HOW DO YOU keep a voter in suspense? In San Francisco political circles, excitement about the city's trailblazing foray into ranked-choice voting has been tempered by having to wait weeks for the results. The city's ever cautious elections director, John Arntz, planned to announce only first-place votes on election night but then wait until he had canvassed all the absentee and provisional ballots before processing the second- and third-choice votes and figuring out who won the Board of Supervisors races.

When the Bay Guardian recently threatened to use the Sunshine Ordinance to obtain the full data set on election night – planning to do the math and make projections of winners ourselves – Arntz began to have a change of heart. And after a few exchanges, Arntz finally told us he would run the formula and tentatively project the winners by 4 p.m. the next day, Nov. 3.

"Results can change in a close race even without ranked-choice voting," the newly reasonable election czar reasoned, explaining that there's nothing wrong with running the ranked-choice algorithm a few times before it's final.

So for those of you out there who share our lack of patience ... you're welcome. (Steven T. Jones)

Befriending the friend of our enemy Sup. Jake McGoldrick has filed a complaint with the San Francisco Ethics Commission charging SFSOS, the downtown-backed lobbying group, with violating state and local campaign laws by directly advocating for McGoldrick's defeat and the election of challenger Lillian Sing. That's a political move in a heated campaign, and the commission may or may not do anything with it.

But the really fascinating story here is a breakdown the McGoldrick campaign provided of the contributors to SFSOS, which backed Mayor Gavin Newsom and is playing a role in several contested local races.

According to the breakdown (and we haven't independently checked it, but we have no reason to doubt its veracity), 11 of the top donors to SFSOS also gave substantial chunks of money to President George W. Bush's reelection campaign and to other right-wing GOP candidates. Some, like GAP founder Don Fisher and discount brokerage mogul Charles Schwab, were huge Bush donors: Schwab gave $50,000 to SFSOS and $1.3 million to Republicans, including Bush, antigay bigot Rick Santorum, Pete Coors, and Bill Frist. Fisher put up $25,000 for the local group and gave $377,650 to GOP candidates.

We've posted the entire spreadsheet here. (Tim Redmond)

Only in District Five And the award for most entertaining endorsement interview goes to Jim Siegel, the political moderate once rumored to be courting downtown support in his bid to succeed progressive icon Matt Gonzalez on the Board of Supervisors.

Sensing his hopes for the Bay Guardian endorsement were slim, and eager to, as he put it, "commit political suicide," Siegel tore up his stump speech and went for broke, offering a rambling, tell-all interview that would have brought Barbara Walters to tears.

For starters, Siegel brought Scott Bogart, a 52-year-old homeless man who hangs out near Siegel's Distractions store on Haight Street, to the interview and used his luckless story to bash Newsom's homeless initiative, Care Not Cash, which Siegel had supported but now says isn't working.

As Bogart fidgeted, mumbled, and made strange hand gestures in the air, Siegel chronicled his history as a "political butt-kisser" – standing for the Pledge of Allegiance with Republicans, tweaking his position on rent control for the Board of Realtors, and acting the part of a good Democrat, all for endorsements – before taking us down memory lane through the '70s and '80s, when everyone was still doing coke and turning tricks and the anarchists burned down Jim Brennan's drugstore. (You had to be there. No, really. He even brought photos and a newspaper clipping about the blaze.)

Now, we're no experts in the art of getting elected, but we can appreciate that Siegel faces an uphill battle in the District Five race. Whatever happens, at least we can say Siegel gives one hell of an interview, and he's got good instincts. Campaign manager Barbara Meskunas warned him against sitting for the Bay Guardian interview, but he made the right choice. Come back anytime, Jim, you're always welcome at the Bay Guardian. (Matthew Hirsch)

And now, the Anatole France award for insightful social commentary Perhaps the most amazing statement of this campaign season – and there have been a lot of amazing statements – came from Rose Tsai, who is running for supervisor in District One. Tsai is not your typical nutcase fringe candidate; she has a real base and some credible support and could well be a factor in the election. She's an intelligent, articulate woman.

So we were, well, startled by her comments on same-sex marriage. A verbatim (although slightly edited for length) transcript follows:

Bay Guardian: In one of your flyers, you talk about "traditional families." Is that a subtle comment on same-sex marriage?

Rose Tsai: It's not subtle. I've been very straightforward and honest about my beliefs.... I'm a Christian. I'm Chinese, OK? It's very much ingrained in my upbringing.

BG: So you're against same-sex marriage?

RT: Yes, I am.

BG: How on Earth can a Christian, someone who believes in traditional families and supports conservative values, be against someone getting married? Don't you want people to get married?

RT: I want people of the opposite sex to get married.... It's very much a part of my religion.

BG: Do you think homosexuality is a moral failure?

RT: I think ... according to the Bible, it's a sin.... I don't view somebody because they are gay or bisexual as any less than my family. They are all God's children.

BG: You just want them to have fewer rights, though.

RT: I don't think so. I think they can still marry people of the opposite sex.

Yes, Rose. As Anatole France told us, the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges. (Redmond)

Yes, your Honor, it does look awful We took a quick drive around the Richmond District last week and counted at least a dozen campaign signs for retired judge and District One supervisorial candidate Lillian Sing that flagrantly violated the city ordinance regulating political posters.

There were signs nailed to utility polls. There were signs attached to historic lighting fixtures. There were signs along a state highway. There were signs interfering with the view of a stop sign. There was even a sign in Golden Gate Park. In fact, it looked at if the Sing campaign had systematically violated just about every single provision in Public Works Code Section 5.6.

So we called Her Honor and asked what was up. "An overly enthusiastic volunteer put them up," she told us. "My campaign manager has spent the whole day taking them all down. We have given this our top priority, so please give me a break here, OK?"

Sure, and everyone makes mistakes. But this is a well-funded, sophisticated campaign involving one of the city's most experienced political consultants, Eric Jaye. Wouldn't it look bad if the public got the impression that a judge can't even get her own staff to follow the law?

"That," Sing told us, "would be really awful." (Redmond)

Yes, well, we guess that makes sense The mystery of the odd truck signs (Trail Mix, 9/8/04) has been solved. The person who is supporting both Renee Saucedo and Greg Corrales is the one and only Cesar Ascarrunz, nightclub owner, civic gadfly, and several-times mayoral candidate, who told us, "That truck is Cesar's truck. We have to go against the machine. You and I are on the same team."

We're still not quite clear which team that is. (Redmond)