Hall Monitor

All together now: So much for keeping up any appearance that the Independent, the San Francisco Examiner, and Asian Week – all owned by the Fang family – are separate and, well, independent newspapers.

Nancy Tucker, the Ex's op-ed page editor, recently sent out a letter to candidates – bearing the monikers of all three publications – informing them that the papers would jointly conduct editorial interviews for candidates and ballot measures. (Umm, didn't the terms of the deal that led to the Fangs' acquiring the Ex from Hearst Corp. require the family not to commingle Ex funds – or at least, funds from the Hearst subsidy, which provide a huge share of the Ex's operating budget – with those of other Fang operations?) Tucker said the joint-interview process would be more efficient and told us that readers should expect the three papers to take different positions on the candidates and measures.

Anyway, if the cattle call weren't strange enough, the letter also states that specific meeting times for different races have already been determined, and if a candidate or a representative cannot make the appointment, tough luck. "We can make no exceptions to this policy," the letter states. Harsh.

Now, about Ms. Tucker: The Fangs obviously can do whatever they please when it comes to the editorial opinions put forward in their publications, and nobody expects an editor in the opinion section to be objective.

But tenant activists, who point out that Tucker has been an active member of the Small Property Owners of San Francisco, have been furious that a well-known landlord-rights proponent has been added to the editorial staff. Just for the record, Tucker told us that she resigned as a member of SPOSF – an outfit whose members can be so vitriolic that they attack members of other landlord organizations – in February prior to taking the job at the Ex. She added that she has worked as a professional journalist for 30 years.

Moreover, she is not a member of any of the Fangs' editorial boards and will not participate in the interviews. So the Fangs will have to push their anti-tenant line on their own. (Savannah Blackwell)

Condo calamity: Tenant activists who have been wringing their hands over Sup. Tony Hall's condo conversion measure (Proposition R on the November ballot) are right to worry, according to a report released Aug. 23 by the Office of the Legislative Analyst.

The city could lose 88,649 rental units over the next 25 years, the report states, and even if they're sold at their lowest "floor" price (approximately $285,000), only households earning more than $75,000 would be able to afford them.

In Santa Monica similar legislation led to the approval of 3,234 units for conversion, with only about 12 percent of those sold actually purchased by renter occupants. A large chunk of tenants (at least 20 percent) said they had been pressured to agree to the conversion through the threat of eviction or building demolition. An additional 17 percent were "offered money or other incentives" to move out.

The report also reveals that Prop. R would encourage real estate speculation. Though there's a penalty for owners who buy and sell apartments within the first two years, that penalty is waived if an owner demonstrates that he or she "did not or could not reasonably foresee" the need to resell – a gaping loophole.

Evidently "R" stands for "Really, really bad for renters." (Cassi Feldman)

Sticking with Prop. K: Sup. Jake McGoldrick has been under intense pressure to back down on his support for Proposition K, the fall ballot measure that would reopen bidding for the lucrative contract to publish government notices. Leading the pack: the Fang family, who own three San Francisco newspapers, including the Independent, which has held the contract for most of the past decade.

But last week, after an Aug. 28 lunchtime meeting with James Fang (president of the Fangs' Asian Week) and columnist Warren Hinckle, McGoldrick told us he refused to withdraw the measure from the fall ballot.

The current system, McGoldrick says, is rigged in favor of the Independent, eliminating competition for the contract. That's unfair, McGoldrick says, and results in the city paying more than it probably would if other papers could compete for the deal.

The Fangs don't see it that way, and they have published a series of stories condemning McGoldrick and calling the measure an attempt to "kill off" the Independent. McGoldrick said that when he met with Fang and Hinckle, "they indicated that they will continue to hammer real hard [in the newspaper]. They even talk through Mr. Hinckle's column about wanting to do a recall."

Fang, however, told us he never asked for the measure to be withdrawn. "I'm a little bit shocked at the way McGoldrick has interpreted that meeting," he said. (Rachel Brahinsky)

Hall's ode to life: It isn't often that a San Francisco elected official openly celebrates the cause of abortion foes. But a resolution proposed by Sup. Gavin Newsom commending the National Organization for Women, along with a proposal for the Board of Supervisors to support a Senate bill making RU-486 (the abortion pill) more readily available to women, spurred Supervisor Hall, of the city's west side, to define himself as an ardent opponent of abortion rights. "Thousands of San Franciscans and millions of Americans will be deeply offended [by these resolutions]," Hall said at the board's Aug. 26 meeting. "I support life. It should not be terminated by those who feel they have a choice."

Insiders say Newsom, who is running for mayor in 2003, wanted to "flush out Hall's position" on the issue, which runs contrary to that of most San Franciscans. Hall is rumored to be considering his own bid for the city's top post. (Blackwell)

Au revoir, Robert: City Hall's North Light Court was packed with friends, colleagues, admirers, and political enemies of San Francisco political consultant Robert Barnes, who passed away Aug. 9 (see "Robert Barnes, 1959-2002," 8/14/02). Local political leaders whom Barnes helped elect, including City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Sup. Mark Leno, shared stories about Barnes's aggressive strategies, acumen, and biting sense of humor. The memorial was held Aug. 26 – the day Barnes would have turned 43.

But it was Mayor Willie Brown, whom Barnes helped reelect in 1999 by assisting in the engineering of some $2.6 million in soft campaign contributions on Brown's behalf, whose comments seemed to resonate most with the crowd. Brown said that Barnes had entered a new stage of big-money politics when he teamed up in early 2000 with John Whitehurst, one of the city's highest-paid consultants, former Pacific Gas and Electric lobbyist Sam Lauter, and Mark Mosher, who used to work for the Committee on Jobs -- which lobbied for San Francisco's largest businesses. "I recall many breakfasts [we] would have together," Brown said. "There was Whitey offering multiple theories on how to be on every side of every issue. And Lauter with his knowledge of how to get to big money. But it was Barnes who was any plan's ultimate executor." Brown is right. Many of the city's local pols owe their posts to him. Both loved and reviled, Barnes will be missed. As Brown put it, "His departure means the creation of a huge void. I just don't see anybody on the horizon who's going to be able to replace Robert Barnes." (Blackwell)