In This Issue

I SINCERELY HOPE you're reading this through the fog of a hangover, which is what you got for celebrating the election of Mayor Gonzalez Tuesday night.

But I'm writing this Monday, and it won't hit the streets until Wednesday, and in between, one of the most dramatic mayoral campaigns in modern San Francisco history will come to a close. So maybe it's the cold light of a Mayor Newsom dawn, and you're grimacing through another kind of fog.

Either way, there are a few things worth saying at this point:

Matt Gonzalez, win or lose, did something nobody could even remotely have expected or predicted a year (or even a few months) ago. He galvanized a new generation of activists, caught the political establishment by surprise, and demonstrated that the progressive movement is very much alive, and very much a force to be reckoned with, in this city.

Gavin Newsom, win or lose, conducted or allowed a last-minute barrage of lies and sleaze that ought to spur some immediate amendments to the city's ethics laws. For one thing, phony front groups like the so-called California Urban Issues Project (which is run by Newsom allies like Nathan Nayman of the Committee on Jobs and Willie Brown allies like lawyer Jim Sutton) should be forced to reveal their membership, key directors, source of funds, and political alliances on all literature and phone calls – well before Election Day. The Urban Issue Project sent out a bunch of material attacking Gonzalez that was so inaccurate and misleading it could only be called lies – but nobody could tell from the printed literature and phone messages that this was a downtown-run group working with Newsom. In fact, it was hard even for reporters to figure out who was behind the front group – and the Newsom campaign wouldn't talk (go to dev.sfbg.com/election).

The next battle – to save district elections and protect the progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors – is already looming. The Newsom forces, win or lose, are going to continue to fight to undermine the progressive agenda, and after the mayor's race, the next big focus is the board. Gonzalez came out of the district system, and he clearly understands the importance of preserving a reform that makes it possible for underfunded candidates to win, the old-fashioned, grassroots way. His supporters – now a sizable army – need to keep that in mind, too.