 and the man assassinated three years later.

Mrs. Feinstein, a moderate. Democrat, had criticized gays for “flaunting" their life-style. She fired the liberal police chief who had actively recruited gays for the police force.

David Scott, a gay real estate broker who finished third in the primary election for mayor last month, referred to Mrs. Feinstein and her run-off opponent, conservative city Supervisor Quentin Kopp, as "tweedledum and tweedledee."

But despite all the misgivings, voters in San Francisco's predominantly homosexual neighborhoods voted heavily for Mrs. Feinstein, and provided the key to her victory.

In the process, gays here reestablished their position as one of the most potent forces in San Francisco politics.

Candidates for office here seek out the support and organizational skills of the gay community the way politicians in other cities court labor unions. Gay political clubs

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supply streams of active campaign workers to candidates whom they support, and voter turn-out in predominantly gay precincts traditionally is heavier than elsewhere in the city.

In the weeks following the Nov. 6 primary election, Mrs. Feinstein and Kopp battled bitterly for support from political leaders. Kopp won the backing of California Gov. Jerry Brown and former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto. Mrs. Feinstein was supported by President Carter.

But no single endorsement was more coveted than that of David Scott.

After criticizing both candidates for their lack of concern over homosexual issues, Scott threw his support to Mrs. Feinstein as "the lesser of two evils."

(Kopp, a sharp-tongued, often abrasive conservative who had attracted some liberal support by opposing run-away growth in the city and mellowing his rhetoric, promised Scott he would listen to gay problems. But Scott and other gays rejected him.)

Scott's support apparently made the difference for the mayor. A survey conducted on election day showed that 71% of those who had voted for Scott in the primary voted for Mrs. Feinstein in the runoff. Another 12% did not vote at all.

Mrs. Feinstein won the election with 54% of the total vote to Kopp's 46%.

Dianne Feinstein -

-a calm, steady demeanor

A strong anti-incumbent sentiment swept six of the eight current office holders running for election out of their jobs. The only two incumbents to win were those backed by the gay community Mrs. Feinstein and Supervisor Harry Britt.

Britt is the avowed homosexual who was appointed to fill the term of the assassinated gay leader Harvey Milk.

Mrs. Feinstein, who had been

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defeated for mayor twice before, had not expected to be forced into a run-off election. Her performance as acting mayor in the troubled days immediately following the City Hall murders of Moscone and Milk had won her widespread praise. Her smooth assumption of the mayor's office and her calm, steady demeanor had made her appear unbeatable in early preelection opinion polls.

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