Frank Jordan

Infobox Officeholder
name = Frank Jordan


caption =
order = 40^th Mayor of San Francisco
term_start = January 8, 1992
term_end = January 8, 1996
deputy =
predecessor = Art Agnos
successor = Willie Brown (politician)
birth_date = birth date and age|1935|02|20
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
constituency =
party = Democratic
spouse =
profession =
religion =


footnotes =

Francis M. “Frank” Jordan (born February 20,1935) is a U.S. politician, foundation executive and former Chief of Police.

Mayor of San Francisco

He served as the Mayor of San Francisco, California from 1992, succeeding Art Agnos, until January, 1996, after being defeated by former California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown in the November, 1995 mayoral election. He continued Agnos' campaign against the city's chapter of Food Not Bombs and introduced a controversial program called Matrix which aimed to deal with the city's homelessness problems. During his mayoral tenure Jordan played a role in converting the Presidio Army Base into part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, bringing Bay Area Rapid Transit to the San Francisco International Airport, keeping the San Francisco Giants in the city and balancing the city's budget.

Jordan was challenged for mayor in the 1995 election by Brown, who was termed out of the State Assembly, considered by many to be the one of the most powerful African-American politicians in the country, and who had only once been defeated in a run for public office. Despite having won the endorsement of Northern California's largest newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, many attribute Jordan's 1995 election defeat to a stunt with Los Angeles radio DJs Mark & Brian who convinced Jordan to shower with them, completely nude, during a live radio show. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/02/02/MNGHNNTLGO1.DTL&o=0] In 1999, Jordan attempted a come-back bid for Mayor of San Francisco, but came in a close third place behind Willie Brown and Tom Ammiano.

Chief of Police

Before becoming mayor, Jordan served as the Chief of the San Francisco Police Department from 1986 until 1990, at which point he resigned to run for mayor. He joined the force in 1957 and was named Chief of Police by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein in 1986. At a conference at USF Jordan was reported to have said, "Since I have been the mayor and chief of police, I believe disciplinary procedures are very important to have in the hands of the chief of police," The panel also specifically recommended that the chief be given the power to suspend an officer for up to 90 days. Currently suspensions are limited to 10 days [http://www.usfca.edu/usfnews/news_stories/Police_Panel.html]

Foundation Executive

Since 2001 Jordan has served as special advisor to the president of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and is the foundation's principal counselor on the impact of potential grants in the nine-county Bay Area [http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-heads-state/6045930-1.html] . According to the foundation's 2007 annual report, in that year nearly $53 million in grants was devoted to the San Francisco Bay Area [http://www.moore.org/files/GBMF-2007-Year-in-Review.pdf#page=1]

Personal

Jordan holds a degree in government and political science from the University of San Francisco, where he has served on the Business Advisory Council since 1989, and teaching credentials from the University of California. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Wendy Paskin.

External links

* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/09/16/MN912.DTL Jordan Banks On Being Steady Flash, pizzazz not ex-mayor's style]

* [http://theaie.com/_wsn/page5.html Jordan on Ethics, September 2006, University of San Francisco]