The new board committes: Not great news

01.11.12 - 5:18 pm | Tim Redmond |

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Board President David Chiu has released the new committee assignments for 2012, and they aren't a whole lot different from last year's -- except in a few areas. And they aren't exactly an indication of progressive power.

The three most conservative supervisors -- Mark Farrell, Sean Elsbernd and Carmen Chu -- all were named to chair committees. Supervisors Eric Mar and John Avalos also are committee chairs, although David Campos was relegated to the joint City and School District Select Commitee, which is important but takes no votes and has no role in the legislative process.

Word is, however, that Campos may wind up chairing the Transportation Authority.

The Budget and Finance Committee is run by Chu, but Avalos and Jane Kim are also members, giving a majority to the progressives. But during the budget season, that panel expands to five members -- and the additional two, Scott Wiener and Malia Cohen, are both decidedly on the moderate side. That means progressives will not have a majority on the panel that plays the central role in setting the city's budget.

The Rules Committee is improved from last year -- Kim is the chair, joined by Campos and Farrell. But Land Use and Economic Development -- possibly the second most important committee after Budget and Finance -- is dominated by moderates; Mar is the chair but Cohen and Wiener will have a 2-1 majority.

State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano told me he's concerned that the two openly gay members of the board, Campos and Wiener, aren't in more prominent roles. "It seems like there are two very hardworking people who were slighted here," he said.

But Chiu disagrees, saying that the assignments "reflect the diversity of the board and the city." He added: "Last year (when conservatives were given key posts) everyone thought the sky would fall, and it didn't."

The sky falling is pretty dramatic; I suspect it won't. But there's a difference between the sky falling and the progressive agenda moving forward.

Comments

I thought the sky did indeed

I thought the sky did indeed fall for progressives in San Francisco politics in 2011.

Posted by marcos on Jan. 11, 2012 @ 6:38 pm

Wiener is doing good work

Campos is a clown and sleazy lawyer.

"State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano told me he's concerned that the two openly gay members of the board, Campos and Wiener, aren't in more prominent roles. "It seems like there are two very hardworking people who were slighted here," he said."

Gays should be treated like everyone else, unless they are, then it sucks.

"That means progressives will not have a majority on the panel that plays the central role in setting the city's budget."

It might represent the voters of the city at large? That would also be a travesty.

Posted by Matlock on Jan. 11, 2012 @ 7:47 pm

Why bother

Not much point in reading you: name-calling, homophobia, and distortion if not downright lies aren't really worth the bother.

Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 8:58 am

what

homophobia would that be?

Posted by Guest on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 12:39 pm

Is Kim a progressive now?

It seems like, at The Guardian, one day you're out and the next day you're in. I thought Kim backing the Twitter tax break meant she'd been exiled from the progressive island. I guess, considering the recent losses progressives have endured, that you have to take your friends where you can.

Posted by H. Monk-Brown CI on Jan. 11, 2012 @ 8:05 pm

I like Kim and think that she

I like Kim and think that she does Progressive values in her DNA. But there have been several instances so far where she did exhibit independence and voted on the merits of the project instead of following any prescribed dogma. That's why I personally don't value her as a true Progressive.

Posted by Steroidal Progressive on Jan. 11, 2012 @ 8:16 pm

Ha! So independence of mind is undesirable?

That certainly makes YOU a "true progressive".

Posted by Guest on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 7:03 am

It's called having principles

It's called having principles but a demagogic right-winger like you wouldn't know what that means.

Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 9:09 am

Kim should exercise her

Kim should exercise her independence on her own time. If she wants to be considered a true Progressive she will vote the way she is told to vote. Remember Sensei Daly's Donkey Kong speech? Same principle.

Posted by Steroidal Progressive on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 1:11 pm

More than just a mild slight.

Nothing at all for Janet Reilly, Debra Walker, Rafael Mandelman or Tony Kelly? How can Chiu possibly explain the rationale of leaving these important Progressive voices off of all committees?

Posted by Steroidal Progressive on Jan. 11, 2012 @ 8:08 pm

No - These Are Board Committees - Not City Commissions

Only elected Board members can serve on the Committees of the Board of Supervisors.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 1:00 am

The blog's a waste

It's pretty obvious, Eric, that we're dealing with some folks on this blog who are more interested in taking petty pot-shots and making gross distortions without knowing or caring much about anything that's going on here. The blog has become pretty much destroyed and a waste.

Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 9:08 am

Tom thinks we should choose committee leaders by

their sexual orientation?

Why is it OK to be discriminatory?

These look like balanced appointments to me. And remember that the whole board gets to vote on an issue after the committee stage, so it's not such a big deal.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 7:05 am

Wrong, homophobe

That's not what Ammiano said. You're a homophobe if you don't get it, but then most right-wingers are.

Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 8:51 am

No, Ammiano clearly stated that sexual orientation

should be a factor for appointment. And I'm asking him to explain the basis of his discriminatory assertion.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 10:53 am

Actually, the direct quote

Actually, the direct quote from Assemblyman Ammiano stated that "there are two very hardworking people who were slighted here," with their hard work being the largest issue. The fact that he would be frustrated that in a city with the highest lgbt per capita population in the country we have no lgbt supervisors in committee leadership roles seems wholly understandable.

Posted by DJ Carnita on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 3:03 pm

But DJ, you omitted his other statement:

"State Assemblymember Tom Ammiano told me he's concerned that the two openly gay members of the board, Campos and Wiener, aren't in more prominent roles!

To which my response would be this. How does being "openly gay" inform anyone's ability to run a committee? Why does Tom think that's a relevant factor?

Posted by Guest on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 3:40 pm

I think that in a city where

I think that in a city where nearly 20% of the population is openly gay and is often far more vulnerable than the population at large -- particularly in this time of budget cuts to critical health and human services -- that having LGBT voices and perspectives in leadership roles is completely crucial.

Posted by DJ Carnita on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 8:48 pm

Good for you

Good for you, DJ Carnita. It's outrageous to think we still need to point these things out in this city in this day and age. It's doubly outrageous that there's not the recognition by David Chiu, who doesn't see it; but it's pretty obvious that Chiu is blinded by his own ambition and doesn't much care about the needs or concerns of communities other than his own.

Posted by Anonymous on Jan. 12, 2012 @ 11:10 pm

No, identity politics is a horrible method of making

appointments. It's like coloring by numbers - oh, we have to have a gay, a midget, a tranny, a senior, a disabled, a union rep, and so on.

You make it sound like no politicians has the intelligence or integrity to see beyond their own specific situation, and that politics is just a series of wars enacted between narrow self-interested groups.

What you propose is both discriminatory and ineffective.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 8:18 am

How is having representatives

How is having representatives and leadership mirror the demographics and experiences of their constituents is discriminatory and ineffective?

Also -- saying things like "a gay, a midget, a tranny, a senior, a disabled" is wholly inappropriate. A tranny? You've done a great job demonstrating exactly WHY it is important to have a diversity of representation in government if for no other reason than to educate the public about how to address groups of people without using slurs.

Posted by DJ Carnita on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 10:40 am

No one says it is

"How is having representatives and leadership mirror the demographics and experiences of their constituents is discriminatory and ineffective?"

Strawman argument

"Also -- saying things like "a gay, a midget, a tranny, a senior, a disabled" is wholly inappropriate. A tranny? You've done a great job demonstrating exactly WHY it is important to have a diversity of representation in government if for no other reason than to educate the public about how to address groups of people without using slurs. "

What slur did the author use there? Looking for it but not finding it. Mentioning groups and calling them what they call themselves is now a slur?

Then the usual buzz words and proclamations on how we all need to be educated.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 11:14 am

That's identity politics - assuming that all that matters is

some contrived distribution of power to people based on their membership of a class rather than innate ability or integrity.

You're arguing for affirmative action in our political system and that's is discriminatory and repugnant.

Oh, and "tranny" is the term I hear most trannies using to describe themselves. Wanna try again?

Diversity isn't have a committee with no straight white males in it.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 11:17 am

"tranny"

is specifically used to describe drag queens from the trash drag movement centered around the San Francisco club Trannyshack. It has nothing to do with trans people and is in fact an insult when used to describe them.

Posted by marke on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 11:37 am

ahem

I'm sure I could find more, I had no idea that the Bay Guardian is so unPC.

The thing about all these rules around language that the "progressives" dream up and then mix with a steady stream of buzz words is that no one can keep track of it all.

The self appointed progressive group that hates all of societies old rules and wants, to upset the dominate paradigm, convince you on how open minded and tolerant they are, hector out their revealed knowledge as intrinsically correct... These people just want more narrow and steadfast rules to govern society and they use their studies outrage to get it. They are the new Christian moralists.

====

http://www.sfgate.com/gay/clubs/

Divas
A serious tranny bar, where feminine shapeliness tends to be tightly clad in leopard, tiger and ocelot prints. Men who seem to have slipped off their Navy vessels or out of the North Beach Elks meeting do the hunting. The club consists of three floors: There are shows on the ground level, a dance area on the second and a quieter bar area on the third that serves as a refuge from the wildlife below. If aspects of gay SF have begun to feel a little constrained, then you might enjoy this space where truly anything goes. The later the hour, the hotter it gets.
1081 Post St. at Larkin, SF; (415) 928-6006.(Web site)

http://www.sfbg.com/36/40/x_electric.html

Three shots later the bar begins to fill up with locals, and I start chatting some of them up – nice, unpretentious guys like Gordon, who met his business partner over a game of pool at Chances, and Dennis, whose friend phones him at the bar. Kevin and I begin to drain our checking accounts into the jukebox, and it's absolutely worth it, with psychedelic day songs like Charles Mingus's "Bird Calls," John Coltrane's "Naima," Jimi Hendrix's "Red House," and one of my all-time favorites, Prince's "Pop Life." After the Clash's "Magnificent 7" we leave so that the well-greased Kevin can get back to work, except for some mysterious reason, we hop in a cab and head straight to the glorious heart of the 'Loin – to Aunt Charlie's infamous tranny bar on Turk, to be exact.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 12:22 pm

ahem pt 2

Aunt Charlie's is a drag bar, the SFBG article you're quoting is seven years old, SFgate is the last place anyone would know how to write about gender, and it's OK for language to change in order to encompass new means of expression. That's why I'm not typing this in Sanskrit.

Posted by marke on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 1:49 pm

Thanks for clearing that up bro

So in seven years the newspeak has changed, I didn't get my copy of the new dictionary Winston.

A term you can read in self reference, in seven year old guardian articles, and the general media is unPC?

SFBG › This Week ›
iPhones! SmartCars! He'Brew! Pakistani trannies!
The Pixel Vision Blog is blowin' up, Guardian-style
01.10.07 - 7:03 pm |
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This is one is my favorite trip through memory lane. I believe it might have been written by you.

"http://www.sfbg.com/39/48/art_tranny.html
Travels with tranny
Queer cartoonist Justin Hall takes on uncanny trannies, flaming punks, and "the death of paper."
By Marke B."

My favorite quote from I assume, you.

"Stronger than a super-tranny, fueled by comic appetites. "

I was going to link this one before but it was so ridiculous, but since I have Winston Smith on the phone.

Posted by matlock on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 2:04 pm

I was referring

to drag queens in both those instances. How angry language makes you.

Posted by marke on Jan. 16, 2012 @ 4:25 pm

So what. The term has generally applicability and is common

shorthand for trans-sexual. The real issue here was that you were trying to defeat another poster's point by focusing on his use of a term rather than the content of his idea.

That's exactly the type of over-wrought political correctness that always lets down the left in debate.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 16, 2012 @ 4:59 pm

That's wrong as well as irrelevant

Plenty of trannies refer to themselves as "trannies". Who are you to tell them they're wrong? Oh wait, a straight, white liberal male, of course.

And the issue here is the blatant suggestion by Ammiano that we should employ identity politics and card-playing when making appointments.

Why does he think we need to be so patronising?

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 12:33 pm

you are right.

I am tooootally a straight white liberal male.

Posted by marke on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 1:47 pm

So, DJ, if the BofS were nine black lesbians would you be

complaining that straight white males didn't have a seat at the table?

I doubt it.

Why is "diversity" a one-way street?

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 6:52 am

why isn't there

a White Entertainment Television lol.

Posted by marke on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 11:38 am

Because white people don't play race cards?

The issue here is card-playing and identity politics.

Posted by Guest on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 12:29 pm

I once had a skinhead ask me that question

The answer is that no one saw a viable business plan in it.

If there was a market for it I suppose someone would have started one, the Nashville network was pretty close, don't know any white people who ever watched it.

Posted by Matlock on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 1:35 pm

Now you think

But your not really answering the question, you did use some buzz words.

Posted by matlock on Jan. 13, 2012 @ 8:14 am

I hope Campos can do

I hope Campos can do something about adding more parking meters in the Mission. You can't expect local small Latino businesses to survive if their customers can't get to them. Latinos have large families and we need our cars to transport food and living supplies for our families. I shouldn't have to go to Daly City or So SF to do my shopping.

Posted by Mission Loco 94110 on Jan. 18, 2012 @ 1:35 pm