Conway helped launch San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, or sf.citi, to be a voice of the tech industry and connect it to the city.

Sf.citi started as an advocacy engine for tech companies in 2012, but, in light of the disconnect between the industry and the city at large, it quickly evolved into an organization that seeks to bridge the gap between business and community, Conway said in an email to Business Insider. While the business community alone cannot solve complex issues of housing and affordability, I believe we must be part of the solution.

TechCrunch via Flickr Creative CommonsMayor Ed Lee and Ron Conway appear together at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Lee, who had entered office not knowing much about social networks, soon became intrinsically linked with the tech sectors prosperity.

He tries to keep his Tech Tuesdays rotating through the citys startups on visits each week. He was recently spotted at a Hipstamatic house party.

During the US Conference of Mayors annual meeting, he presented conference attendees with an app built by Salesforce, attended a service at Glide Memorial Church, and followed it all up by taking the mayors on tours of Uber and Twitter, despite protests outside of Uber headquarters by the taxi industry.

As the San Francisco Chronicles Emily Green noted, Such is the dichotomy of Lee and San Francisco: Still a liberal bastion socially, but also one that has embraced the business community wholeheartedly.

The tech war chest

Its Conways alleged influence — or more generally, the tech money supposedly lining Lees campaign war chest — that irks some.

The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project dedicates a whole page to detailing Conways alleged sway over city politics under the Gentrification Players section. Erin McElroy, the projects founder, said shes not surprised about Lee running unopposed in the upcoming election, although she wishes she was. 

I think it’s clear that Ron Conway pulls a lot of weight in city hall, she said. I think one of the biggest problems in San Francisco right now is corporate money funding election campaigns.

Lee is known for using behested payments, or charitable checks for politicians for specific causes, as ways to garner outside support for his projects. The Chronicle was first to calculate that Lee received more than $10 million in this form of payment since taking office.

In June 2014, Google gave $6.8 million to pay for free Muni rides for low-income kids shortly after the city initiated its tech-bus pilot program that uses Muni stops. For San Franciscos centennial celebration at city hall, money came in from ATamp;T, Genentech, and Twitter to put on the party.

Steve Jennings for Tech Fellows/Getty ImagesEd Lee, Ron Conway, and early Facebook executive and Napster cofounder Sean Parker, right, attend the Third Annual TechFellow Awards at SF MOMA on February 22, 2012 in San Francisco.

Tech entrepreneurs have also cut large checks to independent expenditure committees. Napster founder Sean Parker has donated $100,000 to San Franciscans for Jobs and Good Government committee. They are just a few names too: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff are all frequent contributors to the mayors campaigns.

The fact that he’s running unopposed actually further gives credence to the very complaints the public has about his policies and priorities that have been so closely connected with the priorities of big business and tech, said Sara Shortt, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco. The lack of an opponent is everything to do with money and incredible access to money to support his campaign.

He has delivered on his promises

Although Lee has his critics, few people Business Insider talked to seemed surprised that Lee would be running mostly unopposed after State Senator Mark Leno decided not to run in November 2014.

Lees first election in 2011 brought 16 contenders, and he defeated current Supervisor John Avalos with 59% of the vote, thanks to early voting from the Chinese community. In this upcoming election, Lee will share the ballot with six other mayoral candidates, including Farah Weiss and local columnist Broke-Ass Stuart. 

None of those candidates though have previously held office, and once Leno bowed out, it became clear that Lee would not be facing a competitor with same political clout or name recognition.

Conway told Business Insider an email that hes not surprised to see Lee running unopposed, because he has been effective and executed on his vision, he said.

When Lee took office in the first election, his platform was all about jobs, jobs, jobs. The unemployment rate was hovering around 10% in 2011. Now its down to 3.5%.

Lee declined requests for an interview, but his campaign spokesman PJ Johnston told us, We’re not going to apologize for radically reducing unemployment. The greatest income disparity that exists is that between a person with a job and a person with no job.

He continued, That’s not something we’re going to apologize for, but we will recognize that affordability is a big issue in the city, around the region and in the state. There’s no doubt about that.

His tech-friendly Twitter tax breaks were eventually deemed a success too, according to a report issued by the San Francisco controllers office. Even though they were initially criticized for losing revenue for the city, they actually netted $3.4 million for the city when you account for the revenue taxes by the companies who used it.

Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesSan Francisco mayor Ed Lee and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo celebrated the grand opening of Neighbor Nest, Twitters 4,000-square-foot technology-learning center for homeless and poverty-stricken families on May 20, 2015.

As part of the tax cuts, companies also had to provide community benefits. Twitters Neighbor Nest opened in May to help low-income and homeless citizens and their children learn how to use computers. Sf.citi also just reached the 1,100-company mark.

Later that month, Lee worked with Conway and sf.citi to give $5 million to build 100 new apartments for homeless veterans in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco. On the list of donors: Peter Thiel, Salesforces Marc Benioff, Napsters Sean Parker, Groupons Andrew Mason, Dropboxs Drew Houston, and venture capitalist Alfred Lin and his wife, Rebecca.

Getting tech involved actively is something that the mayor has actively encouraged, argued his campaign spokesman.

He does want the tech community every bit committed to philanthropy and civic participation as older industries are and have been. He’s certainly encouraged that, and it’s born fruit in several ways, Johnston said. We’ve seen it with Google making large contributions. We’ve seen it with individuals like Marc Benioff, Ron Conway, and Mark Zuckerberg contributing millions to hospitals and education programs and things of that nature. He’s absolutely encouraged that.

Too late, or one step ahead?

University of San Francisco political science professor Corey Cook pointed to Lees interplay between tech and politics as how he plays the game, and hes playing it well. His use of behested payments and talking to the tech companies when he needs some support is just one example.

It’s clear that the industry is influential. I think he thinks that the future of San Francisco is going to be grown by the tech sector, Cook said. They’ve shown the capacity to become engaged philanthropically. I think from his own statements that he’s argued that tech is part of the solution.

When the tech-bus issue flared up, the city acted and instituted the pilot program to allow the companies to pay for using public bus stops. That protest movement is all but dead now. 

Instead, sustainability, unemployment, and the economy are all doing great in San Francisco.

When Cook researched voters in San Francisco, he found that they do not blame the mayor for the sky-high rent costs, but instead blame housing developers who are cashing in on the boom. Their views on Lee, Cook generalized, is that he should have seen the housing crunch coming, but hes at least acting now.

San Francisco is grappling with the fact that its one of the most popular places on Earth right now. People want to live here; people want to work here; people want to visit here; people want to eat here and enjoy nightlife here, Johnston said. Its as vibrant as its ever been.

Sarah Rice/Getty ImagesMayor Ed Lee walks in the 2013 SF Pride Parade. Despite his tech-friendly approach, Lee has done a good job remaining connected to most of the constituents, enough so that no one is challenging him in the election.

But others disagree and say that Lee is not as popular as he might seem.

Shortt, whos on the front lines of the housing war, still sees tenants actively blaming the mayor. The fact that Lee had a background in tenants rights but didnt plan a way to scale growth with housing made it more of a great disappointment in the mayor.

I think that it cuts deep for some of us and makes it all the more tragic from our vantage point that he should know better, Shortt said.

Amy Farah Weiss, a mayoral candidate running against Lee on a YIMBY platform, agrees, and she said the mayor lacked the foresight in his first term to prevent the crisis the city faces now. It was how were going to revitalize Mid-Market and how we’re going to grow more jobs but it wasn’t thinking about how we’re going to do this sustainably, Weiss said. I think it’s possible for government to actually steer that than be steamrolled by it.

While some may view Lee as having abandoned his housing past, hes now returned to it as a mission in the last 18 months.

Biz Carson/Business InsiderAbout 50 protesters gathered in front of a house owned by Google lawyer Jack Halprin last month to protest his eviction of a long-time tenant.

Hes put forward a housing bond to develop affordable housing in the city that will hit the ballot along with his name. Lee has also put more money towards the Ellis Act eviction defense to stop the soaring eviction rates.

Should Lee win the election, Conway said he sees Lee continuing to tackle the issues of housing, transportation, and income inequality.

Shortt isnt as hopeful.

I think we’re going to be continuing to basically be in the midst of the disaster zone that unfortunately is not a natural disaster. It could have been averted, Shortt said. It can be mitigated, but without a real change in policy coming from city hall and a new direction in leadership, we’re going to be continuing to be just doing damage control just trying to keep the folks we have in this city here, swimming up against the tide of affluent newcomers who are able to pay enormous amounts of money for their housing.

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