The chairwoman of San Francisco’s Democratic Party has been a lightning rod in Tuesday’s race for the powerful, yet mostly unknown committee — and she more than lived up to that reputation over the weekend.

Mary Jung, chairwoman of the Democratic County Central Committee since 2012, is running Tuesday with 59 other candidates for 24 open seats. More than $1.6 million has been spent on the race — all so the winners can control which candidates and ballot measures get meaningful endorsements in the November races.

Well, that was the idea, anyway.

In a controversial move, Jung decided the current committee members will vote to endorse candidates for the Board of Supervisors at the June 15 meeting — eight days after a new committee will have been selected by voters but before the new group is actually seated. The current group is dominated by moderates, including Jung, who are fighting to keep their seats against a number of progressives.

Jung said the committee can make its endorsements any time after the supervisors’ filing deadline. That just so happens to be at 5 p.m. June 14, one day before the current group’s last meeting.

“We’re perfectly within the rules according to our bylaws and policies and procedures,” Jung said.

She said she’s been told it’s unfair for “lame ducks” to make endorsements. But she countered that is the same thought being used by Republicans to avoid a vote on President Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.

Well, except the Republicans are allowing the Supreme Court to be short a member for nearly a year after the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Nobody on the Board of Supervisors has died, and whether the DCCC endorses in June or August, as is typical, will not mean anything in terms of how the supervisors function and vote.

“I realize what’s going on at the DCCC is not as significant as the Supreme Court nomination,” Jung said with a laugh. Well, at least she realizes that.

Not surprisingly, the progressives running to unseat Jung and her fellow moderates are not pleased.

“This is a last-minute slap in the face to the voters,” said Jon Golinger, a North Beach attorney who is running the Reform Slate of progressives in the race. “The whole point of this election is to let voters decide, and this move takes that away.”

Matt Dorsey, a current DCCC member who is not running for re-election and is not affiliated with either slate, called Jung’s move “an unfortunate political stunt.”

He pointed out that the committee hasn’t yet started its normal process of sending out questionnaires to all the supervisorial candidates, interviewing them and then deliberating over endorsements.

“Our endorsement process is meant to be open and participatory, and this isn’t,” he said.

This is the 2016 election — nobody’s happy, everybody’s fighting and nothing much is getting done. Don’t you just love politics?

— Heather Knight

Prognosis for the palace: Last we heard, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department had narrowed down the list of groups to renovate and operate the Palace of Fine Arts to three: two hotels and a city history museum.

The winnowing has continued, with just one of those groups actually responding late last month to the department’s Request for Proposals. The hotel groups have dropped out, and the museum is the only one left in the running.

To be clear, the museum wouldn’t go in the famous rotunda designed by Bernard Maybeck for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo. Instead, it would occupy the structure behind it that used to house the Exploratorium science museum.

The only group to respond to the RFP was the San Francisco Museum at the Palace, a nonprofit that wants to share “the untold San Francisco and Bay Area story through new educational opportunities, enlightening technologies and family entertainment.”

It would include “The Great Hall,” a free interactive exhibit with shops and restaurants; a ticketed exhibit called “Dancing on the Brink of the World: the San Francisco Story” and a learning center where students could learn about everything from coding to the environment of the bay. It would also include a theater with an evening schedule of lectures, arts and performances.

So is it a slam dunk? Unclear. Elton Pon, spokesman for the department, said staff is reviewing the proposal, and there’s no timeline for a final decision.

— Heather Knight

Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: SFcityinsider, @hknightSF