On May 9, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier & Ross column reported “Longtime San Francisco political consultant Enrique Pearce, an early backer of the “Run Ed Run” effort who was working as a $5,000-a-month consultant to Mayor Ed Lee’s re-election campaign, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

A May 13 follow-up by John Wildemuth in the Chronicle revealed the case was even more horrific than Matier & Ross had reported: “Enrique Pearce, a campaign consultant who worked with Mayor Ed Lee and many other well-known political figures in San Francisco, had photos and videos of infants and young children being raped and sexually violated when he was arrested, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

‘Babies as young as infants in onesies were being sodomized by adults’” Deputy District Attorney Alexis Fasteau said in requesting that Pearce’s bail be raised to $400,000. ‘There were children tied up and sexually abused…. (Fasteau) said Pearce had been under investigation since a man reported an online chat in which someone using the screen name ‘redentice’ said the idea of ‘sharing a boy with another man is really hot.’

Pearce had 4,902 images on one of his laptop computers, including more than 600 of minors engaged in sexual conduct, more than 10 featuring ‘prepubescent minors’ under the age of 12 and many showing men inflicting pain on children, Fasteau said.”

As both articles indicated, Pearce is a very well known figure in San Francisco politics. In the 90’s and early 2000’s he served as a legislative aide to openly homosexual then-supervisor Tom Ammiano. Ammiano currently serves in the California assembly, representing the 13th District. In 2003 he managed Matt Gonzales’s failed mayoral bid against Gavin Newsom.

In 2010, Pearce managed Jane Kim (pictured above, far right)’s successful bid to serve on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. As part of Kim’s campaign he hosted a fundraising event called “Queers for Jane Kim.” Kim is the ex-President of San Francisco’s Board of Education. According to an article in the SFist website, Pearce was at one point Kim’s roommate.

In 2011, Pearce spearheaded the “Run, Ed, Run” campaign, encouraging Ed Lee, who had been appointed Mayor following Gavin Newsom’s departure, to run for election to the office. At the time of his arrest, Pearce was employed as a campaign consultant by Mayor Lee.

Pearce’s client list is just about a carbon copy of politicians who have lambasted San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone for his defense of natural marriage and his initiative to ensure fidelity to the Catholic faith in Archdiocesan High Schools. Jane Kim was one of the signatories to resolution 0064-15, passed by the Board of Supervisors on March 3, which condemned Cordileone’s schools initiative. So was Supervisor Norman Yee, also a Pearce client. Both Assemblyman Ammiano and Mayor Lee attacked Cordileone for his attendance at the 2014 Defense of Marriage rally in Washington DC.

The case has frightening parallels to the case of “San Francisco gay icon” Larry Brinkin. As CalCatholic reported on June 27, 2012, “Headlines referred to Brinkin as a ‘San Francisco Gay Rights Icon.’ The details, as reported in part, by the SF Bay Citizen: ‘One photo shows a child about 2 to 3 years old being sexually abused, according to the search warrant. Another shows an adult male attempting to receive oral sex from a small child.

‘Brinkin’s account was linked to several Yahoo discussion groups on the sexual exploitation of children, according to the search warrant. Emails from Brinkin’s account to other users contained stories police suspect were fictional accounts written by Brinkin. The stories describe the rape and torture of African American children, according to the search warrant. One of the emails contained the words ‘White Power! White Supremacy!’ ‘Investigators believe members of the groups were also sharing pictures of children.’”

Brinkin pled guilty in January of 2014.