page_title: San Francisco graft trials
section_title: Ruef backs mayoral candidate
hierarchical_section_title: San Francisco graft trials / Union Labor Party formed / Ruef backs mayoral candidate
caption_attribution_description: James D. Phelan, Mayor of San Francisco, California, and later U.S. Senator for California
context_page_description: The San Francisco graft trials were a series of attempts from 1905 to 1908 to prosecute members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, San Francisco Mayor Eugene Schmitz, attorney Abe Ruef, who were receiving bribes, and business owners who were paying the bribes. Political boss and attorney Ruef was at the center of the corruption, acting as attorney to Mayor Eugene Schmitz. He approved all contracts and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payment from business owners, keeping a portion for himself and distributing the remainder to the Mayor and members of the Board of Supervisors.
  Former mayor James Phelan along with banker Rudolph Spreckels and editor Fremont Older of the San Francisco Bulletin asked United States District Attorney Francis Heney, fresh from a successful stint as special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General's office in prosecuting the Oregon land fraud scandal, to help put an end to the corruption. Heney charged Ruef and Schmitz with numerous counts of bribery and brought them to trial. Heney rejected a juror because he was an ex-con and publicly accused Ruef of trying to plant him on the jury.
context_section_description: Abe Ruef was a Republican for a number of years when it was generally seen as the party of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its allies. Ruef patiently built a patronage empire over several years. He methodically sought out neighborhood associations, ethnic clubs, and other civic groups, supporting them with contributions and payments, and providing services like leniency from a local judge and quick approval of a business license. Ruef competed with Michael Casey, president of the Teamsters Union, for control of the union, but eventually ceded the contest, but not his influence, to Casey.
  Eugene Schmitz played the violin, conducted the orchestra at the Columbia Theatre on Powell Street in San Francisco, and was president of the Musician's Union. He and Ruef had been friends for 15 years. When the Union Labor Party sought a candidate for mayor, Ruef contributed $16,000 (about $455,000  today) to Schmitz's campaign and used his considerable influence to make sure Schmitz was selected to front for the new Union Labor Party. Ruef wrote the Union Labor Party's platform and built a strong, behind-the-scenes network of supporters, including the more than 1,000 saloon keepers and another 1,000 bartenders in San Francisco, who all influenced political discussions in their saloons.
  Once the strike was concluded, Mayor Phelan found he had no friends and was forced to drop out of the race. The Republicans nominated Asa R. Wells and the Democrats chose Joseph A. Tobin. The local citizens supported the Union Labor Party because they felt it was more sensitive to their needs even though the elected officials were enormously corrupt, and Schmitz was narrowly elected on November 7, 1901, winning 21,776 of the 52,168 votes cast; the Republicans and Democrats split the remainder, allowing Schmitz to take office. Although the labor party only won three of the Board of Supervisors' seats, they managed to control many of the city commissions due to appointments made by the mayor. With union control of the mayor's office, San Francisco became the first union-run city in the United States.
caption: S.F. Mayor James Phelan lost his fourth contest for the office to Musician's Union President Eugene Schmitz.
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