By Tim Redmond
Cindy Sheehan is already upstaging the House Democrats and pushing the antiwar movement to play a greater role in the new Democratic Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is going to have to deal with this sooner or later.
For now, I can’t even get Pelosi’s office to tell me if she’ll make a statement in support of Josh Wolf
By Tim Redmond
The Ex reports this morning that Mayor Newsom claims he’s just “seconds away” from cutting a deal with Google and Earthlink to provide free WiFi in the city. So this will be tossed to the supervisors pretty soon — and already, Newsom is pulling the usual mayoral line, which is to demand that the deal be accepted as is, without a lot of changes.
Newsom will say that it took 10 months of complex talks to reach this point, and that if the board starts micromanaging the contract and making a lot of amendments, the entire deal could fall through. We’ve heard this same line over and over again.
The supes can’t be intimidated here, and I don’t think they will be. Because the deal that I’ve heard described is not terribly good for the city. For starters, the free wifi is pretty weak, 300 Kbs; to get a decent speed on your connection, you need to pay. Then there’s the long term aspect — it would lock the city into a private vendor for as long as 16 years.
I don’t think the supes should go along with this — at least not until there’s a good-faith effort to look into a city-run system.
By G.W. Schulz
Sorry to piss on everybody’s parade, but a slight drop in the homicide rate isn’t exactly an excuse to break out the coke and booze. Then again, it doesn’t take much to get the frat brothers in the mayor’s office amped up for a party. Bro.
With murders down slightly in 2006 compared to the previous year, Gavin Newsom is preparing for a walk down Divisadero with Police Chief Heather Fong, an area where cops say crime has dropped. The event surely will include a healthy dose of media coverage, and going into an election year, Newsom needs all the flashbulbs he can get. In 2004, he melodramatically proclaimed that voters should recall him if the homicide rate isn’t brought down, so technically, he’s safe for now.
But a buried paragraph in the Chronicle’s front-page story from today reveals a key facet of crime statistics that should be taken into account when considering street-level violence and its effect on a city.
“Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan said homicide numbers tell only part of the story in Richmond, where a total of 280 people were shot last year. ‘I don’t think just the homicide rate alone is the way to determine whether violence is up or down,’ Gagan said.”
By Tim Redmond
If you haven’t seen the truly grim footage of Saddam Hussein’s hanging, you can view it here. Luke Thomas posted it on Fog City Journal, but I don’t think any of the other local sites have links up.
I understand why people avoid this sort of thing: It’s really nasty to look at. But there’s a reason Americans should see it, and (with the advent of cell-phone cameras, and soon, little cameras hidden in all sorts of other gadgets) footage of executions, including California killings, is going to become more and more common.
The United States has tried hard to make executions seem almost clinical: The electric chair and the gas chamber have been replaced with lethal execution, which is supposed to be painless. We know that isn’t always true; in fact, killing someone is never pretty and is never going to be pretty.
And if the state is going to do the killing, the public needs to know what it’s paying for.
In this case, we paid for a hanging. Don’t kid yourself — your tax dollars paid for that rope and those gallows. And the United States, which controls virtually every move the Iraqi government makes, was happy to alllow this to go forward.
God bless America.
By Tim Redmond
The bloggers are having a bit of fun with The Chronicle’s front-page New Year’s Eve assertion that San Francisco’s Golden Age is here again. I have to agree with Beyond Chron — the story was an embarassment that quoted only conservative, wealthy San Franciscans and ignored much of the city.
Yeah, reporter Carl Nolte, who is a good guy (and my neighbor in Bernal Heights) made the point that there have always been problems in San Francisco, including today. But his overall theme — that all this new development and soaring housing costs are somehow good for the city — is a crock.
I’m always the optimist, and I think that 2006 was a great year for local politics. But a “Golden Age?” No: what’s happening in the local economy is that San Francisco is becoming a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. We are building housing for people who don’t live here, and destroying jobs for people who do.
I’ve argued in the past that in a boom-band-bust city, the busts are often better than the booms. That’s because the single greatest quality-of-life issue for most people (the non-rich) in San Francisco is the cost of housing. This boom is only golden for a very few.
By G.W. Schulz
So let’s get this straight. In 2001, Bay Area-based Apple Computer Inc. gave 7.5 million stock options to its CEO, Steve Jobs. The options were approved by the company’s board of directors at a meeting that never actually happened. The company also now admits that documents related to this imaginary meeting were fudged to make it appear that the necessary board approval had taken place.
The special committee formed by Apple to investigate the matter (which includes Al Gore) says no current member of management was aware of the falsified records. Jobs, the committee insists, was innocent, and as the public is often told during such controversies, the top exec was ignorant of the manipulation.
Steve Jobs sure gets paid a lot of money for a man who’s clueless.
From the Chronicle:
“Apple said Jobs was aware of some instances of backdating and even recommended favorable dates to grant options. But, the company said, Jobs did not financially benefit from these grants and did not understand the accounting implications.”
That’s sort of like arguing that a casino patron who got caught counting cards didn’t make a dime off it and had no idea how badly the hired muscle would kick his ass once they got him outside. He was still counting cards.
Josh Wolf may soon have company: Two more reporters have been ordered to testifyin a court hearing, and neither one of them seems about to give in
Sarah Olson, an Oakland freelancer who writes for Truthout, and Dahr Jamail, who has done some amazing reporting from Iraq, both received subpoenas from Army prosecutors, who want them to testify against 1st Lt. Ehren Watadam who is charged with refusing to accept orders that he deploy in Iraq. He has been quoted as saying that he thinks the war is illegal, and prosecutors want the reporters to confirm their interviews with him.
Not likely.
By Tim Redmond
The line between campaign consultant and lobbyist has always been far too fuzzy — but now the Center for Public Integrity has issued a report on how the revolving door can lead to terrible public policy. A central example in the report:how San Francisco consultant John Whitehurst and his firm, Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter, “traded on its campaign connections to lobby for changes in California law and city zoning, paving the way for high-rises that will dramatically alter the San Francisco skyline along the eastern waterfront.”
It’s a fascinating tale of how Whitehurst parlayed his ties with Gavin Newsom’s mayoral campaign and Mark Leno’s Assembly campaign to win approval for 40-story luxury condo buildings. It shows exactly how sleazy local politics has become.
By Tim Redmond
Well, now I’m not the only one speculating about the possibility of Carole Migden deciding to run for mayor. Sasha at LeftinSF floated it out Tuesday, and SFist weighed in on it today.
All of this, of course, goes back to the story that Mark Leno may challenge Migden for her state Senate seat, a prospect that has political reporters and insider-politics junkies (including me) buzzing around madly.
But when you actually think about if for a second, there are a few good reasons for everyone (including Leno) to take a deep breath and consider what this could mean. For starters, Midgen and Leno don’t really disagree on a lot of major issues. So the campaign would be all about things like “effectiveness” and personality — and that kind of race has the prospect of turning very negative and very ugly very fast. The battle would split the progressive community, and, as one observer put it to me, “there would be blood everywere, and it could take years to heal the wounds.”
I’m not syaing Leno shoudn’t do it — I like to see incumbents face a challenge, and this is a democracy and he has every right to run for any office he wants. But this is about more than Leno and Migden; there’s a progressive movement in this town, and we’ve got a lot of battles to fight.
I know Leno and Migden aren’t on the best of terms right now, but I think Sup. Tom Ammiano has the right idea. “Before this goes any further,” he told me, “Mark and Carole really need to sit down and talk.”
And I’d love to evesdrop on THAT conversation.
PS: Lest I sound too negative about a Leno challenge, let me quote a local activist who knows both politicians well: “Leno fights for his issues. He’s a real hard worker. Carole pushes the right button on the issues, but a lot of us think she’s missing in action. She shouldn’t be talking to Leno — she should be back here talking to us.”
And if the prospect of a challenge gets Migden to pay more attention to her constituents, that’s only a good thing.
By Tim Redmond
I grew up in the 1960s, the era of elementary school bomb drills and “duck and cover.” I thought we’d gone beyond all of that, but apparently not: i just received from the federal Department of Health and Human Services a “Wallet guide for the media” called “Preparing for terrorism and other public health emergencies.” It folds out into a nice handy tip sheet on what to do if we’re attacked by mustard gas, nerve gas, antrax or a number of other awful things. In most cases, of course, there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do except “immediately seek medical care.”
My favorite item, though:
“Nuclear device — powerful bomb involving splitting of atoms. Comes in various sizes and types, producing various levels of destruction.
“First actions: Do not look toward the explosion …. Lie on the ground and cover your head.”
Then bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.
By G.W. Schulz
In a short decision released just hours ago, federal judge Susan Illston granted Clint Reilly’s request to enjoin the Hearst Corp. and MediaNews Group from discussing any cooperative agreements until Reilly’s antitrust complaint against the two companies and other business partners goes to trial next April.
Reilly and his attorney, Joe Alioto, had requested the preliminary injunction (after the first request was denied because a $300 million Hearst investment in MediaNews stock had not yet technically been consummated) arguing that the defendants had withheld from the court a letter outlining how the two companies might be able to share delivery trucks and advertising efforts, discussions that Reilly believed threatened antitrust rules.
By G.W. Schulz
Looks like the San Francisco Police Officers Association is attemtping to remake the Afghan police force in its own Charles-Bronson image.
This month’s POA Journal features a photo of an Afghan police advisor wearing one of the shirts quoting POA president Gary Delagnes from the last election: “I don’t drink Diet Coke. I drink screwdrivers.” If it’s not so clear just yet, Gary Delagnes is a man. A tough man. He drinks screwdrivers. And chews on bullets.
Anyway, the statement came after the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 announced it would be endorsing Chris Daly in his reelection bid for the District 6 supervisor’s seat over newcomer Rob Black. Matier & Ross at the Chronicle reported first that Delagnes was annoyed about the endorsement (Delagnes and Daly have never gotten along so well, to put it lightly.)
Wise-cracking Local 798 president John Hanley had suggested that perhaps Daly and Delagnes could sit down to discuss their differences over Diet Cokes. But Gary Delagnes doesn’t drink Diet Coke. He’s a man. A tough man. He drinks screwdrivers. And snacks on chainlink. And uses a buzzsaw for a knife when he’s eating t-bone steaks. Some cops had the shirts made up after the now-notorius quote was uttered. Daly, for his part, was none too happy.
There’s no real explanation by the Journal for how the shirt ended up in Afghanistan. But here’s the caption to the photo:
“In this shot, an Afghan police advisor dons one of the infamous t-shirts that appeared after President Delagnes scoffed at the notion that he would enjoy a diet Pepsi [sic] with Supervisor Chris Daly. The shirts were not POA produced or approved, but rumor has it that translation into Farsi will appear shortly.”
By Sarah Phelan
San Francisco freelance journalist Josh Wolf has spent nearly four months in prison for refusing to surrender outtakes of videos he took at an anarchist protest turned violent. Recently, Wolf wrote a letter describing his typical day inside, which should be of interest to Oakland freelance journalist Sarah Olson and Honolulu Star-Bulletin journalist Gregg Kakesako, since they both just received subpoenas demanding testimony about quotes they attributed to 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who faces a court-martial after denouncing the war in Iraq and refusing to deploy with his unit. Wolf’s letter should also be a source of useful tips for San Francisco Chronicle reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who face up to 18 months inside for refusing to reveal the source of closed-door grand jury testimony by Barry Bonds and other athletes about drug use. For a transcript of the letter, keep reading…
By Tim Redmond
So City Planning Director Dean Macris thinks the San Francisco skyline is not distinctive enough. Today’s Chron quotes him supporting an 80-story tower next to the new transbay terminal:
“The current skyline is very flat, and needs some peaks to create a more distinctive look.”
Excuse me: Dean Macris is responsible for much of what the skyline looks like today. He defined the rules for highrises in 1984 with his Downtown Plan, and the uglification has proceeded apace ever since. The skyline is filled with walls of tombstones because city planning under Macris and then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein was driven entirely by developers who wanted to make vast amounts of money. Esthetics were never an issue; bulk and density was where the profit was, so that’s what we got.
What a crock of shit.
By Tim Redmond
UPDATE: Mark Leno has written a letter to Fog City Journal saying that his run against Carole Migden isn’t really official yet.
So I just called Leno to check it, and he says he won’t make a final final decision until mid-January. But “I’m looking at it very seriously,” he said, and added: “I’m getting a lot of encouragement from local labor leaders.”
I told him that, from everything I’m hearing, it’s seems pretty clear to me that he’s in the race. “It’s certainly looking that way,” he responded.
So there you have it. That’s about as close to an unofficial official announcement as you get.
By Tim Redmond
The news that I knew was coming is now apparently official: according toFog City Journal, Assemblymember Mark Leno announced at the Harvey Milk Club holiday party that he will, indeed, challenge state Senator Carole Migden in 2008.
It’s going to be a wild ride.
Already, the shit is flying: Migden, Luke Thomas reports, said that Leno is “a little nuttly, and he’s out of a job. What else is he going to do?”
But whatever you say about Mark Leno, he isn’t “nutty.” And he’s not afraid to go on the attack. When Leno ran for Assembly against former Sup. Harry Britt, the campaign hired a researcher to run down every missed vote in Britt’s career, and put up signs saying “where was Harry?”
Migden endorsed Britt. So did we.
But this time, the race won’t come down to a typical left v. center contest, the way Britt-Leno was was back then. Leno has moved quite a bit to the left, and will fight Migden agressively for every endorsement.
But before it becomes a mud fest, I want to hear both of the candidates tell me: Where do they disagree on real issues?
I hope that’s not too much to ask.
By Tim Redmond
Well, within a few minutes after my blog on Mark Leno and Carole Migden was posted, Eric Potashner, Migden’s aide and political advisor, called me to say that Migden has endorsed Tom Ammiano for state Assembly and to poo-poo all the talk of a heated Leno-Migden race, which he says he isn’t worried about.
Okay, I believe him. But he should be worried, because it’s real — and unless the term-limits law is modified, I see Leno wanting to go for it.
Anyway, I just got back from the Haight Asbury Neighborhood Council post-election forum, where another fascinating wild-ass scenario was floated: Suppose Migden does the math and decides that she has a better chance running against Gavin Newsom than she does defending her Senate seat against Mark Leno?
After a member of the audience floated her name in the mayoral sweepstakes, Calvin Welch, who has been watching local politics for a very long time, pointed out that Migden is extremely smart — and not afraid to make a bold political decision.
I don’t exactly see it, but it’s a very strange world out there right now.
By Tim Redmond
Well, the info I picked up last night was a bit off; Matier and Ross haven’t run anything yet on the poll Mark Leno has done to evaluate his chances in a possible race against Carole Migden for state Senate in 2008.
But word about the race is all over town. The BAR checked in today with a story by Matthew S. Bajko discussing the race and quoting Leno confirming that he’ll make a decision early in 2007. Bajko suggests that the race
“would almost certainly reopen old wounds not only between the formerly close allies but also between the city’s two LGBT Democratic clubs. The clubs came down on different sides in the bitterly contested Leno-Britt race, and it took several years for the clubs to improve their relationship. The race also soured Migden and Leno’s relationship; Migden had backed Britt as her choice to replace her in the Assembly.”
I’m not so sure it breaks down that simply. Leno is now much more popular with the left-leaning Harvey Milk LGBT Club than he was five years ago, and Migden is, frankly, a bit hard to define politically these days. I think there would be progressives on both sides of this one, and the LGBT community would be split along unusual lines.
Only about half the district is in San Francisco, and the rest in in Marin and Sonoma counties, where Leno is almost unknown (and where politics, while heavily Democratic, tend to be a bit less liberal than SF). So both candidate will have to establish some moderate credentials.
But in the end, the left in San Francisco will play a key, perhaps decisive role in the race. And it’s anybody’s guess how that plays out in the end.
For example, let’s take a wild (and unlikely) scenario: Leno is clearly supporting Mayor Gavin Newsom. Suppose a left-identified candidate like Matt Gonzalez takes on Newsom — and Migden decides to join up against the mayor. How many of Leno’s left allies does that peel off?
Another wild card: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is pushing a measure that would modify Leigslative term limits, perhaps to allow 12 years of service in any one house. Now think about this: If (as expected) the Legislature moves the California presidential primary to early 2008, but leaves the remaining state primaries in June (and that’s the likely scenario right now), Nunez’s measure could be on a January, 2008 ballot — and if it passes, Leno could then file to run again for his Assembly seat in June. (And I think he would; Leno doesn’t have his heart set on the state Senate right now. He just loves politics, and doesn’t want to be out of office.)
Which would mean Leno wouldn’t run against Migden — but would also mean that Sup. Tom Ammiano, who has announced he will seek Leno’s seat, would be SOL.
Of course, if the Nunez plan fails, and Leno runs against Migden, since Leno will then support Ammiano for the Assembly seat, perhaps Migden recruits a candidate (Chris Daly?) to run against Ammiano. Which would really not be pretty.
But hey: Maybe Bush and Cheney will be impeached, making Nancy Pelosi the president, and Leno can run for her Congressional seat. Wheee.
By Tim Redmond
Look for Matier and Ross to report on the Chronicle tomorrow (Thursday) that Mark Leno’s team has taken a poll on how he would fare in a challenge against Carole Migden for state Senate in 2008.
The poll, I’m told, was encouraging to the Leno camp. The Assemblyman will make up his mind in January, but I’m getting the strong sense that this is going to be a go.
And what a political free-for-all it will be.
By G.W. Schulz
The Chronicle on Sunday launched its lengthy four-part series on the San Francisco General Hospital with the threaded narrative of a 14-year-old boy who was shot in his mid-section by an assault rifle last spring and appeared at the trauma center with seemingly little hope of remaining alive.
In 2001, the boy’s father had been killed by gunfire just a short distance away in the Hunters Point housing project where they lived. After a brief stint in juvenile hall for general teen trouble following his dad’s killing, the Chron’s Mike Weiss reported, the boy’s behavior had begun to improve before he, too, was gunned down for reportedly tossing a water balloon at a friend that accidentally splashed the wrong person.
Weiss then recounts in stunning detail what it took for SF General to put the boy’s guts back together – he barely managed to survive after several surgeries.
The Chron quotes a surgeon:
“‘Problem with AK-47s is they explode in the abdomen. Basically, a bomb went off in his tummy.'”
The photo leading the Chron’s story that day depicted the boy splayed out on a gurney, naked, with an oxygen mask attached to his face. The intent of the Chron’s pieces was to focus on life inside the nationally recognized hospital and the resources it takes to sustain the city’s only trauma center. The names of both the boy and his father are not revealed by the paper.
By Tim Redmond
Ellen Tascher, the conservative East Bay Democrat, is under fire all over the web and there are signs that she will face a primary challenge next year.
Robert Haaland has a good line on why she’s already in trouble with progressive Dems. A district to watch.
By Sarah Phelan
In the mood for some political fireworks? Head to Dec. 12 meeting of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. A renewable public power project at Hunters Point that has the blessing of the Mayor, the Board of Supervisors, SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal and District 10 Sup. Sophie Maxwell is said to be experiencing opposition from none other than PUC Board President Richard Sklar.
You’d have to be brave to risk being the Man who would stand between Public Power and the Bayview, but Sklar who came to the city from Cleveland in the 1970s, has a history of clashing with the mayors who appoint him, starting with then Mayor Dianne Feinstein when she made him SFPUC General Manager.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, by the end of that tenure, Feinstein and Sklar were feuding over everything from the Muni to high-rise development, with Feinstein calling Sklar “arrogant,’ and Sklar calling her a “lightweight”.
By Tim Redmond
This is still at the early whisper stages, but there are a number of people urging Mark Leno to run for state Senate against fellow Democrat Carole Migden in 2008 — and the word is that Leno is actively considering it.
Talk about wild campaigns.
Both are formidable fundraisers and good campaigners, both have had strong bases of support in the city — but Leno seems to be more on the political upswing these days. He’s was just re-elected easily, has few visible enemies in town, and is chairing the powerful Appropriations Committee. Migden angered some local progressives with her strong support of Steve Westly for governor over Phil Angelides (although she can certainly argue that the outcome of the election lends credence to her claim that Westly had a better chance of beating Schwarzenegger).
Leno and Migden have never been best pals; Migden supported former Sup. Harry Britt against Leno in the often bitter 2002 Assembly primary.
Migden’s a fighter; a primary challenge wouldn’t be easy. But the fact that it’s even under discussion suggests that Leno thinks there is some dissatisfaction with the incumbent.
Keep an eye on this one.
