Endorsement interviews: Jeff Adachi

09.13.11 - 11:09 am |

(119)

Jeff Adachi is running for mayor -- and running a campaign to change the city employee pension system. He told us he entered the race late because he was watching some of the debates, and "nobody was talking about the real reform issues."

He talked about his pension plan and argued that it's better for city workers than the plan the mayor (with the support of labor) has proposed. We asked him why he was so focused on one side of the equation -- cutting pensions -- and not on the other side -- raising taxes ont he rich -- and he said he wasn't opposed to new taxes. But he didn't offer any specifics.

He did, however, say he would set aside $40 million for micro loans to small local businesses, fully fund the Youth Works program and summer school and create partnerships with wealthy individuals to build affordable housing.

You can listen to the interview, and watch his opening statement, after the jump.

Adachi by endorsements2011

You can watch a video of Adachi talking to us here:

Comments

Patronizing and misleading

No, the Teabagger solution is to strip collective bargaining rights for public employees. This is precisely what Tea Party governors Scott Walker and John Kasich have accomplished in Wisconsin and Ohio, and in 15 other states across this nation. And I would remind you that Michael Moritz, the biggest funder of Adachi's initiative (2010 & 2011), contributed $11000 to John Kasich's campaign for governor of Ohio.

The Koch-funded Pacific Research Institute, a right-wing think tank here in SF, is positively ecstatic about Adachi's measure. In blog after blog, Steven Greenhut lavishes effusive praise on Adachi and his initiative. He quotes David Crane, a funder Prop B who wrote an op-ed questioning the wisdom of collective bargaining rights for public workers~ "One cannot both be a progressive and be opposed to pension reform," Crane said. The math is 'irrefutable' that the programs progressives embrace "are being driven out of existence by rising pension costs." Strange to hear Crane and a reactionary think tank opine on what it means to be a progressive. Stranger still that there's no mention of the financial elites who crashed the economy, nor any call for the these folks to share in the sacrifice brought about by their malfeasance.

This is no right-wing conspiracy theory and it is no joke. The California Center for Public Policy, a relatively new right-wing think tank, wants to place an initiative on the ballot to prohibit public sector collective bargaining~

http://californiacenterforpublicpolicy.com/initiative.html

Please don't insult our intelligence. We understand very well that there needs to be some form of shared sacrifice. But the workers have already given a pound of flesh...they've given until it hurts (and, incidentally, this hurts the economy, too). So, our message is, No Pension Reform Without Tax Reform! If you want shared sacrifice talk to your rich friends~ If they care so much about this city, as they claim, they can damn well share in the burden.

Posted by Lisa on Sep. 19, 2011 @ 6:18 pm

Lisa's nihilism

Lisa would seek to indictment by association. Lisa uses only convenient facts and denies the less useful ones, solely for one sided argument. However, there was this one useful sentence in her screed, "We understand very well that there needs to be some form of shared sacrifice." True.

Police and Fire in San Francisco have just received a 4% pay raise from City Hall at a time when funding for residential treatment centers has been cut, psyche beds at SFGH have been eliminated and summer school was offered to only some students needing credits.

Here is a philosophical question about the future of San Francisco government. Is it more progressive, to protect the pay and benefit packages of police and fire --who I would argue can afford to pay for a bigger share of their benefits-- or should government's primary mission be to help those who can't help themselves. Vulnerable people do not write campaign checks, belong to associations that can afford to pay political consultants who write robo scripts or even join member organizations that make political endorsements. What is your antidote Lisa to the elimination of drug treatment slots, summer school or psych beds?

Again, please check out the financial documents the City Controller prepares. Ben Rosenfeld never hung out in Searchlight with Sarah Palin. Every progressive supervisor voted to confirm his appointment, and he never worked for PRI, Moritz, Hume or any of the other obsessions that appear to drive your analysis.

The Teabagger worldview is distilled libertarianism combined with an anti-statist Ayn Rand philosophy. Here is a link to a good account of it's strands: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html?pagewanted=1

There is an odd parallel between Lisa's nihilism that offers no plausible path out of the projected FY 2013-14 $642 million deficit and people like Glenn Beck or Grover Norquist who want public institutions to become extinct.

San Francisco can and needs to do aggressive employee benefit reform. Those who make more should be prepared to make bigger contributions to their pension and healthcare costs. The bargaining groups and elected officials need to work out a dollar saving figure. Hellman as late as last Spring thought it needed to be on the order of $300-$400 million dollars. The Controller's projected savings from C in the report cited above are $35 million.

Additionally, if they can be passed in November 2012 -- when the threshold to pass a measure will be 50% not 2/3 -- the City needs three or four progressive tax measure to raise $150 million plus. That sum would be progressive and hugely ambitious politically. The real estate transfer tax Avalos pushed helped bring San Francisco an additional $45 million, but it's a volatile revenue stream contingent upon the vicissitudes of the real estate market. In previous years, other revenue ideas have included a commercial rent tax, gross receipts tax, environmentally oriented consumption tax along and a turbo charged VLF tax solely for San Francisco. However, Anyone who has done politics in this town for 2 seconds knows there is not a public appetite for $642 million in new revenue. That is not happening. The Controller and Harvey Rose are not fabricating the grim numbers. It's just our civic culture lacks responsible journalistic and political figures, with a few notable exceptions who wear a scarlet letter for it, prepared to engage with these facts. Trolls that weak kneed politicians read because they lack the capacity for autonomous thought don't help matters.

Denial has its psychological payoffs but no one should fool themselves in this 2011 Mayoral election, public services will continue to be cut and slashed for years to come unless these politically difficult challenges can be confronted and resolved. Greater cost sharing by members of the "City Family" who can afford to pay for their pensions and healthcare benefits, and an electorate willing to pay for local government are the solutions.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 19, 2011 @ 8:05 pm

Let's go through Lisa's three main lies...

1) "This is precisely what Tea Party governors Scott Walker...has accomplished."

Yes, Lisa conflates talking points with truth here. Scott Walker cut collective bargaining on everything- pension benefits, pension contributions, health contributions, health benefits and most importantly, wages (as well as sick pay, vacation days etc.?) Adachi, with Prop D only sets pension contributions. It's apples and oranges but of course, Lisa will keep repeating this lie hoping she can dupe those who don't pay attention.

(As usual she omits that Moritz contributed to Matt Gonzales - but not covering sins of omission here.)

2) "But the workers have already given a pound of flesh...they've given until it hurts."

They've given very little if anything thing at all. They gave $230 million in the form of temp furlough days (that's not a wage cut) which of course, have expired. The average compensation of a CIty employee is now up to $134k and listen to her crow about the "pound of flesh." They're making almost double private sector residents. if those residents are working. Gardeners, janitors, nurses- they all make more than their private sector equivalents. Firefighters, who made 35% more than their Bay Area counterparts, were just given another raise as well as the already highest paid police force in the U.S. Bus drivers make $100k and don't contribute one nickel to their guaranteed pensions - oh, the flesh.

3) "So, our message is, No Pension Reform Without Tax Reform! If you want shared sacrifice talk to your rich friends~ If they care so much about this city, as they claim, they can damn well share in the burden."

This is my favorite lie. They crow about taxing the rich while they in reality, tax the poorest among us without pensions and health care to pay for City employee largess. Just check your November ballot - a sales tax on the poor and a pothole tax on middle class homeowners.

The scariest part is some people can be duped these folks...

Posted by Guest on Sep. 19, 2011 @ 9:31 pm

The Walker/Adachi Neo-Liberal Agenda

As I have said before on this topic, Adachi is not engaging in all of the attacks on workers that Scott Walker engaged in because a) Adachi is not the governor -beware: he is working on it- and b) he would never be able to get away with what Walker did in San Francisco. Adachi is simply attacking the working class with austerity measures to the greatest extent that he can muster in our far more progressive political circumstances. Importantly, remember that Adachi in fact tested a far more draconian attack on workers in the form of 2010's Prop B, and once he discovered he couldn't get away with it he scaled back to prop D; which he has clearly and openly stated he intends to follow with more austerity measures.

As to your other points, your inane contention that City workers accepting $230 million in cuts is somehow not significant is down right hilarious; and your point 3 is simply a lie which doesn't even merit a response.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Sep. 19, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

What does Adachi have to do to lose your vote?

Adachi just kicked off his campaign, and right away, I got a laugh out of this line by Jeff, "Where I want this campaign to be different is that we have to make the case that it’s time to elect a person who isn’t afraid to stand up against special interests."

Umm... a person who isn't afraid to stand up to special interests doesn't take their money. And I'm talking about folks with serious union-busting cred like the Hume family~

"Funding right-wing causes is where Hume really shines. According to the Citizenship Project, a community-based organization founded by Mexican immigrants and unionists in Salinas, and DataCenter's ImpactResearch Team, Hume and his family have contributed heavily to dozens of right-wing causes and candidates."

http://dbacon.igc.org/Strikes/12Hume.htm

I am being accused of smearing Adachi by association, but what's progressive about taking money from folks like George Hume, Moritz, Howard Leach, the Bechtels (Prop B), et al? Prior to the 2008 election, Matt Gonzalez wrote a piece in which he scrutinized Obama's ties to the corporate world~ "What do they have to do to lose your vote?" Tell me, how is my examination of Adachi's corporate ties any different?

Posted by Lisa on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 6:18 pm

Neo-Liberals Just As Guilty As Tea Party Manipulators

Important points Lisa.

However, I would add that it is a trap to fall into only critiquing the Tea Party backers when the neo-liberals and the and finance capitalists who run the Obama administration and the Democratic Party on the national level, are equally guilty of seeking to lynch the free population with austerity measures.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Sep. 19, 2011 @ 9:41 pm

Thank you Eric

Point taken. In some ways, the Obama administration is worse than the Teabaggers because progressives are more easily fooled into thinking that the the Dems are on our side. Adachi likes to point to the "progressive credentials" of folks like Moritz and David Crane. But Sarah Phelan did a superb job of exposing this bit of B.S. for what it is~

"...public records reveal Crane to be less a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and more of a Bushocrat, an ultra-rich investor who supported G.W. Bush through two elections, and repeatedly frames the collective bargaining rights of government employees as an obstacle standing in the way of pension reform and budget balancing."

http://www2.sfbg.com/politics/2011/03/09/david-crane-just-another-kochhead

Posted by Lisa on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 5:30 pm

Adachi's a great man

It's true,

So's Gonzalez. Hennessey too. Dick Sklar was. As was Joe Lynn. Of course my judgement is subjective but I base my evaluations upon facts.

Great people use their abilities for the public good. When they die they leave legacies engraved in structures built in everything from concrete to legislation. And, they have their haters in common.

Oh yeah, if you don't have at least one dedicated and talented hater then you haven't used your abilities to their fullest. In his 30 years of building the best City/County jail system in the United States Mike Hennessey's deputies only endorsed him when he had no opposition. Because he was different from them. Great men and women always are.

Mike was a lawyer and they weren't. He didn't wear a uniform and they did. He was a Progressive by nature and they aren't. And yet, he succeeded and he made them great too.

I don't want to get too long on this theme. That's for the novel. Let me close by saying that people like Liz and Eric are also-rans and jealous wannabe's whom no one would even notice if they weren't attacking icons. What's Eric Brooks ever accomplished in his life?

The only thing I can think of is when he used his influence to block the first opportunity for the City and County of San Francisco to own their own power installation. Solar no less! On the Sunset Reservoir. He backed privatization of the project at the behest of Joshua Arce who said it would create local jobs for people of color. Naturally that all turned out to be a lie and the City is stuck with a 30 year piece of crap contract.

That's pretty much the extent of material products in existence on the face of the earth upon which Brooks can claim any share of authorship. That, and his endless criticism of his betters.

Funny thing is that if and when Adachi becomes Mayor I'd bet that Eric Brooks will end up working for him. Probably at the SFPUC and in the area of Public Power. Because Eric Brooks is a talented and knowledgeable man who should be given an opportunity in the real world of something other than spilling venom and great men like Gonzalez and Adachi realize that.

In 7 hours and 50 minutes 22 year old 19-5 Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers will toss the first pitch in Dodger Stadium (it and the team can be yours for 1.3 billion) against your Giants and Timmy.

Posted by h. brown on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 10:46 am

H, Get A Clue

Drink less. Think ( and research) more.

I opposed the privatization of the solar project that you are ranting about (a fact which you have repeatedly gotten wrong in previous addled tirades). Arce and I were on opposite sides of that one.)

And for the record, I have accomplished a great deal in my life, however, since I don't go around making a big deal of it, not many people are aware of the laundry list. My most recent decade as an activist in San Francisco has been particularly jam packed with organizing successes.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 10:16 pm

LOL. So you have all these successes, Eric, but

you're too modest to tell us what they are? Is that it? We're on a "need to know" basis? Otherwise you'd have to kill us?

Sorry, but h nailed you. As did Arthur. There are those who go out there and get things done. And there are those who just whine on the internet.

It's a sad commentary on the SF Green Party that so many of it's more talented activists have left, that you're now the best they can come up with as a spokeman. I actually had some time for Gonz and Mirk. You're an amateur and, in your heart, you know it as well as the rest of us do.

Posted by PaulT on Sep. 21, 2011 @ 6:07 am

Some Of My Accomplishments As An Organizer

In the 1980s:

Helped organize in the following successful fights:

- The boycott & divestment movement against South Africa to end apartheid

- The campaign to successfully reauthorize the U.S. Superfund law to ensure ongoing cleanup of our most hazardous waste sites

- The campaign to stop Pacific Northwest Bell from making telephone customers pay measured long distance rates on local calls

In the 1990s:

Helped organize (in almost every case as one of the campaign leaders) the following successful fights:

- The battle to protect the ancient Headwaters Forest in Northern California from being completely wiped out by Maxxam Corporation

- Stronger pesticide regulations in California and San Francisco

- Further elevating LGBTQ rights

- The fight to bring down the WTO the FTAA and other 'free trade' monstrosities destroying this planet's economies, which has now essentially stopped these global 'trade' agreements in their tracks

- The recall of Gray Davis for his, attacking forests (including Headwaters), building prisons, and selling California out to the fossil fuel power industry, all at the behest of the three sectors which each donated over 1 million dollars to his campaigns for office

In the 2000s:

Helped organize, in almost every case as one of the leaders of the campaign itself, in the following successful battles:

- Passing the 2007 ordinance for CleanPowerSF in San Francisco which, once built, will provide the City with 50% of its electricity from local, community owned, clean and renewable sources

- Stopping the Planning Department from weakening citizens' ability to halt developer projects through Discretionary Review

- Stopping the City from weakening citizen's access to using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to challenge developer projects

- Stopping PG&E's Prop 16, which would have forced local two-thirds votes on any community wide clean energy or municipal power projects, and would have anchored PG&E's monopoly in the state constitution

- Stopping the 2008, Prop 98, which would have decimated California zoning and environmental protections and repealed all rent control and affordable housing mandates

- Stopping a Google/Earthlink partnership that would have taken over San Francisco's local wireless internet services as a private monopoly

- Stopping a new polluting fossil fuel power plant from being built in the Bayview Hunters Point and shutting down San Francisco's last fossil fuel power plant in Potrero Hill (which closed on Feb 28, 2011)

- Passing Board of Supervisors amendments to the Lennar Hunters Point II development project, which, if that project proceeds, will help ensure that the hazardous waste in that area is cleaned up before housing and parks are built there; and which also ban fossil fuel power plants from that development (I wrote most of the amendments and coordinated the floor lobbying for them)

- Writing detailed environmental review comments and helping organize to severely hobble and delay the Lennar Hunters Point II development project

- Writing detailed environmental review comments and helping organize to hobble and delay Lennar's disastrous boondoggle Treasure Island project

- Making detailed environmental review comments and helping organize to -seriously- hobble and delay the Parkmerced project

- Serving as a local leader in the global divestment and boycott movement against Israel for its brutal occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people (I successfully lead the SF Green Party - which was deadlocked on this issue until last year - to join the boycott and divestment campaign)

- Elevating the status of animal companions in San Francisco with the switch on city documents to calling humans animal 'guardians' instead of merely 'owners'

- Saving a beautiful, loving dog from being unfairly executed, by coordinating his being adopted by a guardian who could properly care for him

To for once put it bluntly and immodestly,

I kick ass...

Posted by Eric Brooks on Sep. 21, 2011 @ 11:13 am

If you just ignore

If you just ignore PaulTroll's blathering, this was a lengthy, but interesting discussion.

Posted by Guest on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 11:40 am

Interesting how Adachi

Interesting how Adachi stories always draw the most comments. He obviously has staunch supporters and standard issue haters at SFBG. Guess he doesn't have to worry about name recognition in the Mayor's race

Posted by Guest on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 12:09 pm

h, tell Matt G.

h, tell Matt G. to put a little less whisky in your coffee during those morning "strategy sessions", k? ;-) Look at you... what time was it? Only 10:46 am and you're already full of your own bravado. Always playing the macho by challenging the bigger men around you. Last I heard you wanted a piece of Willie Brown. You're an amusing little man, h. But somehow I doubt that men like Brown even know you exist, must less do they take you seriously.

Ya know, h., I'm starting to see a pattern. First you insult Eric and Greg, then you come back with your tail between your legs and beg their forgiveness. And to make up for all that rude male posturing, you flatter their egos. Why get started, hombre?

So tell Matt, a little less whisky. Yeah, I know, it's his Saints day tomorrow, but trust me, you're not doing him OR Adachi any favors when you go off on people.
Just try to remember Gonzo's advice to you. Those big hombres -- much bigger than you -- have a looong reach. Ya might not want to piss 'em off ;-)

Posted by Lisa on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 5:12 pm

I Don't Mind H Pissing Me Off

as long as he doesn't mind my throwing it back in his face when he's full of crap - which is most of the time... ;)

If he was a Dodger fan I might cut him some slack.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 10:31 pm

Sarah Phelan & Hope Johnson rock

These women's voices are badly needed. SFBG, listen up. Go, Jeff!

Posted by Guest on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 6:54 pm

For entertainment purposes

For entertainment purposes only.
1) Stock response to nameless 'Ruthie' wannabe troll, Paul T Douchebagger, who dare not speak his name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MAqG6BObmc
2) Alioto-Pier et al. Eg. The Ramp to Nowhere; Americas Cup and related activities, Marina Harbor displacement of small boats for luxury yachts; creation of luxury yacht Marina at Rincon Park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUKabZzG28
3)@h, all true believers and idealists. GO GIANTS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9xO98kcBU
@Guest.YES. Sarah, Rebecca, Daniela, La Mesha, to name a few. all give us HOPE.

Posted by Pat Monk.RN. on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 7:31 pm

OOOPS.

In case anyone cares.
SNAFU on #2, stepped away to check on Giants progress, bottom 5, BEAT LA !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUKabBZzG28

Posted by Pat Monk.RN. on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 7:45 pm

Hey Liz, I seem to arouse your passions

Really,

I don't believe I've ever even met you but you hate me more than women I've been married to and slept with for years.

Wherefore cometh your passions for me?

How old are you? Were you born a woman? Do you like dogs and cats? What's your favorite color? If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?

Let's get to know each other first before we leap to hate.

Giants lost 2-1. Kershaw is hell of a young pitcher.

Posted by h. brown on Sep. 20, 2011 @ 9:40 pm