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.