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Politics Blog

Under attack

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By Tim Redmond

Well, my friends, once again it’s election day, and once again, our site is under attack. It looks like a serious, well-orchestrated effort aimed at shutting us down just when readers look to us the most for ballot recommendations.

The attack started around 10 last night, and continues to this minute. Fortunately, we were well prepared this time, and with our IT director, Joe Pennant, our web designer, John Adams at eline.com, and our host, Ronnie Enriquez at Infraswitch, all doing heroic work, we’re still up and running.

We have backup plans, so we should be available all day no matter what. But if the site goes down briefly, don’t panic — just check back a few minutes later.

More Hellman and SFSOS

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By Steven T. Jones
I just got another call from Warren Hellman, who said he was saddened to see a group he founded but later disavowed — the sleazy conservative attack organization SFSOS — is one of the only groups in town to oppose the school bond measure Proposition A, which Hellman actively supports (his band will even be playing the campaign’s election night party at Slim’s tonight).
“For once, there is goodwill all around on something,” Hellman said of the school bond, which business groups such Committee on Jobs and progressives such as the SF People’s Organization enthusiastically support.
But he’s ashamed to see SFSOS opposing it, sending messages of concern to the group’s leader, Wade Randlett, and funder, Don Fisher, asking the group to send a message to its list noting that most business groups support it.
“It’s a personal vendetta on the part of the guy who runs SFSOS,” Hellman said.
That guy, Randlett, suddenly started attacking the school district last year when the superintendent was at odds with the school board. Randlett was secretly having an extramarital affair at the time with the superintendent’s spokesperson Lorna Ho (Randlett has since left his wife, Tamsin Randlett, and is still with Ho), which seemed to have been what prompted SFSOS to flip its focus from parks and potholes to the schools. And apparently, Randlett holds a grudge like few others, so he’s urging voters to deny needed school facilities to the kids. It’s a telling testament to the guy and the group that is leading the attacks on Chris Daly and openly supporting challenger Rob Black. It’s not too late to grab a Daly sign from his 16th and Mission HQ and do everything you can to keep this kind of sleaze out of City Hall.

More Hellman on SFSOS

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By Steven T. Jones
I just got another call from Warren Hellman, who said he was saddened to see a group he founded but later disavowed — the sleazy conservative attack organization SFSOS — is one of the only groups in town to oppose the school bond measure Proposition A, which Hellman actively supports (his band will even be playing the campaign’s election night party at Slim’s tonight).
“For once, there is goodwill all around on something,” Hellman said of the school bond, which business groups such Committee on Jobs and progressives such as the SF People’s Organization enthusiastically support.
But he’s ashamed to see SFSOS opposing it, sending messages of concern to the group’s leader, Wade Randlett, and funder, Don Fisher, asking the group to send a message to its list noting that most business groups support it.
“It’s a personal vendetta on the part of the guy who runs SFSOS,” Hellman said.
That guy, Randlett, suddenly started attacking the school district last year when the superintendent was at odds with the school board. Randlett was secretly having an extramarital affair at the time with the superintendent’s spokesperson Lorna Ho (Randlett has since left his wife, Tamsin Randlett, and is still with Ho), which seemed to have been what prompted SFSOS to flip its focus from parks and potholes to the schools. And apparently, Randlett holds a grudge like few others, so he’s urging voters to deny needed school facilities to the kids. It’s a telling testament to the guy and the group that is leading the attacks on Chris Daly and openly supporting challenger Rob Black. It’s not too late to grab a Daly sign from his 16th and Mission HQ and do everything you can to keep this kind of sleaze out of City Hall.

Rob Black’s paid “volunteers”

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By Tim Redmond

Everyone’s having fun with this story: Apparently, the Rob Black campaign in District 6 is paying people $15 an hour to act like volunteers. There’s a great photo on Sfist that sets the scene. Then KPFA sent a reporter to interview Black “volunteers” and got some great stuff. Here’s a partial transcript, thanks to leftinsf.

REPORTER JOSHUA SMITH: On a busy street corner in District 6, campaigners are out in full force. Eric Wilson is wearing an I Black Back Button and standing next to a large poster endorsing the candidate. He says he got involved with the campaign through the Glide Church. But from a glance you would never guess his political stance.

ERIC WILSON: “Allegedly I’m going to be paid fifteen dollars an hour cash. I support Chris Daly, but I’m doing this for Rob Black for the cash. And it’s an oxymoron, but well, you gotta do what you gotta do to eat in this city.”

In other words, Black doesn’t actually have a lot of volunteers, so he’s trying to buy them.

Wisdom of former presidents

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By Steven T. Jones
Jimmy Carter said something truly remarkable on National Public Radio last night. The segment was about how the former U.S. president and his Carter Center are monitoring the elections in Nicaragua, just as they have in 67 other elections around the world over the last two decades.
For her final question, NPR’s Debbie Elliott asked about repeated voting irregularities here in the U.S. and whether maybe we should have international monitors to ensure our elections are free and fair. Carter agreed that “the United States electoral system is severely troubled and has many faults in it. It would not qualify at all for instance for participation by the Carter Center in observing.”
Among other things, the Carter Center requires uniform voting procedures through the country, roughly equal access to the media by major candidates, some kind of federal agency to ensure sound democratic standards, and the poor having equal access to polling places as the rich – none of which exists in the United States.
Think about this for a second: just as our current president is starting wars in the name of spreading democracy, a former president who is widely recognized as the premier international expert on democratic standards says that our system is worse that most others in place around the world. And that statement doesn’t even warrant a headline in the major newspapers on the day before a national election.

Newsom vetoes foot patrols

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By Tim Redmond

Late on a Friday, at the slowest possible time in the news cycle, when politicians make moves that they hope will get very little media attention, Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed a plan to require police foot patrols in high-crime areas. That marks a dramatic shift in his position. Just a few days ago, he was prepared to sign the bill.
The veto sets up a fascinating showdown: Are there eight votes on the board to override the mayor? The measure passed 7-3 on its first round, with only Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Michela Alioto-Pier and Sean Elsbernd in opposition and Jake McGoldrick absent. Willl eight votes hold?

Quality of life

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By Tim Redmond
I’m usually not much for political speeches, but Chris Daly has a really nice riff on quality of life in this video of his recent rally at 16th and Mission. His point: It’s easy for people living in million-dollar condos to attack him and complain about the “quality of life” in District 6 (which is downtown shorthand for cracking down on the homeless). But what about the quality of life of all the people who live in residential hotels, who struggle every day, who live on the economic edge? Worth a listen, because it says a lot about why re-electing Daly is such a huge priority.

Hellman on SFSOS and Daly

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By Steven T. Jones
I spoke recently with Warren Hellman, the San Francisco investment banker that Business Week called “the Warren Buffet of the West Coast.” He’s a fascinating guy, someone who has drawn the ire of progressives by founding the downtown groups Committee on Jobs and SFSOS, but who has also joined with progressives to support the Healthy Saturdays closures in Golden Gate Park and other measures.
Among other topics, Hellman talked about SFSOS, which is leading the nasty and deceptive attacks on Sup. Chris Daly, just as it did on supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Gerardo Sandoval a couple years ago using mailers so heinous that both Hellman and Sen. Dianne Feinstein walked away from the group, leaving the Gap’s Don Fisher as its primary funder.
“SFSOS started doing the opposite of what I thought they would be doing, so it was fairly easy for me to part company with them. What I thought we were doing is trying to figure out ways to make the city better, not just being an antagonistic, nay-saying, attack organization. I’m not a huge fan of Gerardo Sandoval, but I thought the attacks on him were beyond anything I could imagine ever being in favor of myself. And it was a series of things like that and I said I don’t want anything more to do with this,” Hellman told the Guardian.
Hellman is still friends with Fisher, even though “there’s stuff that we just disagree on.” He considers Fisher a “very charitable man,” but Hellman has less than charitable things to say about SFSOS frontman Wade Randlett.
“If all things were equal, I’d just as soon that SFSOS went away,” Hellman said.
Hellman likes authentic, passionate people and has friends across the political spectrum, such as SEIU’s Josie Mooney. As for Daly, Hellman said, “I admire Chris Daly. I disagree with Chris on a lot of things he believes, but there are also probably a lot of things I would agree with Chris on. And I respect him.”

Black Ops

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By Steven T. Jones
Re-reading the article I linked to in my last post reminded me to remind y’all about an event from earlier this year that goes to the heart of Rob Black’s close ties to downtown developers and why he can’t be trusted. In the incident described in this article, Black was the Alioto-Pier board aide who worked with those five developer attorneys to craft legislation designed to kill the downtown parking limitations sought by livable city advocates and Planning Director Dean Macris, all at the demand of Don Fisher, the Republican who founded the Gap and uses his money to bankroll SFSOS and the attacks on Chris Daly. My article doesn’t mention Black by name, but I have the e-mails in which he discusses the legislation and its wording with these developer attorneys. And if you want to hear Rob Black fumble to address the issue, listen to his endorsement interview here.

Daly Tube

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By Steven T. Jones
There’s a fascinating mix of videos about Sup. Chris Daly on You Tube these days. You can hear Chris speak or people speak about him, or you can watch political ads with stark contrasts between the Daly lovers and haters. The ads for him are funny and whimsical, the ones hitting him are dark, scary, misleading, and in one case, racist. They say Daly “never passed a single law to combat crime,” even though he chaired the committees that passed two budgets filled with crime-fighting measures, as well as placing the crime-fighting Proposition A on the June ballot, which narrowly failed because it was opposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, opponent Rob Black, and the pro-Black Police Officers Association (which was loathe to spend $10 million on violence prevention programs instead of just more cops and overtime, which is the Newsom/Black strategy). But the funniest accusation is how Daly is now in the pocket of downtown interests, with one video showing Daly morphing into former Mayor Willie Brown, who Daly has a storied history of fighting on behalf of the anti-downtown forces. Yes, it’s true that Daly has gotten some developer money in this election, but that’s only because he’s made himself the go-to person for facilitating projects by developers who are willing to provide the maximum community benefits and affordable housing payments — which is what progressives demand of developers. Even downtown interests like SPUR have said this is true (the whole story is here). The bottom line: Black and his downtown buddies (from mentor Jim Sutton to SFSOS to BOMA) know D6 voters want someone to stand up to downtown, so they’re throwing a bunch of smoke and misinformation up in the air to confuse the issue. Don’t be fooled…but enjoy the show.

Cancelling Halloween is like killing Gay Christmas

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By Sarah Phelan

Is San Francisco going to let a handful of gang bangers shut down Halloween?
Er, wouldn’t that be like “letting the terrorists win,” to quote our not so favorite president.
And how can San Francisco seriously expect to win the Olympic bid if the city spends the next week blabbing on about how we don’t know how to control a large crowd or successfully manage a parade?
Because a parade could have turned Halloween 2006 into a peaceful success, instead of a violent disaster.
Instead, Sup. Bevan Dufty’s last-minute effort to reap political mileage out of the ‘law and order” theme seriously backfired when things turned nasty the MINUTE THE POLICE ANNOUNCED THE PARTY WAS ENDING EARLY.
Wiith meaningful planning, beginning NOW, the community can figure out cool ways to keep Halloween alive.
As District 8 supervisorial challenger Alix Rosenthal told the press, the city’s security and safety preparation “was badly conceived, badly executed–and preventable. We should spend at least 6 months planning this. Instead Dufty waited until the end of July to start doing anything and the city says, ‘We did our best.’ It’s time for new leadership.”

Bill Clinton kicks Big Oil’s ass, says yes to Prop. 87

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By Sarah Phelan

Say what you will about Clinton, but when it comes to raising morale, the 42nd President still has what it takes.
“One side says stay the course, the other says, ‘We can do better,'”said Clinton, as he urged us all to vote Yes in Prop. 87, which raises $4 billion by taxing oil, and uses those funds for alternative energy research and development, including incentives for buying alternative-fuel vehicles. Too bad Big Oil didn’t spend $100 million on improving air quality, reducing asthma and lung cancer, instead of on all those misleading ads that try to frighten people into voting no.
“They can’t deny climate change, the national security implications, that too many of us, especially children, are breathing air that doesn’t meet minimum requirements, so they’re just spending $100 million to defeat Prop. 87,” said Clinton. “They’re really just saying, ‘We’re against any positive change.”

Bill Clinton kicks Big Oil’s ass

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By Sarah Phelan

Say what you will about Clinton, but when it comes to raising morale, the 42nd President still has what it takes.
“One side says stay the course, the other says, ‘We can do better,'”said Clinton, as he urged us all to vote Yes in Prop. 87, which raises $4 billion by taxing oil, and uses those funds for alternative energy research and development, including incentives for buying alternative-fuel vehicles. Too bad Big Oil didn’t spend $100 million on improving air quality, reducing asthma and lung cancer, instead of on all those misleading ads that try to frighten people into voting no.
“They can’t deny climate change, the national security implications, that too many of us, especially children, are breathing air that doesn’t meet minimum requirements, so they’re just spending $100 million to defeat Prop. 87,” said Clinton. “They’re really just saying, ‘We’re against any positive change.”

The worst photo of a politician in 2006 (maybe)

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By Tim Redmond

My friend Ken Neill, the publisher of the Memphis Flyer, sent me what may be the ugliest political photo of the year. The story’s pretty gnarly, too.

Any better nominations?

New Poll Data

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The Fog City Journal cited a new poll of District 6 voters which shows Chris Daly ahead with 60 percent of the vote.The article included the polling firm’s name, location, and numbers — perhaps its more accurate than the others lauded by the Black campaign and commissioned by his supporters.

The Sentinel’s Lobbyists

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by Amanda Witherell

It’s no secret that the San Francisco Sentinel has really slipped since Luke Thomas struck out on his own with Fog City Journal, but an article this past weekend represents a new low. “Has Anti-Incumbent Fever hit San Francisco?” makes reference to three polls showing Rob Black leading Chris Daly in the District 6 race for Supervisor. The author of the piece, Sam Lauter links to an article in the Chron about the polls, but he could have just linked to the raw data — at least one of the polls was commissioned through his political consulting firm, Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter(ahem) and Partners.

This lobbying firm is also a liason for much of the thousands of dollars being spent by independent expenditure committees on anti-Daly hit pieces. Before messing around in local elections, Lauter had a career in governmental relations at PG&E, though a Sentinel reader wouldn’t know it — there’s no bio included with the author’s “article,” except that it was formerly printed in a “Red Meat for a Blue State” online publication. Meanwhile, another unauthored Sentinel article criticizes Daly for supposed contributions from lobbyists, though fails to mention that the anti-Daly movement is controlled by a similar crowd of money-runners.

White Guilt on Your Green Lifestyle

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By Sarah Phelan

With the Green Festival’s tips on green homes, green investment, eco-travel and organic beer set to hit San Francisco Nov. 10-12, African People’s Solidarity Day coordinator and physicist Aisha Fields told the Guardian her group is hitting the Bay Area a week earlier to tell folks that “the entire white lifestyle—alternative or not—is unsustainable.”
Because of its colonial legacy, much of mineral-rich Africa has no infrastructure—something APSD wants to change by raising awareness, funding and support for Africa, including demanding reparations for centuries of slavery, theft and genocide.
“Tremendous natural resources only serve a few corrupt politicians, who pump them out and send them to Europe and the U.S.,” says Fields, who hopes to fund projects for electricity, renewable energy and water purification in West Africa. “People need to deepen their understanding of the root causes. Many of the minerals mined to make cell phones come from Africa, and many of the wars Americans see on TV are being fought to frighten folks off their land, or because a ruling party wants access to those resources.”
APSD takes place in Oakland, Nov. 4, 10am – 5pm, at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th St and in San Francisco, Nov. 5, 10am – 5pm at the Women’s Building, 3543 18 St. Contact info@apscuhuru.org. 510.625.1106

The Daly Show

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By Sarah Phelan

In the past few months, I’ve attended numerous city hall meetings in which Sup, Chris Daly vigorously pushed for more police foot patrols. Also sitting through those meetings were reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle, who witnessed Daly pushing Police Chief Heather Fong to implement the program that residents of Daly’s district and other violence-plagued areas of the city, are literally begging for. They also watched as Daly questioned whether the police department’s request for more funding was premature, something that the city’s budget analyst recently concluded was in fact true.
So it was disappointing, if not surprising, to watch the Chron repeat the B.S. about Daly’s supposed attempts to block funding for the police
And it was disappointing, if not surprising to hear Daly’s challenger Rob Black make similar claims, while on the phone to the Guardian answering questions about his connections to lobbyist and political mastermind Jim Sutton and his clients PG&E.
Black spewed the statistic that “30 percent of crime takes place in Daly’s district,” then claimed that Daly had done nothing about it, including repeating the lie that, “Chris Daly talks about the need for beat officers, but isn’t willing to put the money there.”
That statement simply isn’t true, as city watchers all know, so it was a relief to see BeyondChron take the Chron to task for its incessant peddling of misinformation, which apparently is their way of trying to influence the elections. Maybe there is hope, after all, that lies won’t trump the truth this fall.

Josh Wolf meets Eminem meets Nelson Mandela

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Josh Wolf meets Eminem meets Nelson Mandela

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By Sarah Phelan
Got a letter from jailed videographer/blogger Josh Wolf, saying he remains hopeful. Here are 3 reasons why.
1. Legendary lawyer Martin Garbus has joined Wolf’s team as Lead Attorney. That puts Wolf in the company of Eminem, Nelson Mandela, Daniel Ellsberg, Amy Tan, Al Pacino, Spike Lee, Sean Connery, Robert Redford and Michael Moore, to name a few of Garbus’ high profile clients. Garbus is also working on the case of the two SF Chronicle reporters, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wade, who face possible jail time for refusing to name the source who revealed transcripts from a grand jury investigating Barry Bonds and steroid use in organized sports.
2. Josh’s attorney’s have filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit, refuting that panel’s decision that the court doesn’t have the power to create a common-law privilege, claiming that this ruling contradicts a previous decision, the Jaffee case, which established a privilege for psychotherapists in the case of a police officer who had gone into therapy following a disputed shooting.
3. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is going to do some cases in the 9th.

Wolf’s advice to San Franciscans? “Keep talking, refuse to be silenced.”
His advice to San Francisco? ”Cut all fiscal ties with the federal government. It’s a radical approach, but it has value beyond protecting journalists—it spares the city from the vice-like grip of No Child Left Behind, for example.”

Potholes, boozehounds and graffiti all stricken with fear in the wake of Newsom’s speech

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By G.W. Schulz

Newsom proved during his State of the City speech yesterday at Burton High School in the Portola neighborhood that he’s got all the skills in the world necessary to … fill potholes. Look out world. Our fine-looking mayor has announced a sweeping new initiative to thoroughly repair the city’s roads.

“Not just patchwork,” he growled, as the utilities, seen regularly these days chopping up pavement across the city to mend the network of pipes underneath, trembled in fear.

With the guts of a grizzled marine, he challenged graffiti to a duel. Forging ahead with raw conviction, he fearlessly vowed to tackle busted sidewalks. And God-damn if it ain’t tough findin’ a cab in this city when you’re wasted and the party’s movin’ from last call to a friend’s apartment. That will change under the FDR-inspired, second-term platform of Gavin “the pulpit-pounding populist” Newsom.

Who’s attacking Daly?

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By Tim Redmond

When we last checked in with SFSOS, Ryan Chamberlain, the field director, was insisting that District 6 candidate Rob Black was about to be attacked by Sup. Chris Daly’s big union backers. Poor Rob had been running such an honest, grassroots campaign. I finally heard from Chamberlain about this utterly hypocritical lie; he said he has “no comment,” but went on to press the point that Black was the underdog up against Daly’s dirty machine politics.

So just for the record, I would like to remind everyone just who is on what side in District 6.

For starters, the attack mailers against Daly are plentiful. There’s a partial collection here. Who’s paying for this wave of negative ads?

Well, there’s the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, which is mad at Daly for supporting a living wage for local workers.

There’s the Building Owners and Managers Association, which is mad that Daly supports downtown parking taxes, limits on parking in the most congested areas and overall requirements that the biggest property owners pay their fair share of the tax burden.

There’s SFSOS itself,which is funded by Republican Don Fisher and is against every progressive program in the city.

And “Citizens for Reform Leadership,” which put out a huge, slick attack piece earlier this fall. This is a Fisher-funded group put together by political lawyer and fixer Jim Sutton.

Oh, and the Board of Realtors, the Police Officers Association … all sorts of powerful interests that don’t want someone on the board who can’t be cowed by them.

So don’t buy this crap that Rob Black is just a grassroots candidate up against the “machine.” If the city employee unions come in a the end, it will only be because they see one of their friends under a savage attack and they have no choice but to respond.

Chris Daly video ads

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By Tim Redmond

There’s a modest little war going on over low-tech video ads in the District Six race. I think this one, with sock puppets, is my fave. (Thanks to sfist. Then there’s the more serious one, and this strange cat onethat I don’t really understand. But fun to watch.

OCC — the only true drama

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By G.W. Schulz

Sure, the ongoing battle between the Office of Citizen Complaints and the San Francisco Police Officer’s Association makes for sexy headlines. But what about a break-in at the OCC’s offices? That’s hot, isn’t it?

The Chronicle first reported last week that an attorney named Susan Leff who works for the OCC — the city’s police watchdog agency that collects and investigates allegations of misconduct from citizens — had filed a restraining order against the vice president of the POA, Kevin Martin, after he allegedly swerved dangerously near her in his car Oct. 6.

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