Eric Mar

Eric Lee Mar (born August 15, 1962) is an American politician.

He served on the San Francisco Board of Education and San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee.

Mar has worked as an associate professor at San Francisco State University since 1992.

He teaches Asian American and Ethnic Studies.

From 1993–97, Mar was the Assistant Dean for New College Law School in San Francisco, where he taught a course on critical race theory.

Mar is a board member of the Chinese Progressive Association and a founding member of API-FORCE (Asians and Pacific Islanders for Community Empowerment) and the Institute for Multiracial Justice.

He is a past executive board member of the Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

In 1999, In 1998, Mar was elected to the San Francisco County Central Committee of the Democratic Party.

Mar lived in the Richmond District for many years.

Mar received the community service award from the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA).

He is a former shop steward for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 790.

After his house burned down in April, 2000, Mar was ineligible to run for supervisor in District 1 as he had planned.

Instead, he ran for the Board of Education, placing second.

As a Commissioner for the Board of Education he

Mar voted in support of eliminating the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in San Francisco high schools.

In January 2003, Mar, along with School Board members Sara Lipson and Mark Sanchez, backed a resolution that would have created a peace oriented curriculum and established a district-wide anti-war demonstration against the impending 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Several board members, including Ackerman, objected to the resolution, claiming that it was partisan and enabled students to skip school.

A similar proposal calling for a day of on campus discussion regarding the war in Iraq was later passed.

Mar was criticized by the Richmond Review for allowing local school children to be bussed across the city rather than to attend school in their neighborhoods like Mar's own child.

The San Francisco Chronicle blamed Mar and two other Board of Education members for the tense relationship the Board had with former Superintendent Arlene Ackerman:

"What (Ackerman) doesn't need is sniping and second-guessing from elected officials whose job is to set broad policies, not micromanage the superintendent's daily conduct. Tensions between school board members and superintendents come with the territory. But in San Francisco, those tensions had gone far beyond the limits of acceptability. Three board members in particular—Eric Mar, Sarah Lipson and Mark Sanchez—need to start working with Ackerman, not fighting with her virtually on a daily basis."

Beyond Chron, however, had a different opinion, placing blame instead with Ackerman: At a September 2003 meeting of the Board of Education, Mar was among "three board members with whom Ackerman has locked horns said they remain steadfast in their objections to her management of the district, which they characterize as autocratic and unyielding to differing views."

"The Examiner and Chronicle were supportive of Arlene Ackerman. Beyond Chron expressed an opposing view: 'If Ackerman had any respect for what public votes mean she would have quit after the November 2004 election because that is what the voters were saying when they rejected the candidacies of Heather Hiles, David Weiner and Coach Kane. Instead she stuck around to complain about commissioners city voters chose to re-elect ... [claiming] she represents the 'silent majority.'"Mar was criticized by members of the African-American community after he gave an interview to a Chinese-language newspaper in which he said Ackerman's attitude toward Asian-Americans should be considered in the board of education's yearly evaluation of her performance.

Ackerman is an African-American.

Cedric Jackson, president of the San Francisco Black Leadership Forum, condemned Mar's actions as "unacceptable, irresponsible, intolerable behavior."

In 2008, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

He represented District 1.

Born and raised in Sacramento, California, Mar went on to graduate from neighboring University of California, Davis with a bachelor's of science.

He received his Juris Doctor from the New College of California.

Mar served on the Human Rights Committee of the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

In 2008, Mar ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District 1 and won the election, defeating planning commissioner Sue Lee.

In June 2008, Mar authored a resolution that requested the state to drop charges against the San Francisco 8.

Supporter, including supervisors Ross Mirkarimi, Sophie Maxwell and Chris Daly, contended that previous evidence were acquired via torture and questioned the legitimacy of the new evidence.

The police department criticized the resolution and former police chief Tony Ribera urged the supervisors to allow the case to go to trial.

The San Francisco Chronicle opined that the legislation conflicted with the judicial process and that any wrongdoing would be revealed in court.

Mar was the chief supporter of a law to ban restaurants from providing toys to customers unless the meals served were nutritious (i.e., reduced sugar, fat and sodium content and included fruits and vegetables).

Mar said the measure was intended to be an incentive for restaurants to offer healthier meal choices.

The legislation was passed on an 8-3 vote despite Mayor Newsom's disapproval and veto.

Mar took office on January 8, 2009.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart satirized Mar's ban on happy meal toys in a show broadcast on January 1, 2011.