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Pinching political nipples

Pot Talk TV — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:21:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/15/10 9:47 AM
by: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Getting all hot and bothered about the
developing Fall races yet? Prancing mares
with raised tails and snorting and rearing
stallions are making a ruckus as their handlers
guide them into the gates.

Go Gigantes!

h.

2010 will break Consultant records

(At least 50 on payrolls in SF alone)

(7-15-10)

        Today in the Board's Rules committee supes will peruse and pass on 4 measures that will
most likely be on your ballot come November 2nd. These will join another 20 or so
propositions or candidates whose campaigns are already in full swing.

        Add another 25 or so Statewide measures and candidacies and ... you see where I'm
going with this? Hey, if you fancy yourself a
consultant/adviser/organizer/political writer ... if you can't make some money off of
the Campaigns of 2010 then you aren't really what you claim.

        There are legendary stories along these lines. Now, correct me when I'm wrong here
but in the interest of brevity I'm gonna trust my memory on who did what.

        Was it Clint Reilly or Jack Davis who convinced insurance companies (?) to run 10 or 12
pieces of 'evil twin' legislation ('looks just like real one but has the clap') to
confuse voters so they wouldn't pass the one piece of legislation that would have hurt
(and, rightfully so) their industry? Of course the consultant got 10% or whatever
(I'm probably being conservative here) of the total costs of each of the 10 (?)
campaigns and on the one issue became wealthy for the rest of his life. I'm not
certain if if was Reilly or Davis (tell me if it was someone else) and both these guys
are so wealthy it doesn't really matter. The idea is to give you an idea as to how
the industry works as if most of my readers don't know it better than me already.

        Was it Bob Pritikin who is said to have done pretty much the same thing on ad campaigns
with Rice-Oroni or something like that? Probably many campaigns like this for Bob
who is known around SF's inner circles as simply “the Ad Man” and everyone knows who
you're talking about (did Dick Hongisto really save both he and Walter Wong's financial
bacon back in the day?).

        I believe that at one time Jim Sutton was advising Ed Jew in his defense against the
Mayor and Kamala. No big surprise there. I mean hell, Sutton's the saviest
insider on campign rules in town. But, he was also advising both Gavin and Harris
who were trying to skewer Jew. Granted the arrangement didn't last long but ... I
mean, yuh know what I'm saying here?

        Precinct walkers were getting ten bucks an hour at least in the 2003 race and it will
be at least that again and there will be many thousands of them. Sign companies
I'm told get nary a dime in work unless they kiss Sutton's ass. Fundraisers?
Christ, after Willie knocked up his girlfriend he put her on the payroll as a
fundraiser in 2000 and paid her a million bucks over around a 6 month period.

        Then you gotta bribe reporters in every media outlet in town and their bosses and their
bosses. Caterers can and will clean up and they deserve every dime. Lord knows
how many waiters and valets and whores will put away nest eggs.

        There are phone calls to make and 'money spent to rent the halls' (Harry Chapin – 'Mr.
Tanner'). Everyone's got to have a couple of new outfits at least and beauticians
and tanning salons will work overtime just on Mark Leno who isn't even running.

Conclusions and odds and ends and odd ends

        As totally devoid of basic morals and scruples as most politicians are, multiply that
by 10 when it comes to consultants and their ilk. Look at what Gary South did to
Gavin Newsom and continues to do. How many faces does Jim Sutton have in his bags?
   Are there enough buses for union leaders like Gabriel Haaland and Gary Delagnes and
Tim Paulson to toss their junior members under?

        Sometimes I wonder why I enjoy this shit so much. Then comes that rare time when I
catch one of these bastards in my headlights and they freeze and I put the pedal to the
metallll ... ... ...

        Today's Rules Committee is 4 items and 3 are vying for a spot on the November ballot.
  Items #3 and #4 are the Mayor's useless but politically gold, 'Civil Sidewalks' vs.
Mirkarimi's 'Foot Patrols'. Item #1 is a desperately needed call to put Board
appointees on the MTA Board of Directors (as the Ohlone would say: “The white men will
spend much wampum on this booger.”).

        Item #5 is the one that burns like a Herpes outbreak or a fingernail split to the quick
for Aaron Peskin's infant Democratic machine. Newsom's people (probably Sutton) had
the brilliant (I'm not being sarcastic here) idea of making it illegal for LOCAL
officer holders to hold a seat on the D Triple C. Of course, Gavin can still hold
his seat as the Dems designated candidate for Lt. Guv and Feinstein keeps hers and
Pelosi hers.

        That may be too much information but that's what the Bulldog is all about, huh? The
Giants are back in action with Lincecum on the mound and they are gonna totally kick
ass in the second half. Sandoval needs to monitored to make certain he's wearing
proper glasses. This guy is one of the best natural hitters I've ever seen (Roberto
Clemente and Tony Gwinn come to mind) and it's gotta be he ain't seeing the ball as
well this year. Sabean should stand pat on his hand and watch the fruits of he and
Bobby Evans' labors flourish in the second half.

        I want to issue an apology to Aubrey Huff whom I said at Spring Training (only one I've
ever attended) ... I said he couldn't play defense at first base in the Majors. I
was completely wrong. He also ain't a bad outfielder at all. Hit? I always
said he could hit. He's our best offensive pick-up since UUUUrrriiiiibaaayyyy!!

        That's enough for today. I'll be back from Fresno tomorrow evening and it has been
great. Got to see my grandkids (Tandy and Wesley) and first son-in-law, Kudzai
(family forever) yesterday afternoon and they're great. The rash on the dog's tail
is better for those of you worried. The goldfish (Arnie and Maria) are healthier
than ever and like the Governator, Arnie is terribly pussy-whipped. The Calico cats
are flawless. Nellie rules the pool area in front of the condo and Pickle rolls
over in front of me when I go for fresh drinks to have her nipples pinched (ain't that
just like a woman?).

Go Gigantes!

h.

Matt Smith light's fuse on Adachi mayoral rocket

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:43:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/14/10 12:22 PM
by: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Y'all mark my words. Matt Smith's column
in today's SF Weekly changes everything.

I'm back late Friday and you can yell at me
and buy me my drinks in person.

Go Gigantes!

h.

“Adachi for Mayor”

(“You only need one reporter if it's the right one.”)

(7-14-10)

        The 'Adachi for Mayor' quote comes from Matt Smith in today's SF Weekly. The 'one
reporter' line comes from Allan Rickman in the flick 'Bottle Shock'. Rickman was
talking about an international wine tasting contest at which only one critic showed up.
   But, it was the 'right' critic. I can't agree more with both sentiments.

        You know, I thought of all kinds of ways to come at this column. I thought of a
booming headline condemning the Bay Guardian for letting the Weekly beat them to the
punch on endorsing a candidate early out for next Fall's mayoral contest.

        I considered starting with describing yesterday's watershed BOS votes at which a
supposedly 'Progressive' group of supes gave greedy cops and developers veto-proof
majorities under duress in both cases because the supes bowed to union bosses who have
sold out social justice and the environment and public safety. The issues were
the cop and firefighter MOU extensions (to avoid ever sharing any pain whatever with
the people who pay their salaries) and the weird combination of gentrification and
physical poisoning of the public championed by The Labor Council in the Hunters Point
Shipyard project (someone tell me why Campos voted with Lennar?).

        I decided to go with the Smith endorsement of Adachi because only the Office of the
Mayor of San Francisco can both take control of the greediest and most selfish unions
and reign in the avaracious developers and slow the damage they cause.

        The unions draw the line at just who is a 'brother' and 'sister' now. Public Safety
officers now put their own safety and take-home pay ahead of the safety of the public.

        Yet, yesterday the SF BOS bowed to them because it is their belief that they cannot be
re-elected without them. This is a disaster for the people. You understand
what it means for the Bay Guardian?

        It means that they can waste all of the time they want pushing what they perceive to be
'Progressive' candidates but after they are elected, when push comes to shove, these
so-called 'Progressive' supes will sell out Progressive values. By a veto-proof
majority.

        As I said long ago and repetitively into the concrete ears and heads of Tim Redmond and
Steven T. Jones, all that matters is the Office of Mayor of the City of San Francisco.
   Every Progressive resource should be devoted to pushing the positive name
recognition of potential Progressive mayoral contenders from this day out. They
refused to believe it and still devote far more of their resources to advertising for
Gavin Newsom. Now, Matt Smith, all by his lonesome ... has kicked their ass.

        By the way, the column that the wine critic did in 'Bottle Shock' changed the entire
landscape in the international wine world. It gave credibility to the supposedly
underdog California wines. The Public started buying them. I predict that the
same thing is happening with Jeff Adachi and that historians looking back on the Adachi
years as mayor will agree that the Matt Smith column lit the fuse that launched the
rocket.

Board committees today are sparse but for the 1pm Finance & Budget where Items #2 and #3
and #4 are tax proposals for the Fall ballot from supes Avalos, Chiu and Mikarimi in
that order.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Barrel day for SF citizens at Board today

Pot Talk TV — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:10:00 GMT

boys and girls,
by: h. brown

boys and girls,

   I've done everything I can to raise the
alarm about the fuck job that Board president,
David Chiu and his Class of 2008 will be
laying upon the voters and taxpayers and
children and animals at this afternoon's
Full Board today. Read em and weep but
don't deny that I friggin' told you so way
in advance. For years.

Watch your elected supes fold today.

Standing Room Only.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Chiu Board to bow to cops & developers

(Class of 2008 lacks backbone)

(7-13-10)

        Imagine (you baseball fans) if the Giants announced today that they'd decided to extend
Aaron Rowand's contract for 2 years and give him a hefty raise. Despite the fact that
he's hitting .236, has slowed down in the outfield and no longer hits consistently with
power. What would you think of that?

        Probably not much but the Board of Supes is preparing to do pretty much the equivalent
thing with the labor contracts of their 5,000 most arrogant, overpaid and
under-performing workers today.

        And, the 'Progressive' Board of supes will approve it. Because they can't stand the
pressure from the cop and firefighter unions and they're afraid of offending the
members of the Municipal Executives Association (stacked with Peskin creations who are
certainly lobbying the shit out of Chiu) whom they and their staff have to work with
every day. Folks, there are well over 5,000 of these fat hogs at the trough.

        Again, it's items #38 thru #45 on the day's Full Board agenda and the action starts at
2pm. Of course there's more.

        There's the Leonard/Rosen/Feinstein/Cohen/Leno giveaway of the only decent park in the
last sizeable enclave of black people in SF. The deal sucks on so many levels that
it's hard to know where to start. I've already mentioned the Mark Leno engineered
a giveaway of the best parts of the Candlestick Point State Park.

        How about not only failing to adequately clean up one of the worst Super Fund sites in
the country and ignoring the will of over 70% of SF voters who said they wanted nothing
built on there until it was ALL de-contaminated?

        Yeah, the Feds spent over 700 million cleaning up the site and admitted they hadn't
come close to addressing the problem. They pointed out in particular that the site
where the Navy dumped radioactive materials for decades could only be rendered benign
by hauling out millions of tons of affected soil and that it wouldn't be safe to haul
it by truck or train through populated areas. Shit man, this dump burned for months
and normal fire fighting methods couldn't put it out. They finally brought in
hundreds of concrete trucks during a driving rain and poured concrete into the crevices
to put it out. Leave it as it is and it will be literally thousands of years before
it's safe for human habitation. What the fuck's down there. We'll never know
because ...

        Of course Michael Cohen (primary cabal front) had a solution. Ignore the will of
the voters and start building as fast as you can on the least contaminated (except by
natural serpantine asbestos) parcels. Then, tell the Feds that they don't have to
worry about spending the billions necessary to haul away the radioactive waste.

        Nope, Michael told the Navy that if they'd just give him 100 million that the City
would get the job done themselves and take all liability. Naturally, Cohen then
re-directed the money to the Redevelopment Agency who promptly gave it to the
developer, Lennar.

        Their solution? Put a concrete cap atop the dump. Where'd they get such an idea?
   Would you believe Chernobyl? But, will they at least not put any people atop
the concrete? Not only will they put people over it, they propose building the
Niners new stadium there!! Well, at least they won't need lights for night games.
  The fucking place will glow. Naturally, by the time the lawsuits start rolling in
Lennar will have taken the profits from their publicly funded project (Feinstein's
hubby, Dick Blum will get them hundreds of millions from Calpers which he heads) ...
Lennar will be gone and the City will have to pay off the deformed and dead kids maimed
and murdered by the Michael Cohen deal of deals.

        Can they get more outrageous? Of course. How about putting a small highway
through a nature preserve full of endangered species at the site? Uh huh, that will
be approved by the spineless Chiu Board today too. Oh, they're gonna make Lennar
promise to try not to hurt any of the wildlife there. Right, like they promised 30%
affordable housing in another area of the giant project and then reneged because Cohen
engineered a contract for Lennar that wouldn't hold water anymore than his concrete cap
will harness radioactive waste. Lennar said that keeping their word would cut into
their mandated profit margin and Cohen had provided (hell of an attorney this guy –
and, in person, a nice guy) ... Michael put so many loopholes in their contract that
they couldn't possibly lose money. Like they ever put a dime of their cash in.

        All in all, when the smoke clears after today's Full Board the 'Progressive'
credentials of the Class of 2008 will be irreparably crushed. They'll have folded
to the most incompetent and greedy feather-bedding unions, destroyed a State park, set
the stage for further poisoning anyone ignorant enough to live on the shipyard site and
given Aaron Rowand a big raise and contract extension.

Wait, they're not responsible for the Rowand deal. If they were, they'd fuck that one
up too.

Expecting 105 degrees in Fresno today.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Mayor and Board collude to sink City today!!!

Pot Talk TV — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:36:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/13/10 7:08 AM
by: h. brown

boys and girls,

   This one will break your fucking back and it
is getting in under all but the Bulldog radars
(Joe Eskenazi did join me late yesterday).

   Today's Full Board will consider extending
the MOU's of the most bloated unions in the City
for another 2 years. Cops, firefighters, nurses,
... anyone who has a statewide organization that
can help Gavin in his run for Lt. Governor. He's
trying to use your money to bribe them.

   While virtually every City worker is feeling
the pain and thousands are being laid off the
Mayor is extending the bloated contracts of over
5,000 of the fattest hogs.

Will the BOS join him?

Items #38 thru #45.

Enjoy the All-Star game.

h.

today and tomorrow at the BOS

Pot Talk TV — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:14:00 GMT

On:

Jul 07/12/10 9:58 AM

by: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Here it be.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Dalyvotes to extend firefighters pension abuse

(“Since SupervisorChu isn't here I won't vote 'no'.”)

(7-12-10)

        Tomorrowat the Full Board's meeting Items #38 thru #45 will be considered. These
items are an attempt by the Mayor to extend the MOU's (laborcontracts) of the most
highly paid unions in the City.

        Thecops, of course. The firefighters. The Municipal EmployeesAssociation
(those with institutional knowledge will remember theseas Willie Brown's 'Special
Assistants' – whom Peskin and Leno madepermanent and there are over 600 of them).
What does this mean?

        Itmeans that the 5,000 highest paid City employees who have the mostoutrageous
contracts won't have to defend those contracts in front ofa new mayor who just might
be Matt Gonzalez. Not for another 2years.

        An extra 2 years for these 5,000 bloated andselfish civil servants to avoid doing
their part to save the Cityfrom the economic disaster caused by people like them.
Wait,that's wrong. It's not by “people like them” ... it's by 'THEM'!    I
understand, do you?

        It's because Gavin needs thesupport of not only the local branches of the cops and
firefightersunions but also of their State bodies in his run for Lt. Governor.
Samefor the nurses union. And, the others. So, he tosses some morediamonds
into their slop troughs. An extra 2 years to financiallybugger the SF tax payers.

        The only ways to re-negotiatethese contracts are, one ... when they expire (which
they'rescheduled to do in 2011) or, two ... if either the Mayor or the Board ofSupes
unanimously declare a state of emergency (a' la Vallejo).   Neither will happen.

        That's a cheap shot at Daly by theway. “Spoiling him” as Marc Salomon would say.
  Actually Chrisonly voted to pass one of the firefighters contracts on to the full
Boardfor consideration and he doesn't support it. He let it go forwardbecause
Carmen Chu was absent. Chris Daly was, in fact, the onlydissenting vote for this
under-the-radar ripoff on all but the second798 contract at committee. You're not
completely useless yet,guy.

        All of Items #38 thru #45 should be rejectedoutright by any supe who wants to call
themselves 'Progressive'. Let's see how they go down.

Today's Board Agenda's

SpecialRules Committee (10am)

Chair: D-9's David Campos

ViceChair: D-4's Michela Alioto-Pier

Member: D-1's Eric Mar

        Finalcommittee hearing on proposed Charter amendments to Split appointmentsto the MTA
Board of Directors (Item #1) and to the City's Rec andPark Commission (Item #4).
These should cruise. The Mayor hasused the present MTA board (all his appointees)
to allow the copsand others to shamelessly raid the MUNI vault while cutting services
tothe average bus-riding City voter. The friggin' cops again. Didyou know
that they billed MUNI 13 million for supposedly riding thebuses last year and that the
previous year they charged MUNI nothing?

        Yeah,the cops billed themselves for the time they didn't spend on the busesin
previous years but after Gavin got Peskin to push Prop A past thevoters to the tune of
25 million plus a year with the promise ofusing the money to upgrade MUNI he gave the
cops half of it (Peskinalso sold out the cab drivers on this measure). Even Peskin
votedagainst the thing when it came back to the BOS after passing the votersbut it
was too late. So, Peskin screwed 3,500 cabbies andhundreds of thousands of MUNI
riders and ... he'll likely beinstalled as the caretaker mayor in January. Yes,
Virginia, crimedoes pay.

City Operations and Neighborhood Services (10:30am)

Chair: D-4's Carmen Chu

Vice Chair: D-9's John Avalos

Member: D-8's Bevan Dufty

        Just a couple of items on this one.    Showboat items. Of interest to me is Item
#2 sponsored byD-2's Supervisor Alioto-Pier which suggests the City implement 'Laura's
Law'mandating forced medication on violent and criminally insane people.

        Now,that sounds pretty reasonable on its face but, hey, I've helpedadminister drugs
to people in lockdown and you know how you usuallyhave to do it?

        Well, it takes a minimum of a half dozenstrong men and women (one for each extremity –
they do bite andscratch and kick and spit – and the needle or force-feeding pills).
Someof the patients need their meds a number of times a day and there areliterally
thousands of patients.

        It would bepoliticlaly incorrect to vote against this measure so everyone will votein
favor. Then, of course it will remain unenforced.

LandUse and Economic Development (1pm)

Chair: D-10's SophieMaxwell

Vice Chair: D-1's Eric Mar

Member: D-3's DavidChiu

        This is the last trip through committee for themassive
Leonard/Rosen/Feinstein/Leno/Newsom/Pelosi plan to throwthe rest of the black people
in Bay View/Hunters Point out of townand replace them with another 20,000 or so
millionaires.

        Themess runs from Item #1 on through Item #13 and it changes boundariesand height and
bulk requirements. It gives away a public park(Item #11) in the City's poorest
neighborhood.

        This iseasily the worst development in the City since the same DianneFeinstein chased
tens of thousands of blacks out of the WesternAddition in the 70's and 80's. The
lady doesn't necessarily hateblack people. She just loves green money more.

        TheBoard is beaten down and all of this shit will pass easily. Expectonly D-6's
Daly to vote 'no'.

Odds and ends and odd ends

        Well,the new World Cup champs speak Spanish again and that's a good thing.    The
Giants are going into the All-Star break on a roll and that'sbetter.

        My grandpuppy down here in Fresno (Luke II –Lukey) weighs over 150 lbs and is only 15
months old and doesn't havean ounce of fat on him (he's an English Mastif). I've
been havingto put a salve on a rash at the base of his tail just shy of hisasshole a
couple of times a day and I'm glad he's non-violent. Ikeep explaining to him that
he has to let me give him his meds orI'll call Alioto-Pier on him. He just looks
puzzled.

        I'mmoving back to my old room (CCR at 44 McAllister) on the 19th after anenjoyable
year at the Ambassador hotel. The room is smaller butnow has a toilet so no one has
to piss in the sink anymore. Ah,nothing like an upgrade in your domicile.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Gonzalez back in play?

Pot Talk TV — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:47:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/09/10 10:52 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Gotta run. Gonna be off air til
6pm or so. You can reach me if needs
be at 'Beachwood 45789. You can call
me up and have a date any old time."

Bengie who?

h.

Gonzalez brings mountain to Mohammed

(SRO visit stirs old memories)

(7-9-10)

        Buster Posey hit another home run yesterday. There was a riot in Oakland. My
daughter arrived in Mozambique for a 6 month tour of duty in a jungle game preserve.
And, Matt Gonzalez brought a fifth of great Irish whiskey (Jameson) and a six pack of
Tecate beer to join Luke Thomas and I in my humble Tenderloin abode.

        That last one, that was the one that was the most pleasant surprise. I mean, my
daughter is always running around the world doing good things (Peace
Corps/Americorps/Peace Corps). Posey's homers don't surprise me anymore (but how
far they go certainly does). And, any fool knows there's pretty much always a riot
at the ready in Oakland.

        Gonzo and I used to hang out almost every day for several years and then we drifted
apart when he left politics. Also, he wore an almost identical outfit to mine at a
Green Party fundraiser and that kind of shit just isn't done in SF.

        Not really. Reality is that Gonzalez as I've said many times is the best politician
I've ever known and I've known many. It broke many hearts when the kid from Texas
stopped being a local candidate (can it be 5 years?).

        So, the kid (Matt) is back. Coming on the heels of the Pot Talk TV/Bulldog/Fog City
meeting with 3 major contenders to succeed Mayor Gavin Newsom (evening before we talked
to Hennessey, Herrera and Peskin at Temple Bar)? Like drawing a 4th ace in 7 card
draw. He did not disappoint.

        First, like everyone, I sized up how he looks. Wear and tear of the road bent his
spine or left a palor to his skin? Nope, he looks better than ever (kudos for not
coloring the new gray) and he has a relaxed calm thing going that wasn't there before.
   Whatever he chooses to do, he's loaded for bear.

        He's not a candidate for anything by the way. He and Luke and I spent a good two
hours watching Ron Dellums speak on a video-stream and listening to all of the great
music we haven't shared over the last few years. Matt's hell of a bass player
although he denies it. I played some 'Lightning Bolt' for him (not for the faint of
heart) and he and Luke cued up a variety of bands and solo instrumentalists as we went
over a laundry list of candidates and issues now before the City. All of it off the
record, of course.

        The rendezvous was a result of some stories Luke broke and continues to shepherd on Fog
City Journal about Jeff Adachi's ballot measure introducing pension reforms that will
both save jobs and take 170 million out of the 500 million (at least) projected City
budget deficit next year.

        I've defended Adachi's bold move and he's been attacked by everyone from Gabriel
Haaland and SEIU to Tim Paulson at the Labor Council all the way down to the
independent nation of Marc Salomon. Matt appreciated my work and also was grateful
to Luke for hosting the exchanges and thus, we got the visit.

        I can't tell you specifics but he was his usual candid self and is clearly like totally
plugged into every district supe race and next year's 'Year of the New Mayor' which is
already upon us.

Catch the pension/healthcare reform debate at FogCityJournal.com which is really heating
up and Luke just added another column.

Today's Budget and Finance (11:30am)

Chair: D-11's John Avalos

Vice Chair: D-5's Ross Mirkarimi's

Member: D-7's Sean Elsbernd

Temp: D-10's Sophie Maxwell

Temp: D-9's David Campos

        Fog City is reporting that Chris Daly wants to introduce a call to de-fund the Office
of Public Defender to the tune of 1.28 million just added by unanimous consent to keep
indigent defense at a constitutionally legal level and avoid outsourcing to private
firms which always bill more. Sounds like Chair Avalos likes the idea too.
They are effectively saying that they are stupid enough to not only fall into the
Downtown Sit/Lie trap and have themselves labelled as 'soft on crime' in the Fall
elections but that they're also gonna poke out their other eye by opposing any effort
whatsover in reining in the runaway pension/healthcare bankruptcy express. Is this
the same Daly who took the principled stand of voting against a new central
headquarters for the cops because it didn't include new quarters for prisoners? Now,
he wants them to have inferior legal counsel? I understand that in a further slash
at Matt Gonzalez that Daly wants to have elephants returned to the zoo. But, with
smaller enclosures.

Items #1 and #2 Making it harder to oppose developers

        This is from Gavin, of course. He wants to charge more money for neighbors who want
to challenge the developer-friendly decisions of the Planning Department. Charging
much much more for Discretionary Reviews and the like. You challenge an Angus
McCarthy project? Pay up. Bitch.

Item #3 Mayor wants to give away 40 million to his friends

        Well, his 120 million giveaway of public funds to his friends to all put solar on their
roofs having hit a snag yesterday, he's going for 40 million to pay for their seismic
retro-fitting. Gavin is certainly generous to the rich. Really, you gotta give
that to him if anyone tells you he lacks compassion.

Item #4 Mayor redirecting more money into pocket of rich

        It's billed as: “Who is responsible for collecting and remitting third-party taxes”
and I gotta tell you, it ain't gonna be John Avalos.

Items #5, #6 and #7 are taxes proposed by Avalos, Chiu and Mirkarimi's

        These all rock but I don't have time to go into them. Got about half hour to go get
and cash a check and get back here to pack and watch a half hour of the hearing before
I head for Fresno via what has become a great Amtrak ride. Watching the grandpuppy
and grandcats and grandfish for 6 days. Ya know what I'm talking about?

Go Gigantes!

h.

Today's Rules agenda

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:42:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/08/10 9:54 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   This is a good one if I do say so
myself and I just did.

h.

Hanging with the heavyweights

(3 serious mayoral contenders)

(7-8-10)

        Well my shit sure don't stink this morning. Puffed up and full of myself, that's
what I am today. There's gotta be a guardian angel riding my shoulder these days
and chances are he's drunk too. I mean, listen to this.

        What I like best is hanging with my best friends (the Cohens and Tony De Renzo and Luke
Thomas) and cheering for Buster Posey and the Giants and talking to the best political
minds in the City.

        Well, last night I got all three in spades. Went to Temple Bar to have a drink
(several actually) with Sheriff Michael Hennessey (38 years on the job and counting)
who is also a Giants nut (couldn't believe he's never been to Spring training) and good
buddies Daniel and Becky Cohen and Tony De Renzo (he took lotsa shots and they're on
Face Book and probably You Tube already) ... the Cohens and Tony and big Mike and Fog
City genius Luke Thomas and who's already there?

        Aaron Peskin and Dennis Herrera are already there talking to Hennessey when we arrive.
   Let me tell you straight up, Peskin and Herrera have been hitting more than the
bottle. They look like they've been splitting their time between the gym and the
beach. I mean, no shit. Lean and tanned and looking like Hollywood stars.

        So, I'd tell y'all what we talked about but as they say, then I'd have to kill you so
let's just let it go that there's plenty going on and I know more than you do and
that's just the way God intended it to be so learn to live with it.

        Actually, and this is the truth, we talked very little about politics. I wore my
'Buster' Giants jersey and the boy had one of the best games these four eyes ever saw
anyone have. Grand slam. Two run shot. Infield hit (moves good for a catcher
with a sore knee huh Bochy?). Six RBI's. Jesus h. Christ!

Today's Rules Committee (10am)

Chair: D-9's David Campos

Vice Chair: D-1's Eric Mar

Member: D-2's Michela Alioto-Pier (when's the judge ruling?)

        This is all about some of the proposed Charter amendments I talked to you about
yesterday. Four of em on the agenda.

Item #1 Splitting appointments to Rec and Park Commission

        This is primarily a Ross Mirkarimi measure. The present commission is full of
thieves and liars and dogs. A few years back we gave em 400 million bucks and they
not only wasted 300 million of it (putting duplicate sprinkler and lighting systems
within inches of each other – boy that's something to see) and then, get this, they
couldn't account for over 100 million of the money.

        No shit. No invoices. Not even a bit of lipstick on the collar to show they at
least didn't totally waste the cash. And, that's not the half of it.

        The commission is full of Gavin's billionaire schmoozing socialite assholes and their
only mission in life is to hand over control of as much as possible of the crown jewels
of the system to their friends. The Fisher boys are busy 'paving over paradise and
putting in a parking lot' for the last several years (thanks to Aaron Peskin) and Dede
Wilsey (did you know she's a direct descendant of President James Buchanan?) ... she
owns our Art museum in Golden Gate Park while Warren Hellman owns the parking lot under
it and John Avalos just handed them the keys to the Bontanical Gardens.

Item #2 Transferring Police Department control to Sheriff

        A Chris Daly swan song which has as much chance as a fart in a tornado and I did
mention it to Hennessey last evening and he said that he thought that since this didn't
have a prayer of passing that he thought that Daly should have put a measure on the
ballot requiring that the Chief of Police be elected as they are elsewhere. That's
a brilliant idea.

        I mean, it makes the cops independent of the Mayor and makes their chief directly
answerable to the people. If they don't install Mirkarimi's foot patrols? You
vote the bastards out!

Item #3 Health Board terms and elections (Elsbernd)

        I mean really, who gives a shit?

Item #4 Non-Citizen voting in School Board elections

        A terrific idea and as I said yesterday, sure to stir up a shit storm amongst immigrant
bashing pricks not just here but all over the country. Get ready for busloads of 'My
country right or wrong' dickheads from Arizona demonstrating in front of City Hall with
this one on the ballot. But, you know what? Those dickheads spend money while
they're here so, welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah stranger ... wanna meet my sister?

Enuff.

Go Gigantes!

h.

SF measures for November ballot gell

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:08:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/07/10 7:19 AM
By: h, brown

boys and girls,

   Today's Audit and Oversight Committee should
turn thumb's down on every item before them. It's
nothing but extending a bunch of MOU's for the
major unions Gavin needs in his race for State
office. Extending these 'Memorandums of
Understanding' puts off the reform that can come
from negotiations by someone other than Newsom
for another 2 years. I'm thinking specifically
of the 'Clean Cops' legislation that guarantees
yearly testing of the cops for steroids and HGH
and the usual other drugs that cause fucked up
behavior. Extending the cops' MOU puts cleaning
up their drug problems.

Here's the local November buffet as of this A.M.:

Back to Bulldog Politics

(SF voters to make up to 20, maybe 25 decisions)

(7-7-10)

        Well, y'all ready to get back to work? This is work? Back to our mutual
addiction I should say. It's an exciting election year shaping up. Just on the
SF's front we have as many as 16 Charter/Bond/Ordinance/Resolutions, whatever. I
count 7 tax measures in the lot and some serious (about time) 'Class of 2000' major
commission appointment reforms plus half the City get's to vote on a supervisor (4 of
the 5 will be new which makes for envigorated local campaigns). You can pick new or
re-elect a half dozen cowboys or cowgirls to the SFUSD's Board and the Community
College District and BART. Here's the lay of the land from Bulldog eye level.

1.Sit-Lie will be the most controversial. It's a Newsom measure that is absolutely
meaningless except to brand Progressive candidates who oppose it as being Soft on Crime.
   I'm saying it passes overwhelmingly but doesn't hurt Prog candidates who oppose it.

2.'Sustainable City' is Jeff Adachi's shot at saving $170 million in jobs by reforming
the City's benefits to employees. This is some stew. The Mayor and the unions
and much of the Left hates it cause it either gores their cash cow or gores the cash cow
of their cash cow or they're just nuts and trying to get attention. The Right who should
be rallying to the reform won't touch it for fear of further empowering Adachi.

3.Sean Elsbernd's Muni Charter Amendment should get 60%. Everyone hates MUNI.
Well, not everyone but my green's saying well over half the voters do.

4.Splitting Rec and Park Commission appointments. Led by D-5's Ross Mirkarimi this
one is another shoo-in. Successive mayors have given over control of our parks and
their facilities through this rubber-stamp and unresponsive commission for decades.
Time to put the people's eyes and the people's voice on this and the MTA Board which is
next. You can catch final comments on this before tomorrow's 10am meeting of the
Rules Committee. It's Item #1.

5.People's voice on the MTA Board. Passes easily this time. People are mad at the
Mayor and the MTA Board and rightfully so. Credit for this to a phalanx of
Progressive supes. Throw a rock, hit a buffalo. You know the drill.

6. Voting rights for non-citizen parents of SFUSD students. This one is a Gonzalez
measure that Chiu championed almost a decade back and the current Board prez is making
one more run up the hill. This baby has the potential to be a real thermometer up
SF's collective ass to check how anti-immigrant the City's voters have become. I'm
guessing property owners on the Westside will vote against it overwhelmingly but that
those carefree queers and hippies on the Eastside give it a chance. Again, you can
see the final comments on this measure at tomorrow's Rules Committee (7-8-10) at 10am
and it's Item #4.

7. Saturday Voting Act. This one is the brainchild of Alex Tourk and he's a really
good guy who works for the Devil so I suspect anything he put's forward. I'll be
very interested to see how much money Downtown put's into this campaign. Let me note
that the last time we had Saturday voting was when Willie Brown fixed the Niners stadium
bond issue and a woman who was set to testify to fraud in that election (she supervised
a poll) and her grandchildren were burned to death before she could testify. That
said, it will pass. I just have a very bad feeling about it.

8.Foot Beat Patrols. Didn't we already pass this a couple of times? Yes, that's
very astute of you cause we did. Mirkarimi goes back to the well to remind the
voters that Foot Patrols work (proven everywhere) and the only reason they're rare as
chicken teeth in SF is because the Mayor needs the POA's backing and the cops ain't
getting out of their cars just to get to know the people who pay their salaries.

9.Putting Sheriff over Police Department. Daly's idea and a good one but only if
Hennessey agrees to extend his 38 years as, first counsel to the department and then
Sheriff. This one won't get onto the ballot but you can hear final comments before
tomorrow's Rules again at 10am. It's Item #2.

The rest are pretty bland.

10. Hotel Tax from the Mayor. He calls it something different.

11. Hotel Tax from the Labor Council. They call it something different too but it
will pass along with the Mayor's measure because face it, San Franciscans love to eat
with, drink with and fuck tourists.

12. Decrease Small Business tax and raise those on large from David Chiu

13. Property Transfer Tax from Avalos

14. Tax on Parking and Valet Services from Mirkarimi

15. Third Party Taxes 'reform' from the Mayor is the most confusing item still being
debated. It's Item #4 at a special meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee at
11:30am Friday. This is an automatic 'no' vote for me. Anytime anyone as smart and
savvy as yours truly cannot understand a measure then it was written to confuse and is
evil.

16. Mayor proposes $40 million in free Bond money for the rich to do some seismic
retrofitting. Will pass easily but why so little?

17. And, bringing up the tail is Sean Elsbernd's to stagger the terms of 2 members of
the Health Service Board so that members come up in pairs for re-election instead of all
at once or whatever. Hmmmm.

I'll deal with the State ballot proposals later but Paul Hogarth has been covering them
well at BeyondChron.com and you may as well catch them there. Joshua Sabatini ran
through a few of the local measures in this morning's Examiner also.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Hey Queen Bee and boys and girls,

Pot Talk TV — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:31:00 GMT

On:Jul 07/04/10 11:57 AM
By: h. brown

Hey Queen Bee and boys and girls,

Dig this cartoon

Today's Full Board 6-29-10

Pot Talk TV — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:39:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/29/10 12:29 PM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Class of 2008 Board continues sell-out to
Downtown big money. Giants are a great team
who need your patience. Watch what happens
tonight. Let me put it this way, Bochy's
boys have a better chance against the Dodgers
than the SF Board has against the Cabal.

h.

Bend over for Today's Full Board

(Use lotsa lube too cause you're gonna need it)

        The Mayor is on the verge of getting his final Board approval (Item #53) to rent the
City's Civic Center Auditorium which seats 10,000 to a private arm of the Jewish Cabal
for $300 a day (they don't have to pay while they're reducing the seating to 7,000) and
the Cabal's first act? They told him to get his Project Homeless Connect the fuck
outta the building.

        I shit you not. Cowboys and cowgirls, you cannot possibly make up the atrocities
that regularly are passed into law in this City. And, the Board (this one anyway –
Class of 2008) just goes along with it.

        Hey, if you have to give away another giant public asset, how about tucking a little
provision in that they host Homeless Connect? The Mayor doesn't have that kind of
hammer with the Jewish Cabal is the answer as to why he doesn't do it. No, instead
the Mayor asks the Board for $253,000 to rent space for Homeless Connect. Hell, he
cudda had our own auditorium for almost 3 years 365 days a year for that. C'mon
Gavin, ask 'Another Planet' for a break and watch em laugh in your face.

        Yeah, $300 a day for 30 years (when they're paying) for one of the premier locations in
the world at which you can sell primo seats for a minimum of $50 apiece which can be up
to and perhaps beyond a gross of $350,000 a night. Good deal, Gavin. And, ...
they'll kill all union jobs in the place in the bat of an eye once this passes the
Board today because the Board has passed this with absolutely NO guarantee that union
hiring will continue. God damn it, this should be a closed-shop union facility as
should every single City property.

Consent Agenda

        Peskin and his protoge', David Chiu have and continue to hide items of great import
here. The idea of a 'consent' agenda is that items which should not be
controversial can be passed by acclimation without a whole lot of time consuming
discussion. And, God should forbid that anyone cross the Board prez by calling an
item off the agenda for further discussion. There are a few interesting items on
this agenda today.

        Item #2 guarantees “certain indemnities” for investors in Certificates of Participation
('C.O.P's') which are simply a fancy term for privatization of public buildings and
other resources. Investors not only gain control of the property, but they are to be
indemnified of blame also. Guaranteed profit is next ... but wait! That's
already been done in hundreds of contracts (like the one for the Solar array on the
City owned Sunset Resrvoir). Please Chris Daly, ask Chiu who is being indemnifed
against what.

        Item #3 gives the new Office of Economic and Workforce Development the power to:
“establish eligibility for SF Enterprise Zone tax credits”. Pardon me but, what the
fuck?

        This is the power of giving tax breaks? To whom? By whom? Who had this power
before if anyone? What's the maximum potential cash impact to the General Fund?
Can a whore's crotch be designated as an 'Enterprise Zone'? Just asking. The
Public has a right to know.

Regular agenda items

        Item #29 reads as a straight giveaway of around 40 million bucks to rich property
owners (“owned by private third parties”) to do seismic upgrades to their property.
It says straight up in the legislation that it is just too expensive for certain owners
to pay for seismic upgrading so the City will pay for them. This is no surprise and
there is a precedent.

        Recall a couple of years back when the SFPUC subverted a solar energy fund that was
supposed to pay for panels on public buildings and gave the money to the rich illegally
instead? Jake McGoldrick does. Well, this time the Mayor is making it legal
(gotta be Ed Harrington's hand in here) to give the money to the rich for free from the
get go.

        Item #30 is Board prez David Chiu killing the Telecommunications Commission (it should
be televised again instead) and replacing it with some kind of a Czar position ('Chief
Information Officer'). I guess that makes it easier when you just have one person to
bribe. Watch and see if this doesn't end up being a hire associated with President
Chiu's Grassroots Enterprise, the Christian fundamentalist astro-turf company he
co-founded. The item should go to committee where the Telecommunications Commission
should be re-launched and put back on the tube. It was a great watch until AT&T and
their ilk got tired of even mayoral appointees asking too many questions about their
tactics. And, the things the people used to say about Comcast at Public Comment?
Obviously unacceptable.

        Items #54 and #55 are a public hearing that could really open a can of worms. Someone
had the audacity to ask just how the fuck much the City is spending on curb cuts?
And, re-cuts? And, re-cuts on the re-cuts (I've watched this shit and it happens
and primary contractor seems to be Bode and who the hell did they send a truckload of
money to?).

        Item #66 is a reaffirmation of the Full Board's agreement that it is a great thing to
throw all of the homeless people out of the shelter at 150 Otis and re-shape the thing
as a 'mixed' project with some affordable housing. It's a hundred year contract by
the way. The homeless evicted from the shelter day before yesterday were in the
street in front of the place protesting. This thing should be back to committee on
a rocket. Whose district is this building in?

        Item #67 is an 8.5 million dollar giveaway to the YMCA. Hey, I'm no Christian but
neither is anyone on the YMCA Board of Directors anymore and I'm tired of them hiding
behind the 'faith-based' bullshit. Where's the money going? Feinstein just got
them 17 million in TARP money (?) just for their Golden Gate Avenue project. Call
it what it is. More free money for projects of the local Jewish cabal.

Giants are OK ... just add patience

        You see the game the other night when Lincecum got knocked out of a game against the
BoSox after 3 innings? We lost 4-2 and everyone without a brain moaned and bitched.
   There was a silver lining. Say what!?!

        Well my little dip shit, the Giants pitchers combined to strike out 15 batters of the
best hitting lineup in baseball. We do that kind of shit all the time.

        Seriously. This team is deep and the worst thing that Sabean and Evans could do is
to panic now and trade any of these kids. We're fine as we are and you can bet your
sweet bippy on it.

        We're last in the majors in driving in men on base. You think that's not going to
change? You think our hitters all lump up? Bullshit. The number (like hitting
into double-plays) is a statistical aberration.

Stand pat, Brian.

Tonight ... Matt Cain against Dodgers

7pm

I'm standing here yelling the Giants are great.

Why am I standing alone?

h.

Today's Board and here come da Dodgers!

Pot Talk TV — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:31:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/28/10 9:08 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   It will be good to get back to Fog City
late evening and how much more did the Giants
make from 'dynamic' ticket pricing during the
Red Sox series? Not begrudging them. It
is a business. Just curious.

Zito vs Billingsley 7:15pm

Go Gigantes!

Budget charade nears end

(“Well encumber my add-back!”)

(6-28-10)

        The biggest lie told year after year, day in and day out by the Mayor and his staff and
their boatload of lackey writers (Garcia and Griffin and Nevius being the major perps)
... biggest load of crap is that the Board of Supes has some significant say over how
money is budgeted in this town.

        Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, 99.4% further from the truth I guess
I should say. That's because everyone (including the BOS) likes to pretend that the
.6% they change the budget the Mayor sends them actually gets changed. It's not
true.

        Naw, it's all on the Mayor. How money is spent in this town I mean. Columns
about how with 'Progressives on the Board in power” have spent the City's money are
garbage. I often wonder how an otherwise honorable guy like C.W. Nevius must feel
when he talks about the BOS throwing money around when he knows that it's 99% the
Mayor. Here's how it works.

        Every year the BOS receives the Mayor's budget and runs over 6,000 plus millions (6.5
billion this year) and culls out less than 1% of the proposed expenditures. Last
year they deleted 43 million and the Mayor agreed to give them that much power. He
promised them he would anyway. Budget Chair, John Avalos made a big deal about how
they should trust him to actually do it. Then, a strange thing happened.

        The money the Board designates (.6%) are called 'Add-Backs' and normally they save
things like programs for the 'crippled, blind and crazy' as the cynics around the
firehouse used to say. But, this year when Avalos asked the Mayor's Office (Greg
Wagner, Budget Director) if they'd spent the money they answered that they had reserved
or “encumbered” the money making it not available for uses other than those promised to
Avalos and his fellow supes.

        A couple of years ago if I'm not mistaken the Mayor's Office even got a ruling from
some legal entity that said that they weren't required to honor these 'Add-Backs' at
all. I don't know what happened to that because they keep going through this dance
every year at least pretending that it is the BOS that is in charge and to whom the
devastated masses should turn their pleas.

        It's a really strange scene. If there were justice it would be Gavin Newsom sitting
in the Board chambers listening to the public beg for relief. He's the only one who
can really help them. But, oh no, we get Chiu and Avalos and da Mirk and even Chris
Daly for several years sitting there listening to a thousand supplicants (less each
year as the BOS shortens speakers' time and uses parliamentary tricks to shut them
down) ... so, for 2 months or so you get to watch a steady stream of uninformed
speakers ask the Board to help them. And, they think the Board can! Reality is
that the only real power the BOS has is to put measures on the ballot for the public to
override mayoral decisions (not that he pays attention). That's how we got a
full-time BOS instead of a bunch of dilletante pawns. It's how we got the highest
minimum wage in the country (both these measures were Gonzalez). It's how we got the
country's first universal health care (thanks to Ammiano for that one). Well, we're
down to the last 48 hours of budget season.

        That will be over in a couple of days now and we can all start gearing up for the
Board's month long vacation and concentrate on the 5 supe races plus Gavin and Kamala's
attempts to tunnel out of town. Only a couple of items before the committees caught
my attention today.

        Item #7 before the Special Budget Committee meeting at 10am this morning involves
outsourcing medical care at the CCSF jails. This is cruel and unusual punishment
and not worthy of the City of St. Francis. In the morning press there is a story
about a guy in jail for bouncing checks who died from 3 different diseases while
begging for medical care. They gave the poor fucker tylenol. Actual treatment
cuts into profit margins and these inmates are, after all, convicted criminals.

        The afternoon (1pm) meeting of City Ops and Neighborhood Services also has an
interesting Item #7. It is a proposal by my own district supervisor, Chris Daly
that rules for hanging banners in the City be removed for D-6 supe candidate Elaine
Zamora's CBD. That's a 'Community Benefit District' and hers is the 'North of
Market Tenderloin Community Benefit District' (she get's 160k a year to cut down
benches and keep parks closed and, it would seem, hang banners).

        I find it interesting that Daly would front for this woman who until this year was the
complete opposite philosophically of the original Chris Daly. Why the hell is he
worried that she get to hang banners but will not respond when I ask him to challenge
the cops and the Mayor and go down and open Boeddeker Park with a pair of bolt biters?
   Why he won't propose replacing the benches that have been removed from sidewalks and
plazas all over his district? Why he won't propose legislation that would lift the
prohibition of 15,000 SRO residents against having visitors on payday? Instead he's
out there carrying water for Zamora.

        Well, last day in Fresno for this round of house/grand-pet sitting. It's been really
nice. I'm a tough old bird and I'm not afraid of the streets of the Tenderloin
where I've lived in SRO's and managed property much of the last 30 years. But, it
is nice to go to sleep without the sound of screaming insane people and drunks and
addicts under my window. But, it's not like they have anywhere else to go. No
parks to recline in. No benches to take a load off. Ask Daly about that. He
used to fight for us on matters like this. Now he fights for self-congratulatory
banners for Randy Shaw and Elaine Zamora.

        Incidentally, we have a new precinct boss at the Tenderloin cop shop. What's up with
that? Old Dominic didn't last much more than 6 months if that. I'm betting it's
cause his ComStat numbers were useless cause his guys and gals under-report crime.

Well, we gots the Dodgers in town today and I want to ask Giants fans to show some class
which they always do anyway. I was particularly troubled to see the really nasty
email I received from Red Sox fans during Boston's 3 day stay. Frankly, I'm rooting
that the Yankees beat the shit out of them from here on. I know that the small amount
of vibes I put out into the Baseball Cosmos is not significant but if it helps Boston
lose at least one game and it's an important one? Priceless.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Today's Special Rules and fade into novel mode

Pot Talk TV — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:49:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/25/10 10:43 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   What you're gonna see more of from here til
January when the Class of 2000's final two
members (Daly and Maxwell) fade to oblivion will
be notes about when they and their comrades were
10 years younger and ...

A comparison in proposed charter changes between
Class of 2000 and 2010.

When in doubt vote 'No'.

h.

Class of 2008 and MTA

(Gonzo/Hall kicked ass)

(6-25-10)

        Today at 1pm the 2008 Board's Rules Committee will have a special meeting aimed mainly
at approving Item #4 which is a measure they'd like to put before the voters. It's
about putting BOS appointees on the MTA. 'Split appointments' such as this were a
front burner item with the Class of 2000.

        Gonazalez led the charge against the tyrannical Willie Brown who ruled the City with an
iron hand and sold every piece of it that it was possible for him to sell. Willie
remains the same Uncle Tom sell-out asshole today that he was then but far be it from
me to bad mouth the mother fucker.

        Anyway, Willie did things like keep dozens of appointees to commissions and the like in
limbo. He'd let their term expire and then not re-appoint them (hey, they needed
these spots if they were going to get their own graft). So, by the rules at the time
they would continue to sit on their respective bodies but only as long as they kissed
Willie's ass and contributed or made certain their friends continued to contribute to
King Willie.

        And, he had complete control of every department and commission. Virtually every
vote of every body was unanimous. This was the atmosphere under which the Class of
2000 took office.

        But, let's save all of that for the novel. Which will be fiction trust me. I
mean what kind of an idiot would insult people like child slave labor billionaire
Donald Fisher or ... by name? Certainly not me.

        Suffice to summarize that Matt Gonzalez changed all of that. He made an alliance
with the most conservative member of the Board (Tony Hall) and together they put forth
a series of charter amendments that gave the BOS and the little guys and gals in the
districts a presence and voice on the major commissions. Planning and Elections and
DBI and Police and the Board of Appeals. There was much more. This Class of
2008 are pikers in comparison. While anything that Gonzo and Tony agreed upon got a
guaranteed 70% vote of the electorate for 3 years, the much diluted Peskin Board and
this even more watered-down 2008 group hasn't beaten the Mayor for the last 3 years.

        Thus this Item #4 on today's Special Rules Committee meeting takes on a special (though
minor) significance. I mean, this should be a slam dunk but there is no alliance
between Elsbernd and Mirkarimi that would guarantee passage (hell, they both want
reform). It speaks volumes about the differences in the kind of candidates we had in
2000 and the type we have in 2010.

        So, the committee meets at 1:30pm and we'll see if the Mayor who has completely and
totally fucked up the MTA and Muni and extorted money and positions from their budget
like a god damned bank robber since he inherited his bandana from Willie ... we'll
see if the Class of 2008 can even get the friggin' thing on the ballot.

Don't despair Giants' fans.

We owed Houston big time.

L.A. has lost 7 of last 10.

What is this 'soccer' thing everyone is yelling about?

Go Giantes!

h.

Political junkie? Tune in SFGTV.org now

Pot Talk TV — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:47:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/25/10 4:40 PM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

This has been a fantastic (brains-wise)meeting
of the Board's Rules Committee (OK, 'special' meeting).

Really, if you're hooked on this shit, tune in now.
Nate Ford is talking and the BOS keeps playing 'Musical
Chairs' so they won't have a quorum. They keep trading
seats to get near the bleeding Muni whale (not Ford, he's
pretty fit looking - but then, so was the whale until
'Jaws' Campos got an angle).

dig it ... this will go another couple of hours at least.

Keep in mind. This is to put a charter amendment on the
November ballot that will give us (the public) a closer
oversight over Muni and their MTA gods. If the earlier
part of the hearing where we listened to people who were
being re-nominated for the Planning Commission are a valid
base-line ... lord, do we (the public) have better input.
Let's do it with Muni and MTA.

Mayoral aspirations out the ass on the floor.

State government wishes?

go Giants!

We can agree on that last one, right?

Jonathan Sanchez against Tim Wakefield 7:15pm.

h.

Feinstein/Blum thru URS created Nate Ford

Pot Talk TV — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:45:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/25/10 4:55 PM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

You watching this now? What the other folks
covering this won't tell you out of ignorance
or censorship is that Nate Ford got his first
major job in transportation working on a BART
extension in the East Bay. Dick Blum (Feinstein's
hubby and damn does that get him some federal funds
for his projects of whaaat?) ... Blum hired Ford
and he's moved steadily up the nation 'Farm System'
of faces in the 'ethnic' section of the URS and
subsequent embodiments of the particular investment
group (own all the way down to 'Smart Carte' - Dianne
got em exclusive franchises in 1,200 airports) ...

Anyway, they push Ford as having been the results
of a 'nationwide/international search' and nothing
could be further from the truth.

h.

Reader takes apart Bulldog picks

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:42:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/24/10 11:02 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

Well, it is 5 months til election.

Dig this response. Maybe I'm dumber than
I think I am after all. Imagine that.

h.

----------------------------------- Original Message -----------------------------------

H--darts against the wall. Here is my take/response.

D2: what about the litigation over Alioto-Pier?
The case is being heard by Woolard @ 400 McAllister and that can change the outcome.

D6: on the basis of what, a debate seen by 200 people, most of whom live outside D6.
That one is too fluid to call, too many big endorsements still out.

D8: mandelman has a tough race. Been around the Castro lately? Wiener has more signs up
that Gonzalez did. Wiener sleeps only four hours a day and is an incredibly hard
working candidate, and is a money machine.

D10: Jackson no longer works for the labor council. Check his ethics filings man? He
has not yet qualified for a dime. They are still checking his first application for
funds.
Again, a wide open field.
5 candidates in D10 have already qualified for public funds.

What is wrong with the honest truth? We don't know and can't know. Uncertainty is a fact
of life, why should things be different in electoral politics.

SFYD’s District 6 Supervisor. Watch it HERE.

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:14:00 GMT

SFYD Candidate Forum Wrap Up…

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:02:00 GMT

SFYD Candidate Forum Wrap Up…

Live SoMa | Jun 24, 2010 | Comments 0

When all is said and done, the San Francisco Young Democrats District 6 Candidate Forum went off without a hitch. In fact, I’m pretty sure the most heated person at the Forum had to be the Fire Marshall as crowds of local residents and supporters overflowed the community room at the South Beach Yacht Club.

The D6 Candidate Panel

Special thanks to the planners who decided to host the event in a room that was completely back lit. It was probably fine for some of the ‘professional photographers,’ but with my local community (read: small time) budget, it almost rendered my camera completely useless.

So what did we learn at last nights forum? For starters, the ‘let’s pick on the new kid’ strategy implemented by more than 50% of participating candidates pretty much backfired. During the candidate vs. candidate round, everyone (save for Theresa and Deborah, who both exchanged blows) threw a question at Jane Kim. I was even waiting for Kim to drill herself on how ‘new and inexperienced’ she is within the District.

I couldn’t tell if it was an ‘easy’ attempt to derail Kim’s campaign before it even begins, or a way of avoiding the heavyweight candidates on the right side of the panel. Or maybe it was a conscious choice from all candidates to ignore that side of the room and all of their hot air. Either way, I was disappointed by this tactic. Jane held her own (with assistance from her note pad) and we learned nothing from any of the other candidates; hence it was a small waste of an hour of time that could have been better spent fixing Muni.

I don’t pretend to be a Political Savant of any sort. However, as a citizen and resident of the South of Market Neighborhood, here is my take on each of the candidates as I witnessed them yesterday:

Deborah Walker

I realize that Deborah is the perceived front runner. I’m not sure what God-like figure is behind her curtain, but I certainly would appreciate an honest answer to just one question.

Every time she speaks, it sounds rehearsed and ‘voter-friendly’. The other quality her answers all seem to share is that they never contain an answer to the question that is asked.

Next time, you may want to consider bringing a smaller entourage with you as the community rooms in which these events are held are pretty small. It would be better if you allowed actual voters to have a spot, rather than a room full of Walker Blowhards.

Theresa Sparks

Similar to Ms. Walker, Theresa is also a perceived front-runner. Again, that just says to me that there’s someone important pulling the strings behind the scenes because- as a community member in District 6- I have yet to see her do much of anything.

She at least had an answer to Deborah Walker’s question about corruption in the SFPD while Sparks served on the Police Commission, even if that answer was ‘my hands were tied.’

Jim Meko

As the forum moderator, Melissa Griffin, mentioned, how does the oldest candidate in the race have the coolest website? He’s also the only candidate as of yet who has been actively releasing online videos about his platform.

He held his own against the big wigs, primarily because he’s a very active community advocate in SOMA, and has been active for decades. He also lacks the ‘political polish’ of Walker and Sparks, but that can be seen as either good or bad. Good because he seems ‘real’, bad because ‘real’ is usually tough to translate into votes.

Glendon “Anna Conda” Hyde

Glendon "Anna Conda" Hyde

This was my first experience with Anna Conda. Quite honestly, I considered her candidacy a joke, much like Gary Coleman for Governor in 2003. She held her own though, coming off as more informed and honest about the issues she was asked to speak on.

My one problem with her comment on night club trash removal was that this City is cash-strapped, so adding programs to the district that won’t generate clear revenue is probably not a great idea. Although it would be nice to get rid of night club trash in ways other than dumping it into the Bay.

James Keys

One of the victims of the Jane Kim Show had to be James Keys. I must say that his campaign photos are much more commanding than his forum presence.

This was my first experience with Mr. Keys as well, and I was slightly expecting more of a presence from him. He seemed kind and friendly, but in a cage full of hungry lions, that gets you nowhere.

Jane Kim

Jane reminds me of a high school math teacher, who was so nice that nobody wanted to disrupt her class. In the political arena, niceness (and youth) apparently places a target on your forehead.

Aside from constantly referring to her note pad and the one preface of “I haven’t yet read that…”, I felt that she maintained her composure despite the fact that the panel spent most of the hour watching her jump through hoops.

Matt Drake

I like Matt Drake. He’s a good guy. Unfortunately, the forum didn’t give him much to talk about, so I have no idea what his platform is. His only memorable moment in the forum was a softball audience question that asked him his stance on the Folsom Street Festival, as well as if he plans to attend and what he’ll wear. His answer? He supports the festival and feels it’s good for the community even though he doesn’t always attend. He added that when he does go, he’ll likely wear more clothing than most of the other participants. I would have said that I would wear much less clothing than a stuffy suit instead.

Lastly, I would like to send some serious props to Melissa Griffin for doing a fantastic job as Forum Moderator. She kept the tone light and fun, even when some of the candidates tried to get more serious. I also respect anyone who’ll go into a room full of political candidates and crack some jokes about them, regardless of how lightly toned they were.

And one more thanks to our friends over at VidSF for providing the Live stream here on LiveSOMA. They also create other, local, non-political content, so check them out.

I’ve been chatting with them about getting an ‘on demand’ version of the forum that you can reference in the future. More to come on that…

—————————————————

It is our goal at LiveSOMA.com to help build a stronger community by sharing local issues and ideas in an open forum. We are not endorsing any single candidate as we have invited each to contribute. It is at their sole discretion as to whether they contribute or not.

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Dristrict 6 Candidate Respose to Key Issues

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:27:00 GMT

Young Democrats District 6 Supervisor Forum

Bulldog calls November super races in June

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:06:26 GMT

On:Jun 06/24/10 9:29 AM
By h. Brown

boys and girls,

   Who runs 'WDG Ventures'? Plus, what's
"so good about goodbye and how can farewell
be fair?". Some Motown group.

We're gonna have 4 new supes in January.
Read their names here first.

Also, Budget and Finance and Gov. Audit and
Oversight rubber-stamp agendas.

Go Gigantes!

h.

Bulldog calls November Board winners

(Reilly, Kim, Mandelman & Jackson newbies)

(6-24-10)

        The district elections are over. Janet Reilly will win in D-2 to succeed Michela
Alioto-Pier and Gavin Newsom before her. She'll win with beauty (dig the looks on
Pier and Newsom) ... with beauty, brains and because her husband is not only rich but
also one of the smartest political operators in the State.

        Rafael Mandelman will win in D-8 because it's a naturally Progressive district and the
only reason Eileen Hansen didn't beat Leno or Dufty was anatomical.

        Jane Kim convinced me at last night's SFYD forum (great job of online streaming,
brother Tourk) ... Kim has looks and brains and high name recognition. Meko and
Walker are more deserving and would be better for the district but that's just tough
titty.

        Chris Jackson wins in D-10 because he'll have the backing of the Labor Council where he
presently draws a check and Lennar which has a ring through the nose of said council.
  I like Tony Kelly best and Bill Barnes is a sentimental pick but neither will have
the cash to match Jackson.

Avalos/Chiu continue to silence Public Comment

“The Public Comment legally required ...
was provided and completed June 21st.”

(this on June 24th agenda)

        I'd like to know the difference in hours in which the Public was allowed to comment on
the CCSF budget was between the Board presidencies of Tom Ammiano and Matt Gonzalez and
Aaron Peskin and David Chiu. You can bet your ass that Chiu with the connivance of
John Avalos has manuevered to only hear half of the amount. Sadly, it's the same
with comments before Board committees and the Full Board. Three minutes used to be
standard. Starting with Peskin, it's pretty much always two minutes now.

        So, now we are here 3 days after the end of Public Comment with the yet another set of
opportunities for the cops and firefighters and Park and Rec and Planning and virtually
every other major department getting a second bite of the apple to convince the supes
to hold the course on their deals with the Mayor and there is no input from the masses.
   Shame on David Chiu and shame on John Avalos.

Full Budget Committee (10am)

Chair: D-11's John Avalos

Vice Chair: D-5's Ross Mirkarimi

Member: D-7's Sean Elsbernd

Temp: D-10's Sophie Maxwell

Temp: D-9's David Campos

        Items #1 and #2 are the presentations of the major departments who are in their second
and probably last go-through. Avalos has promised to have this budget
rubber-stamped and out the chambers door by next Wednesday after which he and Gavin
will shake hands before cameras and the Mayor's people will snicker in the background
because the supes just bought another cuts-only farce.

Item #3 “Grab the plates and run!”

        That's what guys used to say in the old neighborhood when they lent you their car.
In the event you had a wreck that is. It's kinda getting that way in SF which I'm
trying to understand.

        In olden times when you got into a wreck or fell down some stairs or your house caught
on fire you were glad to hear the fire truck coming. Now, under Gavin Newsom you
better grab the plates and run.

        Did you know that if someone else calls an ambulance for you even if you don't want it
that you're going to be billed up to nearly $2,000 for a one-way ride to the hospital?
   Uh huh. Even if you refuse the ride? Still gonna be over $300 just for the
FD to just show up and get your ID. Like we aren't paying Hayes-White and her 58
assistant chiefs enough?

        The solution here is to combine the Police and Fire departments into a Department of
Public Safety and school recruits in both cop work and FD tasking in secondary school
in my emergency services curriculum. It's been done all over the country and done
successfully. Hey, the firefighters here fight less than half the fires they fought
30 years ago. They need something to do so let's give em guns and the powers of
arrest.

        God knows the cops need to get their butts out of their cars. Firefighters bust
their asses training every day (I know cause I was one) and our donut brigade would use
a few mornings a week practicing raising ladders and dragging hose lines. Actually,
both sides will love it.

        I can't figure out why the Mayor is adding a fee to clean up the broken glass and wash
away the blood from accidents. The firefighters are already getting paid as is DPW.
   Why soak someone who just had a traumatic experience anyway? Gotta be something
to do with insurance.

Government Audit and Oversight (1pm)

Chair: D-1's Eric Mar

Vice Chair: D-4's Carmen Chu

Member: Former Acting Mayor, Chris Daly

Item #1 Giving away another Public structure for 100 years

        This one is at 150 Otis and someone (damned if I can find their Board of Directors)
... someone was able to get Fred Blackwell and the Redevelopment agency to give them
some City money to take control of this property and re-purpose it from housing for the
homeless to “low income' rentals that are too expensive for the former residents to
live there. And thus, be forced out of town or into jail. For sitting on the
sidewalk when they have no place to live.

Someone tell me who the principals behind 150 Otis Associates L.P. are please.

Item #2 8.5 million for whomever controls the SF YMCA

        Charles M. Collins is the CEO of the area Y's since 2008. That's when the takeover
of the organization was pretty much completed. Charles' Managing Director is from
Wells Fargo which you can say for much of the Board. They are in a word, Real
Estate Developers.

        Remember the first thing they did when they took over control of the Young Men's
Christian Association? They tried to sell the Japantown YMCA although they knew
full well that the Y didn't really own it. It was being held in trust by the Y for
Japanese citizens who weren't allowed to own property. Only the harsh glare of media
exposure backed the 'new' Y leadership from fucking the Japanese.

        Along those lines, the Y decided to convert their lower class housing at their mid-town
facility to housing pretty much along the lines of what is proposed by the 150 Otis
group. Can it be that the two things are related? Could that be why they are
alone together on the agenda? Let me say this about that.

        TNDC is the new developer of the Y's Golden Gate Street flagship property. Took it
over from John Stewart. Seems natural that a faith-based organization like TNDC
(founded by Brother Kelly Cullen) should join with a Christian organization like the Y
to continue their noble non-profit work?

        Actually TNDC is now run by the Jewish Cabal and more than a few of them have preached
to me (including their Executive Director, Don Falk) that this is not an organization
that intends to run at a loss. And, it is no longer a Christian organization.
“It's a business.” Falk said. This was as he was telling me that there was no way I
could live in any of their 17 buildings because my Social Security retirement income
wasn't sufficient. Not without a subsidy. More gentrification. What can I
do? Just report it. And be ignored. They're like the Borg. You can walk
around right in the middle of their warship and they don't care because you're
inconsequential.

Full Budget Committee (1:15pm)

        So, what do you do for an encore when you've just given away a major City structure for
100 years and handed over a few more million to make low income housing unafforable for
the poor? Well, John Avalos is closing this day by, 'Transferring the functions of
City Departments'. Say, huh? So, if your house catches on fire Park and Rec
shows up? Just kidding folks. Little levity for a day when the Board is doing
(in my opinion) much evil

Giants at 11am

Will Posey play? It looked like Bochy was fucking with him yesterday. Had him
standing at top of stairs to pinch hit. Then in on-deck circle. Then called him
back for Schierholtz (who promptly struck out) ... and had Posey putting on the
catcher's gear (they'd pinch-run for Molina). Then, Bochy put Whiteside in to catch
and sat Posey back on bench. What you think?

h.

Elsbernd's attack on Ross were stupid

Pot Talk TV — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:06:00 GMT

On:Jun 06/23/10 11:15 AM
By: h. brown

boys and girls,

   Sean Elsbernd represents the wealthiest people
in the City like a boot-licking dog. He always
has. He always will. He has been working
diligently to hand over every single valuable
piece of City property to his billionaire masters
since he was Tony Hall's aide. These are simple
facts.

   So, how would he like it if Ross Mirkarimi went
in front of the Chamber of Commerce and insulted
him right in the middle of one of their meetings
when, say ... oh, Sandy Tatum or The Fisher Boys
or Warren Hellman were present? Oh, Sean wouldn't
like that at all.

   Thus, it was in poor form when Elsbernd pointedly
insulted D-5's Mirkarimi in front of a chamber filled
with Ross' natural base supporters.

   Elsbernd had the advantage and he's not agile
enough to realize that sometimes it's wise to pass
up a slam at the net. He's always been that way. I
don't know why. I'm not a psychiatrist. Probably
something happened in the schoolyard when he was a kid.

   Anyway, he saw the opportunity and took it and he
shouldn't have. He saw a room full of divided union
workers and none of them are his friends nor will they
ever be since he is the #1 mouthpiece on the BOS for
their oppressors.

   It was Board's Special Sub-Committee Budget and
Finance meeting 6-23-10 at 9:30am start and was late
into Item #1, giving the Bill Graham people an iron
lock contract on the City's top gathering spot (Civic
Center Auditorium - 10,000) ... to hand big business
a contract before they've agreed to sign an iron lock
contract to use all (that's 100%) union labor for the
duration of the lease. Sean hates unions. Always
has and always will. Or, does he? Or, is he really
so insecure that he needs those ego propping rounds
of golf with the super rich just to look himself in
the mirror?

   Rein it in Sean. You should be growing as a
person, not shrinking. You've always been a prickly
character and that's just you. But, while you cannot
change things like that which are in your DNA, you can
learn to control your counter-productive attacks on
people you might need later. You're starting to mimic
my conduct guy and that worries me.

h.