By Sarah Phelan

TGIF: Tim Griffin Is Former

I like to check news outlets on Fridays, because that's when further installments in the Bush Scandals tend to hit.
This Friday's installment is the resignation of Tim Griffin, the ex-aide to Rove who was shoehorned into the US Attorney's Office, following the firing of Bud Cummins. Today, Griffin says he's leaving his position as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas "to pursue opportunities in the private sector".
Maybe the Bushies believe they can appease folks by removing "a few bad apples," Abu Ghraib style. But by now the American public must have cottoned on to the fact that the Bush rot runs all the way through the barrel. Right?

By Sarah Phelan

Just in case any one thinks Paul "We Are the World Bank" Wolfowitz replacement Robert Zoellick ain't that bad, check out his campaign contributions record: aside from backing Sen. John McCain in 2007, and GW Bush in 2004 and 2000, Zoellick's had his money on James Demint, James Kolbe, Mel Martinez, Katherine Harris, Rick Lazio, Robert Portman, Bill Frist. Oh, and let us not forget Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici, both of whom appear to have had a hand in the, TGIF, US attorneys firing scandal.

By Tim Redmond

I had high hopes that Chris Daly's progressive convention would force one of the reluctant candidates (Matt Gonzalez, Ross Mirkarimi, Aaron Peskin) to come forward an announce a campaign for mayor, but that doesn't seem to be happening. And now, according to BeyondChron, Daly is saying the convention may close with nobody formally seeking or getting the nod.

Which is fine -- and right now, is probably the best outcome. Yeah, Daly more or less promised a candidate, and yeah, he could still deliver by announcing that's he's going to run himself, but I'm not sure that's the best strategy for anyone involved at this point.

There's still a chance that Gonzalez will run (although he's not ready to announce yet). We may have to wait longer than we wanted for a contender. But right now, I'd rather wait than than try to make a statement for the purpose of making a statement.

The convention will be a great opportunity to talk about the race. It's still a good idea. If it doesn't turn out the way Daly or anyone else planned, such is life on the San Francisco left, where nothing ever turns out the way you expect.

by Amanda Witherell

That's the only explanation I can come up with. They love me. They're fascinated by everything I write about them and they're dying to get to know me better. That must be it.

Or at least that's what it seemed like the other night at this little shindig I went to at the Monte Cristo Cafe down at the Embarcadero. It was the Spring Banquet for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which would be an otherwise snooze for someone like me who knows and cares little about the intricacies of engineering. But the entertainment for the evening was a discussion on the "renaissance of nuclear power," about which I just wrote a story. The pro-nukes speaker was Jasmina Vujic, a prof in UC Berkeley's Nuclear Engineering program, which totally gets money from PG&E. The anti-nuke voice was Dan Hirsch from Committee to Bridge the Gap, which wins the award for Best Non-Profit Name, "Intrigue" category.

Now, when I RSVPed for the event, I noticed the contact had a PG&E email address, but I was undaunted even though they just turned down my request for a tour of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant because I didn't have a "clear business need." (What business needs do qualify? I asked in several emails and phone calls. Response still pending.)

By Tim Redmond

Late this afternoon, I'm hearing rumblings that Ross Mirkarimi is, indeed, reconsidering his options and might possibly be considering a mayor run, after all. Maybe he'll show up at the convention tomorrow and announce. I'm only talking rumors here; I can't reach Mirkarimi himself, and he has come pretty close to ruling himself out in the past few weeks. It would be a big change of mind.

I think I've made it pretty clear that Ross would be one of my top choices for mayor. But if he doesn't run, and Chris Daly does, well ... my previous blog item notwithstanding (as the lawyers say), I want to go out on a limb here and point out some of the positive things that could come out of that campaign.

Just off the top of my head:

1. It sure would be lively. Daly's a fighter; he has a temper and sometimes says things (and does things) that are a bit impolitic, but he wouldn't back down and wouldn't give Newsom even a little break.

2. He's good on all the issues. Daly's a real left-progressive, and (unlike Newsom) he actually cares about, and talks about, and works on, issues of poverty, inequality and injustice.

3. He's a Democrat, which means Democratic party loyalists like Carole Migden wouldn't be able to duck the race or side with Newsom on the basis of party affiliation. Migden might even endorse him.

4. In fact, a lot of people who try to walk a middle line and still be called progresisves would have to make a bright-line choice here. Daly v. Newsom; it don't get much more basic than that.

5. Daly complains all the time that he hates being a politician, but the truth is, he has a future in this town. He's young and bright and will be a serious candidate for higher office in the future. A good run in the mayor's race this year could set him up for future campaigns.

6. Just imagine if he won.

Run, Ross, Run

By Tim Redmond

No, we didn't walk away with a candidate for mayor, and yes, that was disappointing to a lot of us. I actually thought for a brief moment that the chants of "Run Ross Run" as Sup. Mirkarimi took the stage late in the day would make a difference, that he would realize he has a constituency and that running for mayor would be a good move for him politically, but that didn't happen. After a strong speech proclaiming that "somebody" has to take on Gavin Newsom, Mirkarimi made clear that it wasn't going to be him.

And Chris Daly, who had at one point said that he would run if noboby else did, bowed to the reality of the fact that he has a young child and another on the way, and took a pass.

But overall, the convention was uplifting, inspiring and productive. Whatever the daily papers may say, Daly made the right point at the end: The state of the progressive moment in San Francisco is strong. Progressives control the Board of Supervisors, the School Board, and a number of other top positions; half of the elected officials in San Francisco now put themselves under the progressive banner, Daly noted.

And the green and blue baloons and beads represented what could be a very hopeful future trand -- the left wing of the Democratic party and the Green party, working together on what is for most a shared aganda.

We ought to do this sort of thing more often.

A few great moments:

By Sarah Phelan

Everyone knows Ed Jew has a flower shop in Chinatown--the FBI raided it in May--but did you know that he stopped tree plantings in the Sunset District, which may or may not be where the District 4 supervisor lives?
Guardian photo of Ed Jew by Charles Russo

Ed Jew got back from China on Sunday, and while he is recovering from jet lag, word is spreading of a June column he wrote in the Sunset Beacon, in which he claims his family "now" live on 28th Avenue in a house owned by his father, and the Burlingame home is just a place his wife's family gather on weekends and holidays.
While the CIty Attorney figures out whether Jew's definition of "now" passes muster with City residency code, it's worth pursuing back issues of the Sunset Beacon for insights into Jew's views on, well, trees.

By Steven T. Jones
Mayor Gavin Newsom may be content with a "back to basics budget" that focuses on clearing the streets of trash, potholes, and poor people, but progressives are preparing to push for a more forward-thinking plan that addresses low-income housing and other long-term needs. Supervisors Chris Daly and Tom Ammiano (both of whom sit on the Budget Committee) today introduced a measure to restore some of Newsom's proposed cuts to health services and the $33 million in board-approved affordable housing spending that Newsom blocked last month. Daly put out a statement today saying, “When Gavin Newsom claimed he couldn’t build affordable housing, because the City didn’t have the money, he was lying to the people of San Francisco. The money is available. It is only a matter of priorities.”

Image from www.onerinconhill.com
San Francisco has built lots of million-dollar condos on Newsom's watch, but almost no affordable housing, a situation that threatens the city's socioeconomic makeup.

by Amanda Witherell

The best part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech today in front of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce came after the closing remarks when everyone was leaving and the guy sitting next to me said, "Did he even say anything about energy?" Good question, given that we were seated in the inner sanctum of PG&E's 77 Beale Street corporate headquarters. Why are we here?

"They've been a great partner to our administration," said Schwarzenegger, when he thanked the utility company for the digs, which were pretty bland considering some of the other Chamber of Commerce members probably could have proffered something flashier.

Ah, yes. The partnerships -- that's what they like to call it in PRC terms (not "politically correct," but "public relations correct,") which is something the guv thinks he excels at. "I've been very well-trained because I sleep with a Democrat," he joked after his introduction from Willie Brown, which lauded his ability to chum around with the Dems.

Consultant Johnny K. Wang

By Steven T. Jones
The political consultant handling the recall campaign against Sup. Jake McGoldrick, Johnny K. Wang's JKW Consulting, has a client list that is raising questions about the real motives behind bumping off McGoldrick. For starters, there's the reelection campaign of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who would get to appoint the replacement. Then there's Google and Earthlink, which Newsom wants to contract with to provide free wireless Internet service to city residents, a deal that McGoldrick has taken the lead in scrutinizing. Finally, there's a pair of malevolent downtown players, Citizens for Reform Leadership (an attack group created by Newsom moneyman Jim Sutton) and the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group (which represented the big downtown hotels that locked out their workers instead of bargaining with them in good faith). And this is the campaign about which co-chair Keith Wilson said, "This is not being funded by downtown money, this is a grassroots indigenous effort." Sure, an effort that just happens to dovetail perfectly with downtown interests.

by Sarah Kai Acker
A contentious battle—and an endless hearing—came to a possible close last night as the lawyer for Club Six and the lawyer for the disgruntled residents of the Lawrence Hotel atop the club compromised on a 120-day probation.

For the low-income Lawrence Hotel tenants, this means that if Club Six violates the decibel cap set by the city (it’s 88.1 decibels, for any audio geeks wondering) and if the vibrations from the bass thump their rooms, Club Six will be considered in violation of their probation. Then another hearing (promised to be short) will be held that will likely lead to the threatened 30-day suspension.

A suspension that long could put the club out of business and would create a financial hardship for the 50+ people employed there, many who are struggling financially themselves. For Club Six’s owner Angel Cruz, this means he has a grace period to perfect the soundproofing.

“We’re close, we’re so close,” Cruz told the Guardian. “A lot of [soundproofing the building] is trial and error. There’s no clear cut science.”

By Ross Moody
Protesters converged outside the Burton Federal Building in downtown San Francisco yesterday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Arab-Israeli 6-Day War, targeting their message to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whose district office is inside. The pro-Palestinian group was confronted by another group that supports Israel, and the ensuing ruckus led to both groups getting kicked off the property.

Photo courtesy of 60/40 Campaign

by Sarah Phelan

Photo by Sarah Phelan

My son is among the 800 National Guard members deploying to Iraq this summer, which is why I was at Camp Roberts, near Paso Robles, yesterday afternoon, attending the Family Farewell Celebration.
The scene was as representative of California as any I've seen: Brown, black, yellow, and white families, mostly of modest means, judging from the absence of flash cars and flash clothing, and the abundance of baby strollers.
I can't speak for the other families, but I was biting my lip, trying to hold back the tears and praying to a god I don't even believe in, as 800 young, and not so young, men marched in formation as part of the farewell ceremony.
There were generals and brigadiers making speeches--encouraging the troops to respect everyone "including the enemy," acknowledging that they are heading for a tough situation, and advising them how best to come back safe and sound from Iraq.
But there weren't any elected representatives, except for the Mayor of Santa Maria and an aide from the office of congress member Dennis Cardoza. I found this absence of elected officialdom a tad surprising, given that this is the biggest deployment of the Guard since the Korean War. But then again, perhaps they were all in their home districts, trying to explain to their constituents why the heck the US is still in Iraq.

By Sarah Phelan
What kind of flower store owner doesn't have a water account? Ed Jew, that's who.

When Ed Jew's water consumption first became an issue at the end of May, I asked the SFPUC for records for both his house in the Sunset District and his flower shop in Chinatown. I did so, because I interviewed Jew at his flower shop shortly after he won the November 2006 District and had ended up wondering by the end of the interview, if he was more deeply connected to Chinatown, which is the district of Board Chair Aaron Peskin, than the Sunset.
But when the PUC sent the records, they showed that there is no water account for Jew's flower shop at 118 Waverly Place. This revelation came as a bit of a surprise. Don't flowers need water, unless, of course, Jew is specializing in drought-tolerant plants? But wait, Jew said his favorite flower was the albatross chrysanthemum which looks to be one heckuva greedy water-guzzler .

And didn't Jew's wife Lisa make me a cup of tea at the store, when I visited? In which case, was she using bottled water, or what? The answer to those question began to crystallize when I read Jew's claims, in today's papers, that he "often showers at his flower shop before dressing for work." How could that be possible, unless he too is using bottled water, or the neighbor's hose, perhaps.
Turns out Jew owns the building next to the flower shop, a building that contains 9 residential units, and so it's not entirely impossible that he could be drawing water from that building. But should he be paying commercial rates?Apparently not, if the majority of the building he owns next to the flower shop is being put to residential use.
Either way, the question of whether Jew actually lives in the Sunset remains unresolved. Jew claims he leaves his house on 28th Avenue very early and does not return home until very late-- a statement that does not address the question of whether he was living at the house 30 days before filing paperwork to become a D4 supervisorial candidate. With the City Attorney undecided, and the feds still mum about the legality of the $40,000 bubble store payment, Jew's fate on two legal fronts remains undecided--and interest in all his properties and activities grows.

By Steven T. Jones
Mayor Gavin Newsom -- or at least his reelection campaign -- appears to have finally woken up from two years of relative disengagement with city business to come out swinging at his favorite target, Sup. Chris Daly, who chairs the Budget Committee. The awakening began last week when Newsom responded to Daly's proposal to tinker with his budget by tartly labeling the move the "worst kind of election-year politics and terrible public policy." That opening salvo was ramped up today by calls to arms by the Newsom campaign and his favorite press minion. At issue is a legitimate, significant difference in policy priorities: should the city be putting more resources into the Police Department and street cleaning and repair, as Newsom proposed, or programs to create more affordable housing and stave off health care cuts, as Daly wants.

Budget hearings are designed to sort through these very choices, but the atmosphere has now been poisoned by election year politics and the nasty deceptions that can bring out.

by Amanda Witherell

It's taken awhile, but Congress is finally moving toward federal legislation that would combat global warming in concert with the 2007 Energy Bill. The first of possible options was introduced today by New Mexico's Senator Jeff Bingaman, and calls for all states to generate or purchase 15 percent of their power from renewable sources. That's almost as good as what California already does, but definitely an improvement for the 26 states that don't have such a mandate.

However, Binagaman's Republican statesman, Pete Domenici is already trying to kick the knees out of the bill with an amendment to allow more nuclear power plants and so far unproven carbon capture sequestration technology to be permitted to meet that goal.

The Union of Concerned Scientists already has a "write your rep" campaign going...if you don't think it'll matter, remember all those border fanatics that stalled the immigration bill last week.

You can make a diff, too.

By Steven T. Jones
District Attorney Kamala Harris has filed nine felony charges against Sup. Ed Jew. A release from that office indicates that Jew is being charged with perjury, falsifying government documents, and voter fraud, all related to his allegedly false claims to be a San Francisco resident (voting and running for office here) when he listed Burlingame as his primary residence of federal tax forms.
A warrant has been issued for Jew's arrest and bail has been set at $135,000. This will likely remove Jew from office even before we get word from the FBI about whether they will recommend criminal charges for the raid on his office last month in which they reportedly recovered $40,000 cash that Jew had requested from a constituent with regulatory issues.
Harris press release follows:

by Amanda Witherell

Yesterday the Board of Supes overwhelmingly endorsed the Community Choice Aggregation public power plan with a 10-1 vote. Ed Jew dissented...maybe one of his last nays. Michaela Alioto-Pier cast a "no" on the second vote for the governance structure, but that 9-2 tally is still veto-proof. Alioto-Pier wanted to tweak some language as well, which is being done and there will be another wee vote next week on it, but nothing suggests support will flag over the coming days.

Photo by Charles Russo

By Steven T. Jones
Why can’t all of Ed Jew’s persecutors just get along? And who is going to finally force the hopelessly tarnished supervisor from office: City Attorney Dennis Herrera, District Attorney Kamala Harris, Attorney General Jerry Brown, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mayor Gavin Newsom, the Ethics Commission, or the Board of Supervisors? Those are just a couple of the many questions that I’ve been seeking answers to over the last few days as I interviewed people close to the case and read the relevant documents, including the voluminous criminal complaint.

What I’ve discovered is that while Harris may have leapfrogged past Herrera (whose deadline for Jew to comply with his requests for information and an interview is tomorrow) and the feds into the lead role, it’s an open question whether her criminal case will convince a jury to convict on most counts, and if there is a conviction, whether Jew will still be a sitting supervisor by then.

By Steven T. Jones
I've been sitting on this tip/rumor for a week and I'm increasingly led to believe it's true -- plus, I mentioned it last night on the City Desk NewsHour television show -- so I'm just going to throw it out there: we hear that the Mayor's Office is considering a plan to replace Sup. Ed Jew with Assessor Phil Ting, then move Sup. Gerardo Sandoval into the Assessor's post and appoint an ally into Sandoval's Dist. 11 seat. The move -- reminiscent of his triple play that put Sean Elsbernd on the board -- would break away a semi-regular progressive vote and give the mayor an additional vote on the board.
I've contacted all the principals and only heard back so far from a representative for Ting, who told me, "He has not been talking to the mayor about this." But his name continues to be dropped in the Chronicle and elsewhere as a possible Jew replacement. Sandoval hasn't returned my calls or e-mails, which seems fishy, and he ran for the job last time so it's clear that he wants it.
I'll add comments to this post as I hear back from the mayor's office or otherwise get more information. And if you have any additional info or speculation who Newsom would appoint to the D11 seat, please post as well.

By Sarah Phelan

Things do not look good for beleagured Sup. Ed Jew. Today. City Attorney Dennis Herrera announced that the evidence against the rookie supervisor is "overwhelming," as he waved a thick wad of documents at the running dogs of the media, during a filled-to-bursting press conference. These documents, said Herrera, establish that Jew did not lawfully seek or hold office, and therefore his office is actively seeking his removal.
Herrera made this announcements after four weeks of investigations that included interviews with three dozen neighbors who saw no signs that Jew was living at his Sunset District residence, either 30 days before Jew filed to run in the District 4 2006 election, or anytime thereafter up until the FBI raid in May, plus a compilation by the City Attorney's office of utility, phone and tax records that underscore Jew's almost complete absence from his D4 property.

By G.W. Schulz

UPDATE! I failed to include a date for the protest first time around. It will be this Tuesday, June 26.

Employees of the embattled San Jose Mercury News announced earlier today that they intended to picket the newspaper over expected job cuts at the peninsula daily.

The jobs of 30 ad-production workers will immediately be affected, and editorial and composing room employees were already facing planned cuts.

The paper also announced today that it would be getting rid of its Perspective section, which appears on Sundays, due to “relatively low readership.” We reported recently that the Chronicle has been considering a similar cut to its Insight section, from which longtime editor Jim Finefrock was recently let go.

Production-side employees from the Merc represented by the Northern California Media Workers Union planned a protest for today stating in a press release that the cuts would only help to expand the newspaper empire of William "Lean" Dean Singleton, head honcho for MediaNews Group, which leads a consortium of newspaper companies that owns the Merc along with just about every other major daily in the Bay Area save for the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Merc’s union complained that some MediaNews Group positions had already been outsourced to India from Contra Costa County and Pleasanton.

By G.W. Schulz

UPDATE! Here's an SB 1019 alert from the Northern California ACLU.

Have you caught up with this week’s lurid law-enforcement story involving an SFPD officer facing criminal charges in the East Bay for sleeping with a 14-year-old prostitute? Scaaaaaaandalous.

If formal criminal charges had never been brought against the 37-year department veteran and he merely faced internal disciplinary proceedings for having sex with an underage girl in his car, there’s a chance you never would have learned about it. The state Supreme Court in a now-infamous decision handed down last year blocked the public from being able to access police disciplinary records.

If police hadn’t discovered the two in Sgt. Donald Forte's civilian car at the dead end of an East Oakland street and the lewd act had simply been reported by a colleague internally, how else could the public have ever learned that a police officer had allegedly committed statutory rape?

Outside of a possible leak, the public may never have known a thing.

Two stories we published this week were also affected by that Supreme Court decision. Our story on three sheriff’s deputies in San Francisco accused in federal court by former county-jail inmates of assaulting them was limited in part because some personnel records generated in the case were designated confidential by a judge, so we couldn’t look at them.

Mack Woodfox alleges he was beat while in custody

By G.W. Schulz

Well, it's not the 60 or so jobs former San Mateo County Times editor John Bowman said were pending, but it's still a big hunk of the Merc's newsroom. And no one can argue this will mean more news. In fact, considering reporters are asked everyday to do more with the Web (like a quick online story plus their full-length for the deadwood edition) those surviving cuts at the dailies should be getting a little pissed off by now.

On the other hand, they're probably just grateful to still have jobs. Wonderful way to keep the rank-and-file in line. Merc reporter Pete Carey corrects our earlier numbers, too, explaining that 15 people were laid off from the paper in December while more than 50 people were bought out before the most recent round of cuts was announced. (Buyouts aren't a dreamy alternative to layoffs, by the way, no matter how management prefers to characterize them.)

By G.W. Schulz

During a conversation we had recently with a certain interview subject regarding layoffs at the Chron, this person was sure to correct us by distinguishing between actual “layoffs” and “buyouts.” Well, sure, buyouts might taste slightly better, but they’re both still poison for your career. Just ‘cause management prefers to call them something else doesn’t make “downsizing” settle any easier.

More announced departures at the Chron, by the way, if that’s the description you’d prefer. A foreign and national correspondent named Anna Badkhen who reported from Iraq, Kashmir, Chechnya and New Orleans after Katrina is leaving for the Boston Globe. She was also a one-time Moscow bureau chief for the Chron. Romenesko picked up a memo from the Globe on the move.

Another familiar byline, Patrick Hoge, is leaving after nearly 20 years at the Chron. He wrote regularly about homelessness, health care and mental illness. Reporter Glen Martin, also with the Chron for nearly 20 years, is leaving as well.

Meanwhile, as we noted earlier, the Merc has officially announced 40 newsroom cuts. No one knows yet who’s leaving, but there will be no buyouts, we've gathered. Buyouts. Layoffs. Whatever they're calling them.

Anyway, guess what! The San Jose Newspaper Guild is offering one-time grants of $500 for families caught in a financial crises as a result of the cuts! That should about cover the mortgage, utilities, groceries and the kid's flu medicine for about, oh … a week?

Old Chron building, c. 1900

By Sarah Phelan
with editorial research by Joseph Plaster

photo by Terrie Frye
Admit it! Would you even be reading this story if Daly hadn't said "allegations of cocaine use"?

For those few running dogs of the press who actually hung around for Tuesday night's four-hour hearing on proposed cuts to public health programs, Sup. Chris Daly's comments on Newsom's substance abuse problems seemed, well, entirely appropriate.
As the two reporters who were actually there know full well, Daly's speech, which lasted eight minutes, only spent 30 seconds referring to allegations of Newsom's cocaine use. The rest of the speech focused on the reality that there's been an annual ping-pong match going on between the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors, ever sinceNewsom came to power. In this match, Newsom proposes making cuts to public health programs--and the Board objects. Then those impacted have to show up to protest at City Hall. At which point, the Board's Budget Committee responds by restoring funding to the programs that Newsom has once again targeted.

By Steven T. Jones
Sup. Chris Daly may have crossed a line by suggesting during a budget hearing that Mayor Gavin Newsom uses cocaine, but the mayor isn't entitled to his overblown righteous indignation. Why? Because he's the one who left open this question earlier this year when he responded to revelations of his sexual improprieties and alcohol abuse with the blanket dismissal "that everything you’ve heard and read is true and I’m deeply sorry about that." Then he refused to answer any questions on either issue, with only a couple exceptions weeks later involving friendly journalists (including CBS's Hank Plante, who asked about cocaine and Newsom didn't directly answer, something Daly rightly called an "artful dodge"). Newsom is now simply reaping what he has sown. He has proven himself to be untrustworthy and willing to say or do anything to get out of a jam -- or to simply avoid answering questions not to his liking -- so it's hard to put too much stock in statements like, "I am associated with something that I don't do, never have, not even in the realm of reason should someone even accuse me of this."

By Sarah Phelan

Photo by Charles Russo
Mayor Gavin Newsom only shows up to self congratulatory budget events that seek to make him look good

Mayor Gavin Newsom is happy to be center stage when it comes to attacking Sup. Chris Daly. At last week's budget rally, Newsom made it look as if Daly had unilaterally decided to cut funding to pothole repairs and police academies. (In reality Daly was responding to Newsom's cuts to affordable housing and public health.)
This week, Newsom made it look as if Daly had randomly decided to talk about unsubstantiated allegations that the mayor was doing cocaine, while sleeping with the wife of his campaign manager. (In reality, Daly was referring, in the context of Newsom's proposed cuts to substance abuse treatment programs, to the mayor's self-professed alcohol problem, as well as his refusal to deal head on with widespread whisperings about cocaine use.)
Either way, and without a declared challenger in the mayor's race this fall, bashing Daly is a far easier for the Mayor than say, explaining to poor folks why you are proposing cutting funding for programs that help poor poeople, such as affordable rental housing in favor of increasing funding for programs that help the middle class, such as affordable homeownership. Or explaining why you are cutting the only 24-hour homeless shelter in town, when your proposal to add rangers to Golden Gate Park strongly suggests the homeless situation is getting worse.
So it came as no surprise that Mayor Gavin Newsom chose not to mingle with the hundreds of poor folks that lined up last night at City Hall to talk about the damage that his proposed cuts to affordable housing and public health will inflict on them and their already fragile communities.
As the rules stand, the Mayor doesn't have to attend such hearings, but his absence from the trenches (he wasn't around for Tuesday night's Beilensen hearings either, when 300 people showed up to talk about the true cost of cutting substance abuse treatment and other public health programs--a hearing which has received almost no media coverage other than a fixation with Daly's "cocaine" remarks) led Sup. Tom Ammiano to observe, "I think there is not a full accounting by the mayor himself to this budget when he does not have to attend these meetings."
With Sup. Michela Alioto-Pier cooking up Ms. Manners rules of engagement for the Board of Supervisors following what she deems "offensive" comments by her colleague Sup.Chris Daly, how about her also asking the Mayor to be present for the annual budget hearings, during which folks wait for hours, just to speak on the record for a couple minutes?
Because Newsom's absence, in the face of all this budgetary angst among people of very limited means, is beginning to come across as more than a tad offensive.

Marc McGuire, a tile contractor from San Diego, and CALPASC’s Brad Diede on CNBC this spring to discuss accusations that Lennar has been extorting its contractors

A few months ago, we reported how Lennar had been giving contractors a choice between a rock or a hard place: reduce their unpaid invoices by up to 20 percent—or be excluded from bidding work for a minimum of six months.
Today comes word that the company, which is poised to build condos on most of San Francisco's underdeveloped lands, including Bayview Hunter’s Point and the decommissioned Hunters Point Shipyard, has just posted a second quarter loss--and it is expecting more losses this year.
Blaming high inventories and dropping real estate prices, and with his company reporting losses of $1.55 per share, Lennar President and Chief Executive Stuart Miller announced, "As we look to our third quarter and the remainder of 2007, we continue to see weak, and perhaps deteriorating, market conditions."

This time last year, the nation’s biggest home builder was posting a profit of $324.7 million, or $2 per share. But Lennar not alone in its real estate woes. As its quarterly revenue slips 37 percent to $2.88 billion (compared to $4.58 billion this time last year,) the National Association of Realtors reports that sales of existing homes fell for a third straight month in May, the median sales price declined for a record 10th consecutive month and the inventory of unsold homes reached its highest level in 15 years.

Or as Miller put it, " The supply of new and existing homes has continued to increase resulting in declining home prices across our markets."

And here comes the part that should really sound the alarms in San Francisco, where a large number of subcontractors look to Lennar for their daily bread. Asked what Lennar intends to do about its financial picture, Miller said his company is "focused on expenses, reducing construction costs and pushing sales to manage inventory."

With Mayor Gavin Newsom having hastily amended the BVHP redevelopment plan so the Navy could hand the hazardous shipyard over to Lennar for clean up, (despite the company's ongoing problems monitoring asbestos dust on an adjacent parcel of land), all so he can try and keep the 49ers in town, here's hoping all the agencies that regulate and oversee Lennar, and not just the local impacted communities, will be watching this project like hawks.

By Tim Redmond

The Chron buried the news deep in the local section, but a June 22 state Court of Appeal decision on the validity of the Housing Element of the city's General Plan was a huge slap in the face to the mayor and the planning director.

In essence, the court ruled that the city can't adopt the new Housing Element without doing an environmental impact report. You can read the decision here.

I'll admit: The folks who sued, a group of West side homeowners who don't want more density in their neighborhoods, are not my favorite activists. I've never thought it was fair that all the density had to go on the East side of town, and that nobody West of 19th Ave. even had to think about it.

That's the essence of the suit: The Housing Element might encourage more housing on the West side of town, and might allow housing without a lot of parking, and that might lead to congestion and traffic issues. As my old friend Ron Curran used to say, Boo Fucking Hoo: The rest of us in town have lived with those issues for years, and anyone with any sense knows that new housing in this overdeveloped town will need to be transit-oriented and not car-oriented.

Still, the plaintiffs made an excellent point: The Planning Department should have done an EIR on the Housing Element. IN fact, the Planning Department should do a lot better in the environmental review department generally. You just go forawrd with these big projects and zoning changes and refuse to acknowledge the impacts, and you're eventually going to get smacked.

By Steven T. Jones
Sup. Chris Daly has been getting beat up by Team Newsom, the Chronicle, the Examiner, and Sup. Michela Alioto-Pier, but at today's Board of Supervisors meeting, he showed no sign of retreat or remorse. In fact, he's giving as good as he gets in some hilarious and poignant ways. As the meeting began, he distributed to the press copies of a letter to Mayor Gavin Newsom making clear "I did not accuse you of using cocaine" and asking for an apology, and handed out a printout of his latest blog post, in which he labels the concerted attack on him "Operation Eric Jaye" and chides Alioto-Pier for being an out-of-touch elitist who only seems to show up for work when it's time to carry water for the mayor.
Journalists chuckled and pointed out the funniest passages to one another as the board rapidly fired through its business. But the real fun began when it came time for the supervisors to introduce new legislation and Alioto-Pier announced her previously announced proposal to create a code of conduct for supervisors.

Guardian photo by Charles Russo

By Tim Redmond

Now here's a fascinating harm-reduction (and crime-reduction) idea. Drug sales are happening anyway; why not regulate them in one designated area?

By Tim Redmond

The San Francisco Chronicle apparently thinks a retired Wall Street Journal reporter who now lives in Berkeley and who wrote a remarkably homophobic piece on San Francisco politics way back in 1995 is the perfect persion to comment on the current Board of Supervisors. His piece, on SFGate, has the headline "Clown Show: The Board of Supervisors SF deserves? His point, it appears, is that the large queer community in San Francisco and the looney liberals here have elected a bunch of crazies to the board.

I would ignore this shit, except that it comes in the wake of all the Chris Daly bashing (much of which is factually inaccurate -- Daly never accused the mayor of doing cocaine) and will, no doubt, fuel a new attack on district elections.

So let's be real here: This district-elected board is hardly a crew of wackos. The board has done exceptional work over the past few years, passing landmark legislation that has put San Francisco in the forefront of American cities on progressive policy.

By Tim Redmond

Another sign that Bush has shifted the Supreme Court successfully in his direction: The Court just ruled that schools can't use race in school assignments. Everyone at SFUSD was waiting for this ruling, most of us hoping that the court would allow some consideration of race in placing students. Since the district stopped using race, the level of segretation in the schools has climbed.

So now the new superintendent has another big challenge.

By Tim Redmond

Nancy Pelosi has stuck a $231,000 earmark in the federal budget to help the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association build a new Urban Center in San Francisco. The move stirred up some controversy on the floor of the House today, when Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who likes to criticize earmarks, asked whether federal money ought to be going to a private nonprofit think tank.

It's a relatively tiny amount of money -- the who-really-gives-a-shit level -- and some good progressive people love the idea of a SPUR Urban Center -- a downtown building that could be a community center of sorts for city planning issues. I'm not sure I hate it myself.

"We want to become much more public and democratic," Jim Chappell, SPUR's president, told me when I called him just now about the earmark. Pelosi's money, he said, "is a statement of confidence in our cities and our program by a federal government that has declared war on cities."

But SPUR has over the years been way on the wrong side of a lot of important planning issues, and is still dominated by developers and their architects, and ... I don't know. It struck me a worth noting.

Chicken John's was among the first "Faces of Burning Man"
the Chronicle ran as part of their series a couple years ago.
By Steven T. Jones
We've seen people dressed as chickens mocking Mayor Gavin Newsom and progressives who are too chicken to run against him, but now we have Chicken John announcing that he's running for mayor. You know Chicken John, right? The showman, the provocateur, the facilitator of art and innovation, the guy with the fake mustache and the cool bus and Army Street address and the truck that runs on trash, the MC of the Ask Dr. Hal Show. Yeah, THAT Chicken, aka John Rinaldi. Well, he's decided to run for mayor and called upon the San Francisco underground to rise up and support him. Will they? Will Chicken follow through if they don't? What issues will this enigmatic political newbie stake out? Will Newsom debate him? I don't know the answer to any of this or, frankly, how I feel about it. But there is one thing I do know: the mayor's race just got a helluva lot more interesting.
Chicken's announcement follows:

By Tim Redmond

There's been a fair amount of flap over the big billboards featuring Carole Migden that appeared all over the Third Senate District around Pride weekend. The messages -- describing Miden as a leader and thanking her for her work -- don't include any statements identifying the donor who paid for them. That's led some to suggest that it's a clandestine gift from Clear Channel, which owns the billboards.

But according to Michael Colbruno, a former Migden aide and close ally who now works for Clear Channel, there's another explanation:

The billboards, he told me, are "issue advocacy" ads -- which means they're not regulated by campaign-finance disclosure laws. They were purchased, he said, by an individual or entity that is not a campaign committee -- and Clear Channel won't say who it is.

"It's not a political sale," he said. "It's an independent advocacy ad, and the payment information doesn't have to be disclosed."

I asked him if Clear Channel charged the ad buyer full price or perhaps offered a discount. "We don't disclose rates," he said.

The ads sure look political to me: One of them thanks three local legislators for supporting the infrastructure bonds -- Migden, Don Perata and Leland Yee -- and pointedly leaves out another member of the local delegation, Mark Leno, who also supported the bonds, and who happens to be challenging Midgen in next year's state Senate primary.

But what Colbruno is telling me is that an unknown donor has just done a huge favor for Migden, worth potentially tens of thousands of dollars -- and the public will never know who it was.

Leno, not surprisingly, was furious to hear about this:

"The only way this situation can be considered legal is if the suggestion is that these billboards are issue-advocacy ads and not campaign related -- but anyone who believes that is a fool," Leno told me. "If anyone tried to thank me this way, I would tell them no and make them take it down."

I'm pretty dubious, too -- I'm sure Migden knows who paid for the ads, and she ought to tell the rest of us.

By Tim Redmond

Long, detailed article in the Nation this week by John Wiener on how sharply the LA Weekly has declined since Village Voice Media, the parent company of SF Weekly, took over.

It's exactly what a lot of us predicted: No more endorsements. No more progressive politics. No more reporting or commentary on the war in Iraq. Sad.

By Tim Redmond

Thanks in part to a San Francisco legislator, a bill to reform police secrecy is dead in the water. SB 1019, by state Sen. Gloria Romero of Los Angeles, did in the Assembly Public Safety Committee when not a single committee member would move to consider the bill. Assembly member FIona Ma, who represents San Francisco, sits on the committee; she as among those who killed the bill.

BeyondChron has a pretty good summary of this, including the astonishing information that one of the police unions threatened to scutle the Legislature's attempt to amend term limits if this bill passes.

The bill is still (barely) alive, and could come back for reconsideration -- if Ma would stip kowtowing to the cops and agree to at least bring it up for a vote.

By Tim Redmond

Holy shit -- watch Mika Brzezinski try to argue that on MSNBC and get treated rather shabbily by her male co-anchors.

There's fire, a shredder, a sniffing scene -- and a very good journalistic point. Don't miss it.

by Amanda Witherell

This afternoon Mayor Gavin Newsom signed legislation permitting the city to move forward with its plan for Community Choice Aggregation.

Rumors were flying around all week that Newsom might veto, especially after his press conference coup with PG&E last week. PG&E is none too keen on this CCA thing.

That's because it intends to kick PG&E's ass at the renewables game. But what's a little friendly competition? The plan is for the city to build or buy 51 percent of our electricity from renewable sources, which is permitted under a state law pushed by Carole Migden in 2002, and some 30 percent more than what PG&E is offering. Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Ross Mirkarimi have spent the last few years hammering out legislation and what they came up with was passed by nearly all their fellow board members. (Alioto-Pier and Jew were the no-go's.)

Newsom issued a letter expressing his concern that the plan must "meet or beat" PG&E's rates in the first 60 days, but ended on a lighter note with his commitment to "moving forward expeditiously." He's asked the SFPUC to get on it by July 15. They'll be issuing a Request for Information, followed by a formal call for proposals for more wind, water, and sun power in the city.