By Savannah Blackwell

THE SAN FRANCISCO Board of Supervisors' chambers were packed. So was the nearby room where an overflow crowd watched the proceedings on a large-screen TV. In fact, so many people had shown up Jan. 8 that the crowd lined the second-floor balcony, wrapped around the bottom of the grand staircase, and spilled into the first-floor light courts.

A few of the thousand or so spectators were there to watch the swearing in of two new supervisors, Bevan Dufty and Fiona Ma. But the vast majority had come to see what was until recently a rarity at San Francisco City Hall: the board was about to make a major decision – in public – and nobody knew in advance what the outcome would be.

For political observers (and the media) in this town, the idea that the election of the next board president hadn't already been ordained in some sort of backroom deal was as novel as it was fascinating.

"We knew this would make for some lively political theater," Christine Linnenbach, an attorney and westside neighborhood activist, said.

And in the end, just about everyone was shocked: Matt Gonzalez, the 37-year-old former public defender and Green Party member who has built a reputation as a hard-line progressive – a fighter, not a conciliator – was in the top spot on a fractured, contentious board.

At a time when progressives have been reeling from a string of electoral defeats – think Harry Britt and Eileen Hansen – and when some were openly talking about looking for a more pragmatic leader for the board and possibly even for the mayoral race, Gonzalez's election is exciting and, to some, a little scary.

This is the most power the Greens have ever held at City Hall – and they, and Gonzalez, will have to prove very quickly, in bad economic times, that they are as good at governing as they are at protesting.

"This is a serious, all-business kind of year," Carole Migden, newly elected Board of Equalization member and former assemblymember, told us.

The election also vaults Gonzalez into a potentially influential role in the mayoral race – since two of the leading contenders, Tom Ammiano and Gavin Newsom, are members of the board and will need the help of the president to promote and pass their legislation.

Gonzalez agrees he has his work cut out for him. "This is a chance for the left to regroup, to figure out [if] we are just going to keep losing ballot measures or can we reappropriate the issues that belong to us" (see "As the Left Turns," page 19).

Adds Sup. Aaron Peskin, who stepped aside to give Gonzalez the job, "This is a new era. There's a new mandate, and it is for the majority-progressive-liberal coalition to lead and stay focused and keep focused on a few critically important progressive initiatives."

But for someone who is not known as a patient master of legislation and parliamentary arcana but as a fiery critic of the social order, it's going to be a tough job, indeed. No question, this will be the biggest trial of Matt Gonzalez's career.

Odd alliances

For weeks the speculation had been intense: Who would follow Tom Ammiano, who was stepping down after four years as board president to focus on his second bid for mayor? Peskin, Ammiano's choice, was the early favorite, but then Sup. Sophie Maxwell, the board's only African American and one of only two women, entered the contest, with the support of Mayor Willie Brown.

Gonzalez was noncommittal at first and joined the race late. Almost nobody saw him as the leading contender – in fact, by the time he joined, rumors were flying that Peskin and Maxwell had cut a deal. The way the story went (and Peskin later confirmed it was true) was that if either of the two failed to make the first cut, he or she would drop out and support the other.

On Jan. 8, the day of the vote, each of the three had some support, but no one was close to capturing the six votes needed to win.

In an odd (if not unexpected) alliance, conservative Sup. Tony Hall made a strong pitch for Gonzalez that started off as an antimachine speech then degenerated into a rant that some activists complained was sexist, or at the very least, insensitive. Hall repeatedly referred to Gonzalez as the "best man for the job" despite the fact that one of his opponents was a woman.

"Let's be conscious of the machine and what it's done for the last 25 years," Hall began. "These are the people who've phoned you and told you to vote a certain way. Be true to your own convictions."

Then he started to sound a little like the lyrics of "Shaft."

"Who is man enough to stand up and cast a vote from his heart? Who is intelligent enough to work with the smartest politician, Mayor Willie Brown. Who is honest enough?... Matt Gonzalez has all the qualities that we need to steer this board as a legislative family. Each of you knows in your own heart that he's the right man."

Sup. Jake McGoldrick pointed out that it was unlikely any candidate would get the requisite six votes in the first round. But, he said, that was a good thing, as it showed that the election wasn't going to be decided by behind-the-scenes deals.

And he added that he thought that Peskin would be the best at bringing the board together: "He has the leadership skills."

Dufty pointed out that Maxwell had no opponents in her supervisorial district race and conducted herself with "grace and fairness."

Newsom commented on her "unwavering integrity."

Ma threw in that she was supporting Peskin because of his "fiscal sense" (Peskin has served as finance chair).

Then the voting started, and for more than an hour, it went on and on. For six rounds the supervisors voted – and nobody changed his or her opinion.

The breakdown went like this:

Tom Ammiano – Peskin

Chris Daly – Gonzalez

Bevan Dufty – Maxwell

Matt Gonzalez – Gonzalez

Tony Hall – Gonzalez

Fiona Ma – Peskin

Sophie Maxwell – Maxwell

Jake McGoldrick – Peskin

Gavin Newsom – Maxwell

Aaron Peskin – Peskin

Gerardo Sandoval – Gonzalez

After each round, board clerk Gloria Young would quantify the results – Gonzalez, 4; Maxwell, 3; Peskin, 4 – and then announce the start of the next round.

Following the fifth round, pressure was starting to build for Maxwell to bow out.

"There are other ways to demonstrate leadership – sometimes in the art of leaving an issue," Ammiano said.

"I believe the burden is on the candidate who received the three votes to please consider releasing your supporters," Sandoval said.

But she wouldn't budge.

Instead, she said, "As I see it, we all don't have six votes. I will not ask my people to release themselves. Instead, I would ask you to consider my candidacy."

Then McGoldrick tried to call a recess to allow Peskin and Gonzalez to talk. But neither of the two candidates wanted a backroom deal.

In a dramatic moment, Gonzalez walked across the floor to talk to Peskin. Placing his arm on Peskin's shoulder, Gonzalez whispered something in the District Three supervisor's ear. Reporters then whispered that a deal had been cut.

But Gonzalez later told us he had simply told Peskin to hang tough. "It should be between you and me [the highest vote getters]," Gonzalez told him.

The real hero of the day was Peskin. "In the spirit of bringing the community back together," he told his supporters, "I will hereby place the three of you to vote your second choice and end this and allow us to move forward."

To the surprise of many, Ammiano voted for Maxwell. But McGoldrick and Peskin both shifted to Gonzalez, who was elected 6-5.

And there's no denying that despite Ammiano's unusual move, the vote largely came down to the backers of the machine versus the independents and progressives – and ultimately, the antimachine forces came together and won.

Peskin later told us he thought it was important for the decision to take place "spontaneously" and "in the open."

He got a standing ovation for his move.

"Peskin basically just gave it to Gonzalez," Daly said. "It was really big of him."

There was, of course, more to the story. According to board sources, Peskin had talked to Maxwell the night before the meeting, and she had hedged on her commitment to support him if she didn't make the first cut. So Peskin felt no obligation to stick with his earlier agreement.

"In the end, my votes are more often aligned with Gonzalez," he said. "He's going to be a good president of the board. I made the right decision, and I have no regrets."

As some longtime board observers said, Peskin did something remarkable: he put the interests of the board above his own.

"At the end of the day, we're not individuals, we're part of a team," Peskin noted.

Ammiano, on the other hand, told us he'd promised to support Maxwell as his second choice long before Gonzalez got into the race. Still, his move startled some observers. Instead of sticking with his usual allies (like Peskin and McGoldrick) and backing a candidate who he had initially recruited to run for the board, he backed the mayor's choice. And he lost.

Lt. Peskin

The first and most immediate sign of how Gonzalez will handle the new job will come with the committee assignments – the board president's most visible way to reward friends and to influence policy.

By most accounts, Peskin asked Gonzalez for nothing – in fact, some of Peskin's allies have suggested he was foolish not to demand a plum committee assignment as the price of his support.

Still, it's likely Gonzalez will allow Peskin to do what Peskin does well: watch the city's money and whip together working majorities for legislation. He may become Gonzalez's functional lieutenant.

"My job is to aid the cause and hopefully do it as lieutenant under President Gonzalez," Peskin told us. "I still bring the same skills: attention to detail and the ability to win six people's minds on important issues."

Some, however, worry that Gonzalez will elevate Hall to a top post in which the District Seven supervisor will have real influence over policy. The two have one of the odder friendships on the board, and Gonzalez often speaks of Hall as a conservative who will come along on some key progressive issues. He points out, for example, that Hall voted for instant-runoff voting and for the San Francisco Planning Commission and Board of Appeals reforms. And, of course, he voted for Gonzalez for board president.

However, Hall's also a supervisor who has voted in favor of confiscating homeless people's possessions without notice, against urging state lawmakers to strengthen abortion rights, against affordable-housing laws, and against public power. In the Bay Guardian's good vote scorecard (10/30/02) Hall received 16 out of 100 percent.

Some also wonder whether Gonzalez will stay focused on a new and demanding job. He did, after all, quit the Finance Committee in 2001 out of frustration that he couldn't get the other members to agree with him.

And accomplishing his first goal – enacting a city minimum-wage law – is sure to be a tough fight. He's vowed to keep pushing public power, to work on environmental issues, and to promote open debate on the board. (That, some observers say, is likely to lead to longer meetings; Gonzalez seems to enjoy extensive discussions.)

And although Gonzalez has been very cordial to Ammiano, it's unlikely he'll be the head cheerleader for Ammiano's mayoral campaign (a role Peskin would have been more likely to play).

David Binder, a local pollster, said he doesn't think the elevation of a Green Party member means much one way or another for the local Democratic party.

"This was about uniting behind a progressive who gets along with his colleagues," Binder said. "He got elected because of his personality and his politics and his potential effectiveness. The spin on the Democratic Party [implications] is overplayed.

"What will be interesting is to see how he uses this new profile – whether he focuses on the business of the board or whether he wants to take advantage of the media exposure to position himself for some higher elected office in the future."

Robert Haaland of the Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Club and the San Francisco Tenants Union, confirmed that Milk Club leadership's first choice was Peskin but that he was not disappointed with Gonzalez's victory.

"They offer two different leadership styles. [I supported Peskin because] he's capable of doing the heavy lifting."

Regarding Gonzalez, Haaland said, "I don't know that he'll quarterback the team for Tom. He's going to focus on the process and allowing different ideological perspectives. But he also needs to focus on the issues. I look forward to him articulating what that vision is."

On Gonzalez's relationship with Hall, one tenant activist said, "I'm uncomfortable.... Is he going to make him chair of the Finance Committee? You know that would hurt the city."

Political scientist Rich de Leon said he thinks Gonzalez's election is evidence that San Francisco politics have advanced way beyond identity politics.

"Partisan politics have been transcended with this move," he said. "There were other issues involved like personality. And it [provides] more evidence that there is no such thing as a progressive supermajority – this is not a monolithic block. This has more links to political style."

De Leon suggested that the vote – particularly Gonzalez's ability to bring along a conservative like Hall – shows Gonzalez can put together "improbable coalitions."

"San Francisco is working on politics in an experimental way that is not happening anywhere else."

And he said Gonzalez's appeal may be because he's not part of any faction: "Maverickness has a certain currency [in San Francisco], and obviously it works."

Green day

While Gonzalez hasn't emphasized his Green Party lineage, there's no question that he's a huge asset to the Greens. "It's one of a series of recent signs that non-Greens take the Greens seriously," said Rebecca Kaplan, a member of the AC Transit Board and a Green Party activist. "It's important to get Greens elected to public office and enacting good policy."

Ross Mirkarimi, a longtime Green organizer, said this was a chance to kick start the local Greens. "The Green Party's been too passive, technically speaking, in its ability to register voters," he said.

Gonzalez, he said, could be a perfect Green board president because he's not beholden to any Democratic Party faction and is likely to give all his colleagues a fair shake.

Ammiano told us he's already seen signs that Gonzalez will be a judicious leader. "I'm proud of him," the outgoing president said. "There's going to be synchronicity on the board.

E-mail Savannah Blackwell at savannah_blackwell@sfbg.com.