From a parent volunteer becoming a political consultant, Kit Lam plays a new role to empower the Asian community

(SAN FRANCISCO) Kit Lam had never had any involvement in political movement until the recall school board petitions in 2021. He was an investigator and legislative assistant for D4 Supervisor Joel Engardio. Now he moves on to a new career starting March 9 as a full time political consultant for mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie.

As an independent political consultant, Lam chose to work at Lurie's campaign for mayor as the AAPI Political Director focusing on getting more support from the Chinese and Asian American voters in San Francisco and engaging with them.

Lurie said in a statement to value Lam joining his team. “Whether it’s public safety, public health, or public education–San Francisco has experienced an exodus of parents and working families because city hall insiders have allowed our worst problems to fester," said Lurie. “Kit (Lam) is a beloved member of this community and a committed advocate for San Francisco parents, safety, and the Chinese community. Together we will bring much needed change to San Francisco.”

Prior to starting his new profession for Lurie's campaign, Lam spoke to Wind Newspaper and wanted to share with the community that it was a considerable decision for him for the sake of empowering the Asian community through political involvement.

Lam is an immigrant from Hong Kong and came to the United States for college education at the University of California at Santa Cruz majoring in psychology. He further earned a master’s degree from Golden Gate University.

In 2002, Lam moved back to Hong Kong and served as an anti-corruption investigator for four years at the Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which was established in 1974 under the British colony administration and has become a statutory independent anti-corruption body of Hong Kong to combat corruption in both the public and private sectors.

After he returned to San Francisco, Lam joined the San Francisco Unified School District for 13 years as an investigator working primarily on address fraud cases until 2022 he was laid off.

Members of the Chinese community had a feeling that Lam lost his job at the Unified School District due to his active involvement in politics.

Lam was called a hero in the recall school board movement where he became famous and was interviewed by numerous news media organizations locally and nationally because of his leadership in the recall. Lam held a weekly petition drive at the Richmond Farmers' Market on every Sunday to gather signatures in support of the recall.

Ultimately Lam collected over 12,700 signatures for the petitions which were qualified to be on the ballots. In the February 2022 special election for recalling three former school board members, the movement received overwhelming support from voters and all three recall measures were passed.

It was Lam's very first involvement in politics. It was because he is a parent of two public school students in San Francisco. He wanted all students in the City to be able to have great public education, but former school board members were in the wrong direction of delaying the reopening of in-person classes behind many other public school systems during the pandemic.

The direct participation let Lam realize the power of political impacts on everyone including the Chinese community. He then moved on to join the Recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin campaign which was also successful in recalling Boudin in 2022.

Lam served as Joel Engardio's campaign manager when Engardio ran for District 4 Supervisor. Engardio won the election in November 2022.

From the school board recall movement to recalling DA Boudin and running Engardio's campaign, Lam was a volunteer. He was hired by Engardio as his legislative assistant in January 2023 after winning the election.

The Supervisor legislative assistant position had given Lam opportunities to look at more deeply in the political operations in City Hall.

2024 is an election year with a long list of significant races in San Francisco. He made up his mind to change his career becoming a professional political consultant in February 2024 and resigned.

Lam decided to join Lurie's mayoral campaign in the move of his career path. There are reasons. "Daniel (Lurie) is sincere and has the heart to serve. Daniel and I are aligned and share the same values that elected officials and public servants serve the people, but not the other way around," Lam said.

"Daniel is a leader who cares and actively listens to ordinary people. He visited four Chinese owned businesses on Noriega Street that were burglarized in January 2024. He engaged with ordinary people," Lam said he was impressed with Lurie when he served as a legislative assistant at City Hall working on the crime issues and those burglaries.

San Francisco has not been the same city as before during the past decade. People, small businesses and corporations are leaving the city. San Franciscans have an opportunity to elect a new mayor in November this year.

"San Francisco desperately needs new and accountable leadership. Daniel is an outsider of city hall and not part of the political machine," Lam said. "I believe Daniel is the best candidate to lead the city without bias. He will set aside political differences and bring people together. He will truly bring positive changes, reform the city government and lead San Francisco back on track."

Lam cited one of the city's main problems to stop the improvement was the corruption between government officials and non-profit organizations. "As a former ICAC Investigator, I have always been proud to be part of the force that holds government officials accountable and root out corruption in Hong Kong. I still have the spirit of ICAC inside me," Lam said.

"Today, San Francisco is in a similar situation where crime, drug overdose, homelessness and corruption plague the city," Lam said. "My wife is a native San Franciscan and I have lived in San Francisco since 2006. We have two kids attending public schools and growing up in the city. We want to see San Francisco that works for everyone but nothing seems to be working now."

For the past several years, as a Supervisor's legislative assistant and a parent volunteer for the Recall School Board campaign, Lam has met many parents, residents, business owners and new friends. "All echoed sentiments that they are not being heard. Many city departments are dysfunctional. City officials pointed fingers at each other. There is no accountability," Lam added.

When talking about his own Chinese community, Lam said it has been painful to hear Chinese American residents, seniors and business owners telling him that they were scared about the crimes, hate and violence.

"A few business owners in Sunset District told me that 'Mr. Lam, you are the first city official who came to visit and talk to us'. My response was 'government officials cannot live in the city hall bubble without knowing how people are thinking and doing'". Lam said he would make his largest efforts to get the community members involved in the elections and civic matters, empower the community, and let the city officials know of their issues in his new role as a political consultant.