A Daughter’s Take on Her Dad, Mayor Lee, in 2011

Back in 2011, the political battle royale to replace Mayor Gavin Newsom after he was elected lieutenant governor was a classic San Francisco pileup unfolding on the corner of Farce and Fiasco.

Newsom didn't want to leave the city in the hands of the progressive bloc of politicians he had battled with. So there were numerous machinations and a corresponding number of tantrums. Behind the scenes, former Mayor Willie Brown and Chinatown civic leader Rose Pak were also busy.

The result, of course, was Ed Lee. He had emerged from almost complete obscurity as city administrator to become what many people assumed was a milquetoast consensus choice, a bureaucrat whose sole distinguishing characteristic appeared to be a mustache, albeit a kickass one.

That turned out to be a serious underestimation. Lee ended up winning election once, then twice. He also made a serious mark on the city.

But at the time, back in 2011, I wrote: "Who the hell is Ed Lee?"

So I had a bright idea to get hold of his daughter, Brianna, who was working for a PBS news program.

I asked Brianna what her experience was of her father when she was growing up.

"He wasn't anything like the tiger mom," she said. "He always had  a sense of humor, I guess, is the big thing that people know him by. Sort of a cheesy goofball humor, I guess the way that most dads do. That's sort of a defining feature."

Like how?

"Bad puns."

How was it to experience the fake Twitter accounts making fun of her father's mustache?

"I think it's kind of funny. I grew up like seeing him with a mustache so I'm just a little bit weirded out that everyone's so fascinated by it these days. But I do have to say that when I was a kid, I thought, when I drew stick figures, I always drew the men with mustaches, because I didn't think it looked right without one."

Lee also said her father's ascension to the mayoralty shed light on his past civil rights work.

"He did so much work in progressing things for the whole community before he got to this point, so he was a transformative figure even before he got there."

You can read Brianna Lee's own account of her father assuming the role of San Francisco mayor here.

Condolences to the entire Lee family.