By Steven T. Jones
The next Board of Supervisors race would appear to be only a faint blip on the horizon -- coming as it does after this year's mayor's race, the presidential primary a year from now, and the state primary fight in June '08 that will feature the Leno-Migden battle royale -- but contenders are already starting to position themselves. Nowhere is that happening quicker than in District 9, where Tom Ammiano will vacate his seat and try to smoothly hand it over to the man he considers his heir apparent, David Campos, who has been quietly lining up support all over town. Police reform advocates were happy to see Police Commissioner Campos hold out for a tougher early intervention system, a bold move that showed he's not as afraid of the Police Officers Association as too many pols are here in town. And Campos is likely to have the queer community solidly behind him. But the heart of Dist. 9 is in the Mission and Campos is likely to face a strong challenger from longtime Mission activist Eric Quezada, and maybe day laborer advocate Renee Saucedo, who ran against Ammiano last time. And from the more conservative side of the equation, Miguel Bustos will also likely throw his hat into the ring, although this is one of the city's most lefty districts. So, almost two years early, this is already looking like it's going to be a Campos-Quezada slugfest. Dontcha just love politics?

By Steven T. Jones
After an uncomfortable exchange with Mayor Gavin Newsom at the Project Homeless Connect event earlier in the day, Alex Tourk was out with friends (including a long list of prominent people, many still in Newsom's camp) at Finnegan's Wake last night celebrating his birthday and I happened to run into him. This guy's a class act, standing tall and trying to do what's right even after being so viciously betrayed by Newsom. We chatted a bit and he said that he appreciated how the Guardian has covered this episode. I asked how his job search was going and I emphasized my earlier published point that I hope he's taking his sweet time given the fact that Newsom is paying his high salary until he finds one. But rather than soaking Newsom, Tourk said he was actively looking for work and eager to sever ties with his former mentor. I had just come from a dinner party where it was only half-jokingly suggested that Tourk run for mayor and I passed that along. And you know what? I sensed a twinkle in his eye and an openness to the idea. Wouldn't that be something? Tourk was the guy who actually executed the things that Newsom will be claiming credit for this year, a genuine policy pro who has a sterling reputation and increasing name recognition to boot, not to mention the beautifully poetic narrative. If Jack Davis or any other political consultants are reading this, please, give Tourk a call.

By Tim Redmond

Good article in the Boston Phoenix on the fallout from the New Times-Village Voice merger. The basic point that writer Adam Reilly makes:

The core of the old New Times chain was Southwestern and Southern. And those regions of the country have a different political culture — more socially conservative, more reflexively anti-government — than coastal markets like Los Angeles and New York, or progressive Midwestern enclaves like the Twin Cities. “Phoenix, Denver, Miami — there’s something about the culture of those cities that’s similar,” says Robson. “There’s a frontier mentality that New Times’ libertarian nihilism matches up with.”

None of the old VVM papers fits this description, but New York fits it the least.

Considering that New Times (Now Village Voice Media) owns the SF Weekly and East Bay Express, the article is well worth a read.

By Steven T. Jones
Invoking the spirit of George Moscone and Harvey Milk "so that we may be worthy of their powerful legacy," Assembly member Mark Leno today announced his candidacy for the Senate seat now held by Carole Migden, setting off a high-profile fight between the two for the Democratic Party nomination next year. "Welcome to democracy in action. Welcome to people power," Leno told the large crowd that gathered under the warm noontime sun at Yerba Buena Gardens, adjacent to the Martin Luther King Memorial and Moscone Center, with its rooftop array of solar panels that Leno said he will work to bring to more buildings. MCing the event was Assessor Phil Ting, who introduced District Attorney Kamala Harris, who told the crowd, "I stand here in strong and unequivocal support for Mark Leno." Among the other local notables on hand to support Leno were Fiona Ma, Susan Leal, Laura Spanjian, Julian Davis, Kim-Shree Maufis, Hydra Mendoza, Norman Yee, Lawrence Wong, Donna Sachet, Theresa Sparks, James Hormel, Natalie Berg, Randy Shaw, Bob Twomey, Jose Medina, August Longo, Linda Richardson, Calvin Welch, Jordanna Thigpen, Leah Shahum, Tom Radulovich, Melissa Dodd, David Wall, Tim Gaskin, Esperanza Macias, and Espanola Jackson. Notably absent were any members of the Board of Supervisors, but it's still very early in a campaign that is bound to get heated.

By Tim Redmond

Already, I'm hearing whistpers from both sides of the Leno-Migden contest, and already, they're getting nasty. Mark Leno told me this week that he will run an upbeat campaign, and that any negative attacks on Midgen "won't come from me." I suspect I will hear the same from Migden. But it's common in campaigns for elected officials to try to take the high road and let others -- their allies and suppoerters -- do the dirty work.

So queer/labor activist Robert Haaland is asking not only the candidates, but their supporters in the queer and progressive communities, to pledge to keep this fight out of the gutter. Here's a piece he sent me; I think everyone ought to read it, take it seriously, and sign on.

Our community was divided. Our LGBT clubs were separated. The streets of the Castro were full of opposing forces and consternation. During the 2001-2002 campaign for the 13th Assembly District seat, we were split and it was a difficult time.

By Tim Redmond

Isn't this special? All of these liberal politicians in San Francisco happily sucking up to the chief hired gun for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

For the record, Don Solem has made gobs of money over the years defeating public-power initiatives in San Francisco. That's not something I really want to celebrate.

By Tim Redmond

The shit is already flying in the Migden-Leno race. Check out this nice piece of sleaze attacking Mark Leno as "the Kiddie Porn King."

No kidding.

That's why Leno and Migden both have to tell their supporters to knock it off.

Tim Redmond

I'm glad to see the Mayor Newsom is looking into free bus service. It's a great idea, even if, as Leftinsfnotes, it's probably just a political ploy in an election year. And even if the Chron is already already trying to shoot it down.

When I first saw the headlines, I had one of those flashback moments; I realized that we'd already done this story, a long time ago. In fact, it was December, 1993 when the Guardian ran a cover story on the case for Free Muni. I dug it up from our archives; you can read it here.

Back then, the local economy was kind of a wreck, and beyond the environmental arguments, we wanted to make the case that eliminating bus fares would give the mostly working-class folks who ride the buses more moneny in their pockets, which would be a nice economic boost. The way to pay for it, of course, would be to tax downtown (making this a transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, one of my favorite things in the world).

I don't think Newsom is even looking at the economic arguments, but he should.

He also isn't calling for a downtown transit tax increase to pay for this, either -- but that's the way to do it. Put the whole thing on the ballot -- free Muni, paid for by, say, a $150 million annual assessment on downtown buildings. That might even win. Would Newsom support it?

By Steven T. Jones
How desperate is the pro-car crowd to kill Healthy Saturdays? Sources tell us that De Young Museum matriarch Dede Wilsey and other allies talked rookie Assembly member Fiona Ma into writing state legislation that would have required voter approval for creating car-free spaces in San Francisco parks, and that she was talked out of doing so by financier and backer Warren Hellman -- a supporter of Healthy Saturdays -- just before the Feb. 23 deadline for introducing bills. Contacted by the Guardian, Hellman confirmed the basic story, telling us, "We talked and she had an idea of proposing something, but I thought it was unnecessary.” He thinks the issue is likely to end up before voters either way, either through a referendum on the passage of Healthy Saturdays or a measure placed on the ballot by four supervisors if it fails. Ma's office refused to comment on whether she pursued legislation to prevent Healthy Saturdays -- which she opposed last year as a member of the Board of Supervisors -- and would say only, “I do not discuss private conversations with constituents in the media.”
Saturday closure is an emotion-packed issue for both sides, which may be why Newsom decided to announce his opposition fairly early, just to avoid the acrimony. But that left Sup. Bevan Dufty (who voted against it last year) as the swing vote and someone who admits that his phone has been ringing off the hook lately. But he's pledged to stay engaged and try to do the right thing: "I'm trying to stay refreshingly open on the issue of Healthy Saturdays and consider different viewpoints."

By Steven T. Jones
Good for Nancy Pelosi! It's great to see her finally get serious about ending this disastrous war and to start being a long overdue check on this out-of-control imperial presidency. Win or lose, it's the right thing to do and a move that makes me proud to be from San Francisco. And if Bush indeeds vetoes this thing, maybe she'll reconsider her opposition to impeachment. After all, the Constitution vests Congress with the power to start and end wars, not the president.

By Tim Redmond

Lotsa fun talk about the new editor at the Village Voice. That would be editor number five since the boys from Phoenix took the place over.

Apparently the new guy isn't so fond of literary language. But it looks like the boss likes him.

And these guys are having a good time with Mike Lacey's inability to spell the names of dead Soviet generals.

By Tim Redmond

I'm still waiting to hear something from Carole Migden about this truly offensive blog post by her former aide, Michael Colbruno.

For the record, this attack on Mark Leno started when right-wingers went after him for opposing Proposition 83. We opposed Prop. 83, too. So did San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey. So, I'm told by Migden's office, did Migden.

I left word for Migden two days ago. She ought ot come out and say that this is bullshit and that she won't have her supporters pulling this stuff. (And if any of Leno's people try to do the same kind os smear-stuff, I hope he smacks them down as well.)

By Tim Redmond

Or so says the person who took it.

Remember: I was given a print of the photo of Newsom in a pink kimono with alleged stalker Han Shin from someone who says he got if directly from Shin. I had no idea who took it. But the photographer just came forward and called me. I can't use his name, but here's the story he tells (and it rings true).

The photo was taken at Sup. Bevan Dufty's campaign kickoff. Newsom was there, wearing a Dufty t-shirt over his dress shirt. Han Shin showed up and presented Dufty with the kimono. Dufty tried it on, then Shin took it over to Newsom and draped it over the mayor's shoulders. Then Shin handed his little camera to a person on the scene -- the one who just called me -- and that person snapped the pic.

It wasn't a high-quality camera and there were lots of sources of light on the scene, which explans the weird shadow patterns.

For the record, the person who called me has a history in local politics and no reason to make this up.

By Steven T. Jones
steve@sfbg.com
Sources at the San Francisco Chronicle say that Editor Phil Bronstein and Hearst Corp. executives yesterday convened an hour-long emergency meeting at the paper to warn that more layoffs and other cost-cutting measures are on the way. They provided Chronicle staffers with few details, except to say that all temporary employees would be terminated at the end of the current pay period. Employees were simply told that the paper would be getting smaller and that more details on what that means would be coming in the near future.
Employee morale at the paper isn't high right now, with this new round of cutbacks following a major staff reduction in 2005 (done primary through optional buyouts), new labor union contracts approved last year that significantly eroded employee rights and essentially broke the Pressman's Union, an unseemly partnership between Hearst Corp. and competitor MediaNews, and the Chronicle's recent decision to include advertising on the front of its Bay Area section and occasionally even on its front page.
We'll have more on this unfolding story as it develops.

By Steven T. Jones
Omigod. Like, omigod. Where do I even begin to dissect the comments by Gavin girlfriend Jennifer Siebel in today's Chronicle Style section profile ? Let's start with the money quote: "the woman is the culprit," which she spoke in reference Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who had sexual relations with the mayor even though she was his employee and the wife of his right hand man. To be fair, maybe Siebel didn't realize that she is the first Newsom proxy to attack Rippey-Tourk in print, something many journalists and women's groups feared might happen in the election year. Because in reading this profile, she seems to be perfect for Newsom in several key ways: she's gullible, good-looking, well-born, and not terribly smart. But that isn't even the most interesting revelation in this article, which is that this relationship (which she claims is already "love" after six months) was arranged by Newsom's political advisors ("after running a background check, one of the mayor's staffers invited her") and the Wilsey family (who is leading the oppositon to Healthy Saturdays and has convinced Newsom to oppose it) just as the news of Newsom dating a 20-year-old hostess broke and when the Rippey-Tourk affair was heading in that direction.

By JB Powell

Tomorrow could be ‘show me the money’ day for the SF Port Commission. Commissioners there will vote on the Trans Bay Cable, a privately financed, $300 million power cord that would run underwater from Pittsburg. For weeks, staff members from the port as well as various other city agencies have been hammering out the details of a community benefits package with the cable’s developer, Australian financial firm, Babcock and Brown. The Guardian has obtained a staff report with details of the proposed benefits package. Several officials had already told us it was “significant” and they were right. If the deal goes through, the port will reap millions in rent and licensing fees, a needed cash-infusion for the strapped agency. The package also includes hefty sums for waterfront open space and, in perhaps the biggest news for the city, millions of dollars for the SF Public Utilities Commission. The SFPUC plans to use the funds to bankroll sustainable energy projects, including solar, wind, and tidal initiatives.
Why the largesse? Many of the cable’s shore-side facilities would be on port land. That means Babcock and Brown needs port commission approval before the project can move on to the last local regulatory step, the Board of Supervisors. If the cable goes through, it would plug the city’s electrical grid into 400 megawatts of power from plants in and around Pittsburg. But green power advocates claim the “59 mile extension cord” would be a “waste of resources.” Their biggest fear is that bringing all those relatively cheap megawatts into the city from fossil-fuel burning plants across the bay will derail the city’s plans to rely on more eco-friendly energy.
But the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) insists the city needs the cable or it will see blackouts in the future. Cal-ISO is the “public benefit corporation” in charge of the state’s grid. Sources in and around city hall have described the bind local leaders are in: they would rather look to greener power projects to solve the city’s energy needs, but electricity can be the third rail of California politics. Just ask Gray Davis. So, in an attempt to have their megawatts and eat them too, staff from the mayor’s office and several supervisors, as well as the port and SFPUC, pushed hard for the best “benefits package” they could get from the developer. It remains to be seen if the money for renewable energy projects will placate the activist community. Stay tuned to the Guardian for more coverage on the issue in the coming weeks.

By Steven T. Jones
As if Gavin girlfriend Jennifer Siebel's woman-blaming comments in the Sunday Chronicle weren't bad enough, you ought to check out her comment (assuming it is her, that is) to the SFist. It's downright batty, not to mention even more vicious in its attack on Ruby Rippey-Tourk. My favorite part: "i am not going to blindly support a woman who has cheated on her husband multiple times and watch while my boyfriend is the only one who gets punished..and, what, for something a long time ago when the man was going through a crises- divorce, the loss of his mother, the pressures of being mayor, etc. and he was vulnerable and lonely? and, what's your definition of affair? he's been so hurt by this all -- personally and professionally- and it was a few nothing incidents when she showed up passed out outside of his door. come on guys, have a heart. I have tried to see Ruby's side of the story but unfortunately everyone near to her has stories and says she is bad news."
Just think about the many, many implications of that one for a second. The mind reels.

By Tim Redmond

I really, really wish I didn't have to write about this. But here we go.

I've spent far too much of the past few days researching a 2006 bill by Mark Leno that has led a local blogger to dub him a "Kiddie Porn King." I now understand exactly where this came from, and I've talked to all sides, and I can fairly conclude that it's a stupid, vicious, shitty little allegation that doesn't belong in San Francisco politics.

The guy responsible for this is Michael Colbruno, a former aide to Migden who now works for Clear Channel Oudoor. I finaly got a comment from Migden's campaign today; spokesman Paul Hefner told me Migden "does not approve of this" and "wants her supporters to run a positive campaign." Which is nice, but I think she should go a step further: If the senator called Mr. Colbruno and told him to take that shit down, now, I suspect he'd comply.

Anyway, let me lay out the background here, since it’s a case study in how political smears are created.

By Tim Redmond

Carole Migden has finally done the right thing: She has requested Michael Colbruno take down his nasty posts about Mark Leno, and Colbruno just called to tell me he is going to do it.

So this is a victory for the collective efforts of many on the left to prevene mud-slinging, and let's hope we can keep things (somewhat) civil going forward.

By Steven T. Jones
Mayor Gavin Newsom is the culprit. He’s the elected official, the boss, the guardian of the public treasury, the guy asking for our continued trust, the only reason why anyone cares who Ruby Rippey-Tourk fucked.
Amid all the chatter about Newsom girlfriend Jennifer Siebel’s nasty comments about Rippey-Tourk, few people have keyed in to what strikes me as the most important revelation in all of this: Newsom appears to have lied when, upon admitting the affair, he proclaimed, “I am accountable for what has occurred.”
Newsom has proven himself anything but accountable since then. He has refused to answer questions about the incident or the alleged alcohol abuse treatment he’s chosen to seek, even as there have been new revelations about improper payoffs to Rippey-Tourk using public funds and ethical questions raised about his rehab.
Except for one softball television interview, Newsom has refused to field any questions on the subject from the public or media, acting like a wounded victim or a blind and deaf man whenever I or anyone else has tried to press the issue at public events (something we’re forced to do by Newsom’s refusal to hold regular press conferences). Absent that accountability, we’re left to sift through the tea leaves of his girlfriend’s extensive comments – which, it seems clear, are based on what Newsom has told her-- to learn how Newsom really feels about Rippey-Tourk and his own culpability in the affair.
In other words, this is closest thing we’ve seen to Newsom’s true feelings about what happened (an account that Newsom has yet to disavow, going on three days later). And the results are not pretty, revealing Newsom to be a dishonest and dishonorable cad who still doesn’t have a clue as to what he did wrong.

By Tim Redmond

Kim Knox at leftinsf has posted the minutes of the Community Advisory Committee looking for a new SF school superintendent. Mostly pretty predictable stuff -- except for a poll commissioned by a business group that has some really scary results:

To the question, is SF Unified School District going in the right direction or the wrong track:
Right Direction-22%
Wrong Track-54%

To the question, how well do you think SFUSD manage its funds:
Excellent 20%
Not So Good to Poor 53%

One leftinsf commenter, Nakayama, concluded:

What ignorance. Anybody keeping a close eye on our public schools in SF –whether parent, student or administrator–can readily see that the schools are much better now than they were five or 10 years ago.

Because very few San Franciscans have children, and they have no idea what is happening in our schools.

I agree with the first part -- I have a kid in the public schools, I'm really happy about his school (McKinley) and I think the public schools have improved dramatically in the past few years. But I don't think the misconception is entirely due to the fact that most people in SF don't have kids.

Let's remember: Of the two superintendents who have been in charge since the 1990s, one ran an administration riddled with corruption; the other, while a talented educator, was arrogant, vindictive and disdainful of the community. That sort of thing doesn't help with the perception of the district.

The second problem is that the district has spent a lot of money on a public-relations office whose chief job in the past has been to protect and promote the superintendent -- so not a lot of effort has gone into promoting the schools in general. That's changing now, under Acting Superintendent Gwen Chan, who seems to be doing a great job so far -- and with a little effort, SFUSD could (and should) organize a major advertising and public-relations campaign to promote the quality and importance of public education in the city. That would help a lot.

Because those numbers really suck. And we all have to work to change them.

By Sarah Phelan
You gotta give it up to snarky SFist for snagging the longest comment thread on any -ist site around the world (take that, London, Paris, Rome!).
This achievement occurred as part of the ongoing eruptions around the comments that Mayor Gavin Newsom's girlfriend, Jennifer Siebel, made after she labeled Ruby Rippey Tourk as "the culprit" in the Chronicle. (Last time, we checked, the comments were up to 429 and people were still posting.)
You also gotta give it up to Jennifer Siebel for opening the gates on what was clearly a repressed longing in this city to find out and vent about a) WTF happened between the Mayor and Ruby, b)why and c) on whose dime.
All with JS starring as a pleasant-to-look-at, bee-saving punch bag who is pitted against Gavin's former flame, Ruby, thereby creating a cyber cat fight, in which the Mayor comes out looking like a royal jerk.So, as the mayor winds up his trip in NYC, you can imagine how cranky his PR machine is sounding:
"Best to say nothing, Gav."
"But if I don't, people will think that what Jen said is what I said."
"Well, wasn't it?"
"And that makes me look blamey and pathetic."
"Er..."
"And If I say nothing it looks as if I'm hanging Jen out to dry."
"Er..."
"So what am I gonna say?"
See the problem? Especially if the mayor is gonna stay true to his promise to be honest and sober etc.
Maybe the Mayor and JS should model "SFist is the Culprit" T-shirts. As should all you folks who spent the last few days posting/reading at SFist instead of spinning your hamster wheels at work. (What, moi?)

by Sarah Phelan

In case you missed it, March 14 was International Day of Action for Rivers, those beautiful silvery slivers of water that feed salmon fingerlings into the world wide mobius of oceans, then draw the adult salmon back to the headwaters where they were spawned, like pods beamed back up to the mother ship.

Only in the case of salmon, who jump six feet on average, returning is impossible if there’s a big fat dam in their way.

Such is the case on the Klamath River in Oregon. Once the third most productive salmon fishery in America, the river is encumbered by four power dams, which were built 80 years ago, average 84 ft in height and stand between the threatened salmon and over 350 miles of historic spawning grounds.

By Sarah Phelan

Nothing draws attention to the beauty of an oak tree better than a bunch of nudes draped across its naked branches, their soft curves pressed into the tree’s whorly bark. And trees are, to quote famed nature photographer Jack Gescheidt, “a beautiful miracle that provides shade but that we take for granted.”

Famous for his portraits of nudes
on and among trees, Gescheidt has decided to step into the midst of the debacle surrounding the threatened Memorial Oak Grove at UC Berkeley by taking a photograph using a bunch of nude volunteer models. And by bunch, he means hundreds and hundreds of people.

“I can accommodate 400 to 500 people,” says Gescheidt, noting that this is the first time he’s had advance press for a nude photo, but this time it’s inevitable since this in an existing situation full of tree sitters, university officials, athletes and of course, the trees.

“The trees will help remind me to stay grounded, that there is no rush, and that this is an opportunity for meditation,” says Gescheidt. “I’m a simple guy, but the reason I’m getting involved is that it’s clear there is an alternative to cutting the trees down.”

Save the Oaks organizer Doug Buckwald says people are staying in the trees, even though there is a temporary injunction against removing the trees, “because UC Berkeley has announced that it still plans to cut down the trees and build a stadium.”

“They must have sat in a room and said, what’s the one thing we could do to anger everyone in Berkeley,” says Buckwald of the decision to cut down this grove of 38 mature coast live oaks, which is home to countless squirrels, birds and insects, and frequented by a “wonderfully playful pair of red foxes.”

As for UC Berkeley 3 for I promise to plant three trees for every one axed, Buckwald is unimpressed.

There is no comparison between young sapling s with about 100 leaves and mature trees with 10,000 to 100,000 leaves,” he says. ‘What matters is biomess, which creates more niches and more space for organisms. If you cut down a wonderful old tree, there’s no way you can replace that by planting 3 saplings, or even 10 for that matter, since they take 80-200 years to grow.”

To take part in Gesheidt’s naked photo, meet at the Memorial Oak Grove at 8:30 am.
For instructions to the Grove
go to www. savetheoaks.com and click on the “Find the Grove” button.