Note 18 — Chapter II · The Ruef Board of Supervisors.
Reading edition
Evidence of Ruef’s distrust of his Supervisors was brought out at many points in the graft trials. When he discovered that individual Supervisors were, without his knowledge, taking bribes from the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company, he stated to Dr. Joseph S. Poheim:
“I see they have been trying to take my Supervisors away from me, but I have fixed them; I would like to see one of them throw me down.” (See Transcript, People vs. Ruef, 1437, Part 3, Vol. 9, p. 4018.) In the midst of the troubles brought upon him by the graft prosecution, Ruef complained that “These fellows (the Supervisors) would eat the paint off a house, and in order to hold them together I had to descend to their level and take them in with me.”
Ruef was also jealous of Schmitz’s activity. When he learned that Schmitz had promised franchises independent of him, he directed Supervisor Wilson to oppose them. “Butt in on this Parkside business,” he said to Wilson. “Mr. Schmitz has promised the Ocean Shore and the Parkside; he is destroying my political influence; these people ought to be made to come and see me.”