Category Archives: San Francisco Politics

Which of San Francisco’s Artwork for Campaign 2011 Window Signs Do You Like Best

It’s campaign silly season again, and we’re about to see a massive deforestation effort to provide endless piles of junk mail, doorhangers, window signs and the like all over Our Fair City. Having worked in this business for some time, one thing I find interesting is the amazing graphic design (or total lack thereof) in these things.
In the past, I’ve scanned in mail pieces and done some critiquing (which you can find to your left in the Categories section). I may do some of that this year too. Today, however I’m asking readers – which of the many candidates’ window signs do you find look the best, design-wise, regardless of whether you support them or not?
I have some thoughts, and I’ve mentioned a little before about those awful Run Ed Run design abortions (complete with ironic captions), and about the politics of black and orange. However, add your thoughts in the comments below. Remember, this is all about design only – not about the candidates themselves (that’s another column).

Just How Much Is Anyone Making Off Mayoral Candidates in SF?

To nobody’s surprise, it seems Temporary Mayor Ed Lee, backed by powerful financial interests and a shadow campaign that has yet to see sunlight, is running for mayor. And again, as the unofficial press spokesperson, the Chronicle once again provides cover for their candidate.
Today we read about how St. Ed is not taking public money for his campaign, instead relying on the aforementioned shadow campaign, and whatever private money he chooses to take. This contrasts with others who participated in the public matching funds/spending limit program provided by the City of SF. The Chronicle, naturally, uses this to somehow distinguish St. Ed from his opponents. It’s a nice hit for Ed, but it’s just the latest in a line of articles that the Chronicle has written that basically promote Ed. That’s fine, but if I wanted to read a dying medium’s political endorsements sold as news, I’d read the Guardian (which I don’t).
However, putting that aside, the article also starts to rattle off how much consultants have made off the other candidates, again implying that they were all “subsidized” with tax dollars. There are several problems with the reporting on this piece of news.
First, the matching funds are only awarded if a candidate has raised money from a lot of private donors, who can ONLY live in San Francisco, and they have to have significant disclosure as to who donated. There is also a cap on how much campaigns can get from the city, and the majority of their funding is private, despite the Chronicle’s insinuations. Moreover, there is more disclosure than there ever was for the shady “Run Ed Run” campaign which denies helping the Mayor even though it was helping the mayor.
Second, the amounts. I’ve yet to meet a reporter that understands how the political consulting business works, especially when it comes to the actual business of running such an operation. So when I read about “fees” for consultants in the Chronicle, my first question is how this amount is computed.
Naturally, the Chronicle wants to provide an image of these “consultants” raking in the big bucks on the poor taxpayer’s dime, and so on. What the Chronicle doesn’t seem to understand is that just because a campaign handed over a big bundle of cash, the consultant doesn’t necessarily keep all the money, depending on the arrangement.
For example, I used to work for A Big National Consulting Firm That Shall Not Be Named a few years ago. Our company was working on a Big Campaign, and if you looked at the disclosure forms, you’d think we were raking in the big bucks. However, what the disclosure statements didn’t point out was how much of that was going right out the door to pay for printing, letterhead, campaign staffers we administered payroll for and other products the campaign elected to purchase. Out of about $180,000 or so in “moneys” we got, we kept maybe $5000-$7500 that could be considered a fee.
Another example: some campaign consultants don’t take more than a modest retainer at the start, and then charge no consulting fees at all, and mark up things like TV ads, direct mail (printing/production, not postage!) and other items at the standard industry rate of 15% to cover their overhead costs (taxes and staff and a modest profit). So looking at the gross amount isn’t very realistic.
There’s also another thing about San Francisco campaigns that no one in the press corps seems to understand – working in SF politics is no way to make a living in the consulting business. Even with a well funded campaign, with campaign donation limits, as well as the “consultant tax”** and other unique requirements for campaigns in San Francisco, you won’t be netting a large landslide of cash. Supervisor races make very little for anyone involved as well.
That’s not to say they pay so little no one will work on them, but with all the limitations, being a consultant for city candidates isn’t a great way to make a living. Consultants are better off working for either a labor union(s) or other organizations, or working in jurisdictions Not In San Francisco. When I was working in the business, most of my work was out of state. Not only did it pay me as a freelancer fairly well, it was also a lot easier.
I’d expect the gaggle of New Yorkers working for the various chain-owned online entities to get this wrong, but I’d expect more from the supposedly Old School Journalistic Entity located here for over 100 years. I guess when you keep on firing the people who make the product you’re supposedly selling, mistakes happen.
**The “consultant tax” I refer to is a profoundly bone-headed attempt by the Board of Supervisors, ages ago, who hated a certain consultant, and decided to clobber him a little with this law. The intent was to make consultants pay a special “consultant tax” and disclose for whom they were working for. This is stupid for several reasons. First, the “tax” they impose also applies to campaign day to day workers. Ironically the big companies and out of town companies can pay this no problem, but the poorly paid, day to day overworked staffer ends up paying proportionally more than the Big Companies.
Second, the disclosure as to whom people are working for is already done in the campaign finance reporting that is required for every candidate. So once again a typical SF Progressive FAIL: More rules that hurt the lowest paid people, and duplicate efforts elsewhere.

Post Filing Debate Set for August 16th, Courtesy of the Alliance for Jobs and Comcast!

Debates are a tricky proposition when you have more than 2 candidates running for office. Endless side debates begin about Who Gets To Participate and Who Doesn’t, and so on. This has been especially difficult since we still may have more candidates running for Mayor here in San Francisco after the official filing period ends.
That’s why the debate on August 16th at 7:30pm, co-sponsored by the Alliance for Jobs and Sustainable Growth, and Comcast, is worth checking out. This will likely be the first major broadcast of a debate, post-filing, and given the sponsors, should be a quality event. If you’re not familiar with the Alliance, it’s a coalition of business, labor and community groups dedicated to finding long-term prosperity for San Francisco that benefits everyone, not just the connected. Comcast, you know of course, but the fact Comcast is putting time and effort to produce this event deserves a high five.
Best of all, you, the voter can participate. Go to the Facebook Page for the debate, and once you “Like” the page, you can post suggested questions for the candidates for all to see. This is your chance to ask the tough questions and see what happens. Check it out!

Who Paid For This Anti-Ed Lee Ad On Facebook? No Assuming, Please! UPDATED

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So this morning while on Facebook (something I use rarely), I noticed an anti-Ed Lee ad appearing on the side of the page. Curious as to what it was all about, I clicked on it, assuming I’d be taken to either a Facebook Fan Page, or linked to a campaign website that would tell me who was putting this ad on Facebook, and what they were all about. Instead, it just linked me to the Mayor’s official website and its “Contact Ed Lee” online email page.
Facebook keeps pushing back on disclosure for political ads, but here’s an example of how their “links are disclosure” defense doesn’t hold up. I, the voter, am left to make assumptions instead of having facts. When I posed the question to Twitter, naturally it started endless speculation that Leland Yee’s campaign, or perhaps his consultant, Jim Stearns, posted the ad.
Personally, I don’t think that’s very fair to Yee or Stearns, since it’s not a fact, it’s an assumption. If they didn’t do it, they’re getting tarred with something they had nothing to do with. If they did buy the ads, then they should just say so somewhere. However, given the fact that Yee and Stearns have been aggressive in attacking the less-than-transparent doings of the “Run Ed Run” operation, I don’t imagine they’d be dumb enough to pull a shady move of their own that would be as un-transparent as the “Run Ed Run” movement.
I’ll be waiting to see what, if any, information is later found. Given how lame the Ethics and Elections office is in San Francsico, and how SF politics tend to be some of the most corrupt, I doubt we’ll ever know. It’s kinda like that anti-Leno site that stole my pictures off flickr.com and never paid me for my stolen image.
UPDATE: In a tweet to myself and another Twitter user, Mr. Stearns confirmed that neither his firm, nor the Yee campaign purchased the Facebook ad.

Is San Francisco Setting a New Record for the Number of Electeds Running For Office?

So there I was, reading yet another “What if Temporary Mayor Lee Runs For Office” blather on some news site or whatever, and it got me to thinking – just how many people are running for office, while (supposedly) serving the public?
Let’s take a look:
Current Mayor – Running? Not Running? (this tease is getting very tiresome, btw)
City Attorney – Running for Mayor
Assessor – Running for Mayor
President, Board of Supervisors – Running for Mayor
Supervisor Avalos – Running for Mayor
Supervisor Mirkirimi – Running for Sheriff
District Attorney – Running for DA (Appointed in 2011)
State Senator – Running for Mayor
To be honest, with so many people in office running for another in an “off year,” if Mr. Lee decides to have a “do over” on his promise to be a caretaker, look for City Hall to basically shut down for the rest of the year.
There’ll be so many people posturing and looking for short term gimmicks so they can slap some crap on a piece of dead tree mail and spend special interest cash to pay for it, you can’t expect much to happen.

Just How DO Paid Signature Gatherers Get Paid?

Today’s Chronicle had a report that signature gatherers for Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s pension reform measure were “caught on camera” saying things to voters that were “misleading.” After checking out, all I can say is that if anyone thinks they found a smoking gun, they may not be aware of a) how words can be twisted and b) how paid signature gathering works.
First, the words: many canvassers in the video were saying things like “if you want to prevent night time parking meters sign this petition.” It is very correct that the petition says nothing about it, but at the same time, it would be almost impossible to prosecute. That’s because if city pensions begin to dominate city spending, why yes, one could reasonably infer that “nighttime parking meters (WTF?) could in fact be a response to said financial crisis.
So could a tax on unicorn horns. You see where this is going.
Also, those that point the finger should be darn sure none of their folks pulled any similar weasel word stunts too – these things can backfire spectacularly if you’re not on solid ground.
I avoid signing petitions at all costs, unless it is for something that I’ve heard of that is sponsored by people I trust. I think people in San Francisco would be doing themselves a favor by not signing these things based on some emotional chatter they get from some fool collecting signatures. It sucks, because many good things are put on the ballot this way, but I think we need to thin the herd on ballot measures for a while.
Second, the methods. When the press talks about paid signature gatherers, they’ll usually do their research and find out how much they’re paying per signature. In California it can be as high as $6 a signature. The question is – did the hippie in front of Safeway who asked you to sign a petition get $6 for your signature? Probably not.
Campaigns usually hire a professional firm to gather signatures for a ballot measure (local or state). That company will then hire contract workers who then go out and get the signatures. However, these sub-contractors don’t simply go out with a stack of clipboards and start earning $6 per signature. Instead, they go out and hire another series of sub-contractors, and pay them a percentage of the $6. In some cases those sub contractors might even hire another level of folks, but that is rare.
Let’s make it simpler: Campaign Signature Company “A” hires contractor “Elvis” to get signatures at $6 each. “Elvis” then hires a crew of 10 people to get signatures, but pays them only $3 each. This means that 10 people are being managed by “Elvis” bringing in signatures, who is getting $3 each and isn’t actually out there doing anything – he is instead managing a crew of 10. Any one of those could take a dollar less and sub out the work themselves too, if they wanted. In the end, “Elvis” is going to make more money farming out the work to 10 people, each armed with 4 clipboards a piece, than he ever would alone getting the full $6.
Most of the people who do this are pros who follow the action wherever it goes, similar to those who once followed the Grateful Dead back in the day. They may or may not be from the jurisdiction and in almost all cases are simply trying to play a numbers game, racking up as many signatures as they can. Needless to say, these aren’t people who know or care much about what the petition is for, so it’s easy to see where the incentive is to make up stuff just to get people’s signatures.
A bill to regulate the signature mills made its way through the state Senate. Predictably it was all on party-line votes – Democrats wanted it regulated to prevent fraud, while Republicans want to ensure that money buys access to the ballot.
One thing you can do right away is if approached to sign something is to ask if they are paid or not. Under the law, they have to tell you and it must be printed on the petition.
Either way, take the time to read the fine print before you sign. Just because something is called “The Kittens Puppies and Rainbows Initiative to Save The Children” doesn’t mean it’s so.

The Politics of Black and Orange.

Graphic design in political communications is either Really Amazing, Generic & Dull, or Crapola. Really Amazing is so rare when one finds it, you have to document it otherwise no one believes you. Generic & Dull is SOP for the political business (and gets worse every year as professional designers are pushed aside for Nephew Gary who “knows computers”). As for Crapola, well…the less said the better.
Most signs, for example are in some sort of combo of red, white, and blue. A terrible combo (red and blue don’t work well side by side), and one that’s been done to death. So when I see a campaign that tries something that’s either Really Amazing, or at least uses contrasting colors so you can can see the damned sign in various situations, I take notice.
Bevan Dufty’s campaign e-literature and website have been featuring a new sign/logo that looks like a postcard from the Good Old Days. It’s very simple, easy to read, but also captures scenes from around San Francisco. Whether you support him or not, one has to admit that design catches the eye, and communicates something, and does so well.
Sup. Avalos’ campaign for mayor took a simpler approach. Using nothing but bold, sans serif type and the colors black and orange, it stands out because it’s easy to read, and when you get a bunch of them together…it kinda looks like a bunch of Giants fans at first. Either way, it’s easy to read, and those of us who are Giants fans have that knee-jerk reaction to anything black and orange that makes you want to take a second look.
He’s not the only one picking up on this idea. Last night at the Board of Supervisors, many people were testifying on various projects, pro and con. I noticed that members of the Laborers International Union (good hard working folks all) had a special shirt with a custom union logo…and their shirts were orange and black. Same reaction from me – the first thing I thought of, before reading the logo was , “how cool”, and even after I figured out who it was, I have to tip my designer hat to them for good communications via design.
This made me wonder if campaigns would be better served making their signs in the color of their local team (when feasible) instead of some eye-blinding combo that sucks? At the very least, choosing good colors that contrast well, along with good typography, ensures that their logo is represented well as a sign, a letterhead, a sticker, online, etc. Also, if someone on the staff suggests crowd-sourcing this stuff, fire them immediately and send them back to school. Seriously.
In all of these cases, the power of good design be it detailed (like Dufty’s logo) or simple (like Avalos’ and the union’s art) provides an extra punch in what is likely to be a difficult election season in 2011 and beyond.

Now It’s Official: “Sit/Lie” Hasn’t Changed Much in Upper Haight, According to the SFPD.

It seems that a report by the San Francisco Police Department analyzing the effects of the so-called “Sit/Lie” law indicate what those who read my blog have known all along – it’s not working. Despite the big cheers on election night by folks who sold this as a Holy Grail to make the City jerkass-free, it hasn’t worked as advertised. Nor did it get people to vote for certain candidates that year over others. In the end, whoever spent their money on this campaign got a big ol’ failwhale instead of something effective.
For fun, here’s my original article where I opposed “Sit/Lie” and its counterpart in 2010. (News flash politicos: putting ballot initiatives on the ballot to influence how people vote in Superivsor races never works, so please stop it.).
Over here, we find a post-election piece about how SFPD initially didn’t even enforce the beloved law, and here’s a more recent piece about how the law isn’t enforced anywhere else either, even as the “gutter punks” get pushed into adjoining neighborhoods.
I’m not humble enough to not say “I Told You So” once in a while. (If anything it makes me wonder why I can’t get paid more for being able to accurately predict these things as I’ve been known to do).
More to the point, I really wish we could get rid of these expensive ballot measure campaigns that generate a lot of intense emotions on all sides, but really don’t do anything at all. (throw in nonbinding “resolutions” and ballot measures too, for good measure). All political sides are guilty of this, and it needs to stop.
We could have saved ourselves a lot of nonsensical debate, and saved some trees too by not doing this, and instead having our well-paid elected officials and City Hall employees do the job they’re hired to do and keep the streets safe. That’s not too much to ask.
Until San Franciscans decide that they’d like laws enforced and for good people from all areas/income levels/etc. of the City to enjoy the many things our city has to offer, without being hurt by crime and criminal like behavior, we can pass all the silly laws we like and nothing will change.

News Flash: Park Merced, As Is, SUCKS. There, I Said It.

After much talk, hearings, discussions, screaming, and caterwauling, the Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval to a plan to transform Park Merced, an aging post-war, suburban style development into something from the 21st century.
Depiste expanding rental opportunities, offering to pay for Muni improvements, building facilities, reducing car dependence, and using earth-friendly building techniques to reduce carbon emissions, predictably, the “change nothing” crowd, in concert with the left-leaning supervisors, voted against it (but it passed anyway.)
Ironic. Despite all these things San Francisco allegedly values, 5 Supervisors voted “no” anyway. I guess being a “progressive” in San Francisco means that it’s better to talk big in campaign junk mail vs. doing something in the real world. Mindblowing.
However, let’s put aside the bizarro politics for a moment for now and talk about something we can all factually determine about Park Merced, as is. It sucks.
It really really sucks.
Seriously.
I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again: Park Merced has sucked for decades and will continue to do so unless it is substantially redeveloped/rebuilt. Anyone thinking this place is some sort of rent-contorlled Shangri-La is either an idiot or delusional. Pick one, I don’t care.
In my entire adult life I can’t remember a time when people didn’t find these units to be overpriced, easily damaged, and had problems with deposits, repairs, etc. Many people I grew up with went to San Francisco State in the mid 80s and would end up renting a place there since it was near the school, and back then it sucked too. In the ensuing decades, every so often I’d know someone who’d move there, only to move out within a year or so because of all sorts of problems. (You’d think that someone who’s worked at SFSU for 20 years would know this already, but I suppose not.)
While the current owners deserve some praise for getting the asbestos out and at least trying to make the place look nice, even now you can do a Google Search for “Park Merced Sucks” and you’ll find a long list of blogs, Facebook pages and more decrying the decaying apartment blocks and bungalows.
The point is simply this: If we leave Park Merced to continue to be what it is, it is going to fall apart soon anyway and all that housing will simply go off the market, rent control or not. Good luck getting anyone to pour more money to “save” these decaying, cheaply built blocks – no sane owner would bother to do so, laws and “rights” be damned because it’s a money pit. They’ll just let it rot and collect the rent.
In the end, this whole episode exposes once again how some people in San Francisco sure like to talk big on issues like “the environment” , “climate change” and “housing” , but when asked to do something beyond a meaningless “non binding resolution” or a symbolic law that doens’t really do anything, some people are content to simply walk away and vote to keep the status quo, no matter how screwed up it is. Worse, they cloak their do-nothingism in politically charged rhetoric about “tenant rights,” even though they supported a similar deal a few years ago downtown.
The big difference? Someone on “their side” authored the deal. Partisanship trumps practicality once again at City Hall.
Meanwhile, Park Merced STILL SUCKS.
PS: Comments that are polite and stick to the issues are welcome. Comments that are rude or stupid, however, are not.

A Minor Suggestion to the SF Film Commission: Copy This Idea from NYC. Now.

Hey! San Francisco Film Commission! Listen up!
I have a great idea for you to raise a few bucks, promote San Francisco as a filming location, and help local cartoonists and artists!
Thanks to the good people at Laughing Squid, I found this post at Gothamist featuring a poster of (almost) all of the movies filmed in Manhattan, in cartoon-like form.
I’m not one to endorse wholesale copy-catting, but something similar tothis, using some of our talented local artists and cartoonists could be a triple win: promoting the movie biz in SF, helping local artists, and selling them coulposterisawesome.jpgd make some quick petty cash for the office.
Hmm? Whaddya say? Email me if you think this might be kinda cool.
Image copyright Bernie Hou of Alien Loves Predator