Thugs and bullies

Don Fisher, the Republican chair of the Gap whose family is well ensconced in the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans with a combined fortune in the $4 billion range, has been trying to squeeze another $57,000 out of Sup. Gerardo Sandoval, whose crime was to support a limited ban on chain stores.

It's a long and perverse story, but the short version goes like this: Fisher demanded that Sandoval oppose a bill limiting chain stores in some neighborhoods. When the supervisor voted for the bill, Fisher and his pals ran a series of vicious – and anonymous – attack ads against Sandoval in the 2004 election. Sandoval went to court to try to block the attacks (on the grounds that the fliers should have told voters who was paying for them) and, in the end, a judge granted him an injunction.

But Fisher and political consultant Duane Baughman, who were apparently behind the campaign, wouldn't let it rest, even after the election. They filed a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion against Sandoval, and won an entirely inappropriate judgment (see "Vicious Politics," 6/29/05). Then they went after $150,000 in legal fees – and even after Sandoval reached a settlement and agreed to fork over a huge chunk of money, they want more. Fisher and his lawyer, Jim Sutton, were in court last week asking for another payday.

We're not going to defend everything Sandoval has done. It may have even been a mistake to go to court over the campaign mailers; these things normally don't belong in the legal system. But enough is enough. Sandoval, who has a young child, has coughed up virtually all of his personal assets and is essentially broke. The only thing the downtown boys can do now is try to garnish his wages or take his house. And we can't possibly see how anyone could argue that Fisher needs the money.

The judge, Curtis Karnow, seemed to take a rather dim view of this latest attempt to do personal damage to a politician who dared challenge a downtown powerhouse. But late in the day Dec. 2, he ruled that Sandoval must pay $30,000.

That's outrageous – and Sandoval can't even appeal, because every time he tries to fight these guys, they try to hit him for additional legal fees.

But as we've said in the past, this is more than a legal battle. Put simply, Fisher and Sutton are bullies who have been using dubious legal and political tactics for years to try to push around people who don't buy their big-business-first machine-style politics. And yet, somehow, they are still considered politically acceptable company: Mayor Gavin Newsom uses Sutton as a campaign lawyer. Fisher is part of the social and political party circuit and a contributor to numerous local campaigns. They're poisoning local politics, and nobody seems to care.

This latest outrage ought to be the end of it. Newsom, who loves to talk about decency and respect in politics (and who is helping promote a "buy local" campaign that seeks to help small businesses that are besieged by chain stores like the Gap), ought to publicly denounce what Fisher and Sutton are doing, and tell them both that if they want to be jerks, bullies, and thugs, they won't be welcome in this city anymore.