Author Archives: gdewar

This year we have a lot of elections this year – everything from President down to Supervisor here in SF. You can expect the usual avalanche of junk mail, advertising, and whatnot everywhere you go. Today I’m making a modest proposal for Campaign 2012 focused on our local elections – a signed pledge by every candidate running for Supervisor in San Francisco stating that they intend to actually serve the full term of the office they claim to be seeking in 2012.
This may seem superfluous, but look back to just last year. We had several candidates for office who got elected in 2008 saying they wanted to serve as Supervisor or in some other capacity, but within a few years were spending most of their time running for Mayor. Not only did this mean they spent a lot of time not doing the job they were elected to do (and well paid for) but also spent taxpayer money to get that other big job.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people who are filling our boxes with junk mail and ads saying how they’re going to do all sorts of wonderful things as Supervisor to sign a pledge saying that they will actually do said job.
Obviously there’s nothing legal binding anyone to said agreement, but anyone breaking it sure would look shady, that’s for sure. Likewise, those who did honor it would restore some integrity to CIty Hall.
Here’s a suggested pledge:

I (state your name) am running for Supervisor in 2012. If elected by the voters of my district, I hearby pledge to serve the entire term in office.
I will not run for higher office during my term, nor will I raise money to run for another office during my term.
I will serve the people of San Francisco to the best of my abilities and will stay at City Hall during my four year term.
SIgned (state your name)

It’d be curious to see if anyone signed this pledge. I certainly would like to know if I vote for someone or volunteer on their campaign that they’d actually follow through, and not just use City Hall as a campaign office for another gig.
If you have suggestions for this proposed pledge, leave a comment in the section below. Thanks!

WTF, OccupySF?
Seriously. First I read this story where the “brave” Occupy Army went and harassed a locally owned business based on totally false information that made them look like complete idiots. Wow! Way to show solidarity with the 99%, gang! What’s next, beating up hot dog vendors in the Mission?
Second, I read a story in the Chronicle about the increasing number of homeless kids in SF public schools. (the story doesn’t mention the number of kids who may have a roof over their head, but still live in poverty). This, in a city of billionaires and innovation? Really? Even worse, these kids have to compete against kids in wealthy suburbs (who have all the advantages necessary) on standardized tests. You’d think that would inspire some direct action, perhaps at a billionaire party, or a corrupt fundraiser for the “Mayor” or one for Supervisors, or for anyone in the Political Establishment? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
Instead, there’s just more infighting about whether to camp in the Mission, or whatever. Fortunately, the disorganization at City Hall is about the same at OccupyCampingSF, so no raids are forthcoming. Thank goodness the camping can continue.
I don’t disagree with some of the points the Occupy movement is supposed to be making – it’s a sick world we live in whereby profitable banks like Wells Fargo are getting huge tax rebates (and bailouts from taxpayers) and meanwhile I’m fighting off illegal charges to my dead dad’s estate by similar banks and the like, charged in the hopes I’m either too dumb or too frustrated to fight them. It’s even more frustrating to see needed projects get held up in bureaucratic limbo – but a stadium for billionaires gets a pass on CEQA and a billionare yacht race is being subsidized by a broke city.
Unfortunately once you leave echo chambers like blogs and IndyBay and other said media, the message ain’t getting through to the people who really are part of the true 99%. Anecdote: During the holidays I was at a suburban pizza place and the news was on some of the TVs. When the latest footage of Camping SF came on, I couldn’t help but overhear comments by folks, most of whom wrote the whole thing off as a bunch of kids playing protester. However, these people are also folks who are getting screwed over by a tax burden shifted from the wealthy to the 99%, who are paying more in taxes and getting less in services, and so on. They should be joining the movement (if they do in fact feel it’s in their interests) but they won’t because who wants to be around a bunch of smelly protesters bent on God Knows What?
In the end, this is becoming a clusterf*ck on all sides, and like most “protests” on the left, will go nowhere. That’s too bad , because another loud, unruly lot, the Tea Party folks, have practically “occupied” the GOP to the point where a joker like Herman Cain was considered a real candidate for President.
WTF, indeed.

(This is an expanded version of a post I did earlier this week.)
The #Occupy movement, be it in San Francisco, Oakland or elsewhere insists on having “no leaders” to distinguish themselves from The Man, Wall Street, etc. That’s lovely. However, this leaderless movement has created an unintended consequence: we’re no longer talking about issues of economic inequality, democracy, corporate accountability or other Really Big Problems, and how to fix them.
Instead, we’re mostly talking about a movement centered on camping in parks.
While there’s a core group of people who are committed to an Actual Cause, there’s a growing part of the encampments that are only about people wanting to camp in parks and be allowed to do whatever they want, laws and civility and cleanliness be damned.
Mike Aldax’s day with #occupysf made this clear – and that the growth of the “camp” has less to do with people working to bring up issues, and more to do with transients taking advantage of the situation for their own selfish needs (drugs, booze, etc.) Needless to say, this isn’t doing much to expand the people involved to include more of the Actual 99% they claim to represent.
I support the Occupy movement bringing up their issues and forcing people to confront what they’ve been in denial about, but it’s time to apply some creativity. We don’t have to have people camping in crappy tents in a park to continue to force local and national government to deal with the issues mentioned above. They also need to do some (gasp!) self-policing and tell those who are there to cause trouble to fuck off, and work with the police to keep the peace if they want to keep claiming the moral high ground.
The “shock and awe” movement of the initial Occupy movement is over – its time for Act II. Be creative. Don’t repeat the past like a Civil War re-enactment (looking at you, 21st century hippies). Blow minds, not with your funk, but with something that really shows why financial abuses by the few at the top harm the many, and why we who aren’t hipsters, hippies, or Those Not Part of the Left should give a damn.
Oh, and that “human microphone” thing? Cute, but the joke’s over. At this point it just sounds like a Protestant church overrun by angry white kids.
Don’t take my word for it. Here’s some additional insight from those who’ve seen this all before, and make some suggestions, which of course will be ignored by Occupy.
Final thought: How many of ‘em went to vote in the SF Mayoral election, where LITERALLY the “1%” bankrolled a campaign to protect their tax breaks and elect our “Mayor” ?
Oh, right. They were at the camp site.

I’ve made no secret in the past that I am a true “law and order” kind of guy, in that I believe both the state and the people need to abide by rules, created by the people, and enforced by the state, to ensure than tyranny by the mob does not rule.
That said, I don’t disagree with most of what the #occupysf folks are out there for. Even as a capitalist who technically should be on the side of those shi*tty big banks who bankrupted the world economy, I cannot abide by them. That is because at heart, I am a true capitalist, and I think those who manipulate government to allow for so-called “investments” that would not meet the standards of the shadiest Las Vegas Casino, much less what the SEC should allow, need to seriously STFU. Also, those shithead “banks” are fucking over real capitalists and have shit interest rates. So, yes, the #occupysf movement is making a point, and if it means some days in the park, whatever.
Today, however I talk about talk vs. action. In San Francisco we have a member of our Board of Supervisors (A county legislator for the rest of you outside our fair City and County, a unique blend of government in California), who is trying to ride the #occupy movemenet to City Hall as Mayor. That is his right, of course, but what I find offensive is the use of the most impotent weapon out there: the Non Binding Resolution.
What this means to you, the #occupy supporter in San Francsico, and to the millions of you outside of San Francisco who are ticked off at income inequality and at a political system that makes money #1 and the people #230002893203020320302 is that despite all the heat and light discussed tomorrow, at the Board of Supervisors meeting is that, no matter what, not a goddamned thing will change.
Yes, you’ll have a nice piece of paper with the City’s name on it supporting La Causa. A failed candidate for Mayor will have something to slap on some cheap dead tree in the last 7 days of the race. The Temp Mayor, who is truly the mayor of the 1% will have to either go nuclear in his response or save it for November 9th, post election. In the end, the “politics of feelings” will have won and a chance at stopping the localized version of corruption will be swept away, a la Oakland last week.
There is another option.
That option is to tell all the self-serving politicians who show up and talk liberal platitiudes at #occupysf and tell them to fuck the Hell off unless they do the following:
-They renounce Ed Lee, a puppet of the corporations who is doing what he is told and is well paid to do so
-They renounce things like a billionaire yacht race that gives away the City to the Billionaire 1% while they pay not a dime, all in the promise of “trickle down economics”
-They stop giving billionaires like Sean Parker tax breaks, while small businesses in our neighborhoods shutter because they can’t make payroll.
-They stop supporting a plan that kills public transit for the pathetic needs of a few so-called “non profits” and steers money away from the N-Judah, the 5-Fulton, the 38-Geary, the L-Taraval, the M-Ocean View and more.
It’s up to you #OccupySF and up to you, Liberal San Francisco. Don’t be bullshitted by dead tree mail or empty actions. It’s the votes that count and if after 10+ years of So-Called Progressives running the legislative branch of City government you can’t stop it?
It’s time to admit you lose.
And you and John Avalos can take your “symbolic resolution” to the nearest impotence clinic, as that is the best it will be.

So far this election season has been one of the most depressing ones we’ve had in a while. At a time when San Franciscans have a chance to change our City and make things better, we’ve seen the full force of political corruption joining with corporate/plutocrat funded media to rig this election as much as possible.
It’s bad enough that Temporary Mayor Ed Lee has proven to be a liar, and to be a corrupt, arrogant “business as usual” politician, but it’s worse when we see the lamestream media pimp a candidate like the Chronicle and the Bay Citizen, to name a few, have this year. The print journalism people wonder why it is that they’re going the way of the dinosaur – perhaps their corruption is just too much for readers to take.
As for the charity-funded “media” – their days are numbered when the wealthy find a new fad to invest in, but in the meantime have provided some of the most biased news in town, so bad it would make even the political pamphlet known as the Bay Guardian blush
However, thanks to the bullshit voting system known as Ranked Choice Voting (or whatever the f*ck it’s called now), things get even blurrier. Because one has to vote for three candidates, you can bet that many people will end up putting St. Ed Lee on their ballot somewhere. This will do more to help him than anything else, because under ranked choice voting, if you put the front runner ANYWHERE on your ballot, you’re more likely to help them, even if they aren’t your first choice.
Yes, that’s right. I am hoping we abolish this system after this election and send it back to the east coast lefties who sold us this snake oil, and we can go back to honest elections.
In the meantime there is one solution to the corruption at City Hall – vote for ANYONE but ED LEE. Vote for whomever you want, but for the love of God and City, don’t put this thug’s name anywhere on your ballot.
If you’re wondering who to vote for, three reformers come to mind: Public Defender Jeff Adachi, an effective administrator, author, businessman and filmmaker, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, an effective reformer who fought for gay marriage and is against the Central Subway to Hell, and Assessor Phil Ting, who’s trying to run a campaign not based on lies, but instead asking voters to help create solutions at City Hall.
These are just a few, but whatever you do, vote for ANYONE BUT ED LEE. We can’t afford another four years of corruption and lies and Willie Clown Brown and his minions.
Artwork created by Eric of Baghdad By the Bay.