When Leland Yee was three years old, his family immigrated from China to San Francisco, where Yee would later become a naturalized citizen. He received an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, a masters from San Francisco State, and a PhD in Child Psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He married in 1972 and settled in the Sunset District. He and his wife would have four children. In 1975 he was hired as a therapist in San Francisco’s Mental Health Department. He also worked for the Oakland School District and the Asian American for Community Involvement, a non-profit that provides services for low-income people.
In 1988 Yee was elected to the San Francisco School Board, where he served two 4-year terms, one as Board President. While in office, he was arrested for shoplifting a bottle of tanning oil in Kona, Hawaii. He returned to the mainland before he could be prosecuted.
In 1996 Yee was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. During his term he was stopped twice on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes in the Mission, but was never charged. Yee was re-elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2000.
In 2002 Yee was elected to the California State Assembly. In 2003 he became the first Asian American to be appointed Speaker Pro Tempore. In 2006 Yee was elected to the California State Senate. His platform was pro-union and pro-gun control, but he was popular with moderates for his support of landlords and businesses.
In 2011 Yee ran for San Francisco Mayor but lost, leaving him $90,000 in debt.
On March 26, 2014, while running for California Secretary of State, Yee was arrested by the FBI on charges of public corruption and gun trafficking. He was suspended by the State Senate two days later. Yee was released on bond, and despite having withdrawn from the Secretary of State race, he received 9.8% of the vote that November. A year later Yee pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy for soliciting and accepting bribes, money laundering, and attempted gun-running. On February 24, 2016 he was sentenced to five years in federal prison. He was released on June 26, 2020. Now 71 years old, there is no information on his current whereabouts.
