By Tim Redmond
Even by the rather low standards of San Francisco political campaigning, this one is a whopper. SFSOS has been a part of a coalition that has put out a series of vicious attack pieces on Sup. Chris Daly. The pieces, and I think the total is now eight, are nothing but attacks that slam Daly over and over again and urge voters to elect Rob Black. It’s about the worst sort of downtown-funded negative politics I’ve ever seen in town. All of the pieces, of course, were produced by so-called independent expenditure committees — which means they weren’t subject to campaign contribution or spending limits.
Now SFSOS has put out a “breaking news alert” on its email list that — this is true — warns that Daly supporters might (gasp) do an IE of their own. Check out the language, from SFSOS field director Ryan Chamberlain:
“we now have evidence that Daly’s public employee union backers are racing to the printer to fund hit pieces against Rob. Unlike the strictly grassroots campaign that you’ve participated in, this will be classic machine dirty politics: Daly’s union friends will flout the $500 per entity contribution limit by sending thousands of slick last-minute mailers that simply defame Rob.”
Huh? “Unlike the strictly grassroots campaign?” Bullshit, Ryan. Much of the campaign for Black and against Daly has consisted of exactly the sort of “dirty politics” the SFSOS alert is decrying — slick mailers, paid for by groups that flout the $500 contribution limit, seeking to defame Daly.
I called Chamberlain to ask him how he explains this world-class hypocrisy, but I haven’t heard back. I’ll let you know when he calls.