But Mr. Tan’s passion, like that of a growing number of tech industry leaders, is San Francisco politics. He’s part of a love-it-or-hate-it group of tech executives and investors, with many opinions about the city and endless piles of money to, as they say in the tech industry, move fast and break things. (Their critics would say it’s more like they’re trying to buy City Hall.)
To some in San Francisco’s political establishment, Mr. Tan, 43, has become the most annoying in a parade of wealthy tech executives. He’s created a bombastic online persona while spending about $400,000 on local politics over the past few years — and potentially much more to come. And on the social networking site
Just after midnight on January 27, I posted on This was a subtle reference to rap legend Tupac Shakur’s famous track “Hit ‘Em Up,” released 28 years ago to insult his rivals musical. But to some, it felt like a threat.
Mr Tan was, he admitted when asked by an X follower, drunk.
Hours after his post was posted, Mr Tan deleted it and apologized. But a lot of people had already seen it.
A few days later, some supervisors received anonymous letters at their homes bearing Mr Tan’s face and the words: “Garry Tan is right! “I wish a slow and painful death for you and your loved ones.” Aaron Peskin, a supervisor who plans to challenge San Francisco Mayor London Breed in the November election, was one of the few supervisors to file police reports based on Mr. Tan’s message.
