While most people were fixated on the "Donkey Kong" mention in last night's speech by Chris Daly, what about the actual content of the speech? Immediately before Donkey Kong, Daly made his promise to Board President David Chiu: "I will haunt you. I will politically haunt you for the biggest fumble in history."
As Daly is termed out this week, can he make good on this promise? The answer is a yes, and big time. For three key reasons.
Chris Daly's Relationships: If you only read CW Nevius, you might be misinformed enough to come to the conclusion that Daly is a pariah in San Francisco. But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Chris Daly is the most accomplished legislator on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because he knows so many people so well that he can put together big deals, often with strange bedfellows. Tonight is the "roast" of Chris Daly, which will have as many downtown suits as SOMA hipsters. Daly can scroll through his cell phone and identify dozens of people he knows on each side of every issue. On every single issue, Daly can make Chiu's life miserable, but Daly also has the political instincts to identify the most critical pressure points.
Social Networking: Chris Daly's Facebook is an active community with 2,562 people that he has repeatedly used to create news that is picked up by the traditional press. Daly's twitter is only followed by 621 people right now, but that's mostly because Daly prefers Facebook. While those numbers may not sound huge, scroll through the names and you'll see a who's who of influence makers in San Francisco. Daly can change the framing and dynamics of issues before the Board, especially with early messaging. If he bought an ipad, he could easily post from behind the bar. That is some serious haunting potential.
Buck's Tavern: David Chiu should be haunted by the mere thought of Daly now having a watering hole so close to City Hall. No matter what issue, operatives on the other side of Chiu can stop by and drop info to Daly. The nature of San Francisco's political fissures means that in any given year, almost everyone in town will have an issue where they disagree with Chiu and agree with Daly. Plus, Daly opened the bar with Ted Strawser, who is a triple-threat with political game, online game, and event organizing mastery. Already, people are gravitating to Bucks as it fills the long vacant role of a City Hall bar. Drinking Liberally has already moved to Bucks -- it is rapidly turning into the place to go for politics in San Francisco. Plus, look at the geography. Two short blocks from Van Ness & Market. In District 6, but District 5 begins across the street and District 8 is two blocks away. District 9 starts less than a dozen blocks away and Chiu's District 3 is three stops away on the Muni underground or a dozen blocks up the hill on Van Ness. Location, location, location. There's a reason Willie Brown '99 and Matt Gonzalez '03 both ran their campaigns out of a building two blocks away.
Those are the three major givens and three huge reasons why Daly can haunt David Chiu. But he could also easily go further. I'd be surprised if Daly didn't consolidate his new watchdog role into an actual organization. He can raise far more money at the bar then it would cost for him to start a PAC, set up a website, and start building out his list.
Chris Daly can easily haunt David Chiu. And from what I've heard, it's On Like Donkey Kong!
Much has been written about how Jane Kim beat San Francisco's "progressive machine" last week to win the District 6 Supervisor race. But a precinct analysis of the election results tells a far bigger story, and explains how she pulled it off. Just like Howard Dean's Fifty State Strategy helped Democrats win nationwide, Jane Kim was everywhere - and conceded no part of District 6. Debra Walker carried the North Mission and a few progressive pockets, but racking up margins in some core precincts is not enough when your opponent actively contests every neighborhood. Kim beat Walker in the Tenderloin (where she had a better operation), and easily won the Chinese precincts - but also carried places like Treasure Island and the Western Addition. And as Jane's field coordinator for condos in Eastern SOMA, I'm very proud she won those precincts by a landslide - as we were the only campaign to show up. These were the Rob Black voters of 2006, but Kim proved that even a progressive can win those neighborhoods - if you bother to talk to them.
My Internet connection at the Bay Area New Media Conference is agonizingly slow, but I just wanted to call your attention to Joe Eskenazi's report on the riveting Regional Director race between Chris Daly and August Longo.
Intriguing Matchup for Next Democratic Regional Director: Chris Daly (Hothead) vs. August Longo (Convicted Felon) By Joe Eskenazi
When Supervisor Chris Daly tossed his hat into the ring for the low-profile position of Democratic Party Regional Director earlier this week, much of the ensuing media coverage focused on Daly's history of polarizing and combative behavior. In short, was this man constitutionally capable of handling a job that, essentially, calls for him to bring together various segments of the party and impartially organize meetings in which party endorsements are decided? Can Chris Daly be anyone's "liaison"?
Little was mentioned of Daly's six-year incumbent opponent, August Longo. Yet Longo's background is arguably more disturbing than Daly's past experiences walking out of meetings or engaging in shouting matches with members of the public. Longo, also a member of San Francisco's Human Rights Commission, was in 1981 indicted in New York of impersonating three different doctors, filling out false credit-card and loan applications, and passing more than 40 bad checks -- to the tune of $467,000. He pleaded guilty to nine charges involving around $125,000.
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly has filed to run for Regional Director of the California Democratic Party - challenging long-time incumbent August Longo. In an e-mail sent to State Party delegates (who will pick the Regional Director on April 25th at the annual Convention in Sacramento), Daly stressed his credentials as a "community organizer," and the need to build on the grass-roots success of Barack Obama. But Daly's decision to run also comes after Longo cast the lone dissenting vote (albeit through a proxy) at a S.F. Democratic Central Committee meeting against an immigrant rights resolution. Following that vote at the DCCC meeting, Daly objected to a motion endorsing Longo for re-election - but at the time, his colleagues overruled him 15-4. Longo now claims he would have voted differently on the resolution if present, but Daly says he's not running against Longo's record. The job of Regional Director, said Daly, can be transformed to engage the grassroots and push for progressive change within the Party. Delegates from San Francisco and San Mateo Counties will get to vote at the Convention, and the outcome is very much in doubt.
Or, more accurately, he'd be completely comfortable in it. After all, he understood how to make Chicago politics work for him, so I'm sure he'd be able to fight in the trenches in San Francisco. But as Obama tries to push our national body politic out of the gutter, some in San Francisco are working their darndest to make sure our local politics stays there. All this is a bit ironic because many of these same people were vocal and outspoken supporters of Obama. Unfortunately, getting Democrats to work collaboratively, as opposed to combatively, even in a one-party town, can be like herding cats. But that need not lead to the abandonment of a sense of civility.
San Francisco politics, like the politics of many big cities across the country, is something of a bloodsport. Fine, but civility needn't be tossed out as well.
During the campaign for the June 3 election, we saw some nasty stuff. We had Chris Daly putting Carole Migden on the deceptive faux-"Guardian" Slate. We had some nasty campaigning in pretty much every race, come to think of it. And, in the end, much of what defines San Francisco has been boiled down to one, or two depending on how you look at it, personalities.
But the personalities of Gavin Newsom (and Chris Daly) should not get in the way of a simple fact: Scott Wiener has done a tremendous job as DCCC chair in building the party infrastructure. He may not be the very most progressive, the furthest to the left. In fact, I don't go out on much of a limb when I say that I am to his left on a few issues here and there. But when the rubber hits the road, Scott Wiener has worked for progressive causes in the city and state. And he has been incredibly competent at the job for which he is seeking re-election.
To be perfectly honest, I feel sorry for Matt Gonzalez (who I like personally). He's had a tough run at politics. First, he had to rebel against the Democratic Party for not being the Green Party. Now, he's rebelling against the Green Party to run with Ralph Nader. Along the way, he managed to completely miss out on the most important progressive realignment in decades.
Justifiably, he's getting whacked. There's the new Facebook Group Former Gonzalez Campaigners for Obama (recently joined by Chris Daly). I actually don't think I've seen a single positive comment about this stunt. And is it really any wonder?
I asked Gonzalez about this, about whether he is really arguing that there's no difference between Obama and McCain on the war. His answer was there's not a "drastic" difference.
And this was the best candidate to challenge Newsom last year? Really?
It's now time to re-coronate the Gav. With Chris Daly out and Matt Gonzalez not so much interested, and well, the entire laundry list of other serious contenders out of the mix, meet your new Mayor. The filing deadline of 5PM this afternoon seems to have gone by without a peep.
Ladies and Gentlemen of San Francisco...Gavin Newsom. Oh well, at least we have three more years of Daly v. Newsom fights.
This totally rocks, I love reading Juls' Uncle Jay Rosen and Zack and Amanda are great hires.
DON'T FORGET, next Wednesday: SF and LA. If you know of somebody thinking of running, invite them. Help make these events successful, send some emails invites today!
Added by Brian: DFA is doing a conference call with Calitics-fav Charlie Brown (CA-11) on Monday. RSVP here
I wrote this for today's Beyond Chron, San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily.
Back in March, I reported that Michael Colbruno – State Senator Carole Migden’s former chief of staff – is now V.P. of Government Affairs for Clear Channel Outdoor, the massive billboard company. Whenever Colbruno wants to help his old boss, he makes sure that San Francisco gets plastered with campaign billboards for election season. Today, the local Municipal Transportation Authority (M.T.A.) will vote on whether to give Clear Channel an exclusive contract to advertise on all 1,100 Muni bus shelters throughout the City, just in time for Carole Migden’s tough re-election fight.
But Clear Channel isn’t waiting for the Muni contract to help her campaign. Last week, the company set up huge billboards throughout the district, proclaiming that Migden is “leading California’s campaign against the War.” Migden has always opposed the War in Iraq, but to say that she has led California’s campaign demeans members of Congress like Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey who represent California and have led the charge since Day One. Carole Migden may have authored a resolution in the State Senate last January to oppose George Bush’s escalation. But ironically, it was her opponent, Mark Leno, who sponsored the very first resolution in the nation against the Iraq War – in October 2002.
(The SF Sentinel is reporting that Supervisor Peskin has removed Sup. Daly as Chair of the Budget Cmte and appointed himself in Daly's stead. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Some "grassroots moderates" in SF are going after Supervisor Chris Daly. Apparently, they consider affordable housing and social services as "robbery." Here's the quote:
Supervisor Chris Daly has robbed the City to the tune of $30 million, doubling next year’s budget deficit. Daly's raids might force the Board of Supervisors to raise taxes in order to alleviate future deficits.
Um, so, for future reference, I should point out that alleging criminality is what we in the legal profession call libel per se. In other words, you can't do that. So, I hope the California Urban Issues Project has a few bucks in reserve. Sure, SF is used to some rough politics, but accusing a supervisor of literally stealing $30 million is beyond the pale.
Now, a little background, as I understand it. The Mayor's Budget cut $33 million for affordable housing. And, unsuprisingly, Supervisor Daly wants to put it back. A reasonable idea, given that the median home price in the city just crossed the $900,000 mark. Well, Gavin Newsom's downtown allies, the CUIP-SF are riding herd on the whole deal. But, apparently, the CUIP thinks that affordable housing is well, a crime. If I got any of that wrong, well, shoot me an email or leave a comment.
I think most of our readers are very proficient at understanding the potential for elected officials to use the internet for good policy. A good number of us get emails from politicians, like Barbara Boxer asking us to join her global warming bill as a citizen co-sponsor. Which is amazing for democracy. That is why this quote by Chris Daly is so batshit crazy:
The supervisor claimed Newsom may have violated campaign and ethics rules by promoting a rally on a government issue on his campaign Web site.
Totally backass. You can't raise money or anything on a government website, but campaigns should fight for policy. That is the difference between a fan club and a movement. You would have be crazy to be an elected official who cares about the issues and not use the base to join in getting done what the politician couldn't do alone. And it is totally proper, the improper thing is not using your base to get things done because "political malpractice" is the term to describe that.
Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle had a lengthy Ed Epstein piece on Speaker Pelosi marking 20 years in the house following her contentious special election victory over Harry Britt. Over the years, San Francisco politics have proven an effective training ground to allow the people we elect to excel. Feinstein is a powerhouse, Willie Brown was Da Speaker, the Burton brothers were titans in Sacramento and DC, Migden chairs the senate Caucus, Leno chairs Appropriations. If you can make here politically, you really can make it anywhere.
And if you want to see what I'm talking about, read Chris Daly's op-ed at the Fog City Journal on the current budget battle. Making great use of the medium with literally dozens of links (going back to 1998), the Supervisor shows how San Francisco politics is fought in the trenches. And remember, all of this is over one half of one percent of the SF budget.
Sen. Don Perata's advisory "Out of Iraq" proposed ballot measure has cleared its first hurdle by passing the Senate. (LA Times).
"That war is costing California dearly," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland), who sponsored the measure and noted that 340 soldiers from the state had died so far.
The resolution is an advisory measure that voters would consider on the presidential primary ballot next February. The proposal is expected to be approved by the Assembly, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not said publicly whether he will sign it. Democrats depicted Perata's nonbinding measure — a rarity in California's century of direct democracy — as a way to prod President Bush to give up on the increasingly unpopular war. They decried the conflict as a waste of money that could have been better spent on domestic concerns.
For those at the California Democratic Party, you might recall this measure from the debacle with the quorum call vote. You see this was the resolution that originally proceeded through the resolutions committee, and when there were suggested changes, the thing blew up. The quorum call was made, and the rest is history.
But there is a lesson in local progressive action in this story as well. Follow me over the flip...
Ouch. Talk about anti-climatic. Speech after speech on how it is critical to challenge Gavin Newsom and elected after elected unwilling to run. It was surreal.
While Brian and I will have coverage of the speeches here, there are a number of other bloggers/online journalist types at Daly's Convention, so here's a quick set of links (I'll update as a see more). In no particular order:
When I was filling in the tags, I realized that there really is nothing this story is missing. First, it has Dan Noyes:
But, from reading the twelve hundred page final report from the internal affairs investigation into the video and the officers behind it, it turns out [San Francisco Police Officers Association President Gary] Delagnes was the one who blew the whistle on the officers involved in the video.
Waukeen McCoy wants to depose the mayor about his admitted alcohol abuse that came to light in January during the City Hall sex scandal. The attorney says he also wants to question Newsom under oath and on camera about cocaine use, and release the tapes to the public.
When the cops dropped their youtube attack ad I figured this might get interesting, but the more that comes out the crazier the whole thing gets. In other news, in conjunction with Chris Daly's Convention, there will be an entire Film Festival for youtube hit jobs against the mayor.
If you peruse the virtual pages of BeyondChron, you'll see a couple of articles that dovetail quite nicely together. The first is a story by Randy Shaw with the idea that either former Board President Matt Gonzalez or Sup. Chris Daly will run against Mayor Newsom. Otherwise, why did Daly bother with scheduling a "Progressive convention" for June 1?
The second is an articlce by Paul Hogarth, which lays out the very sound basis for an argument that SF will be a very, very fertile grounds for ballot propositions in June 2008. Mark Leno's decision not to challenge Gavin Newsom (a decision that Chris Daly seems to have strongly disagreed with) and instead challenge Carole Migden will ensure strong turnout in the more progressive eastern half of the City while there will be no major elections in the Western half (or as I like to call the Sunset...the place that elected Ed Jew.)
So, two races might become more interesting. The Mayoral race might well...become a race, and SD-03 might not grate on the nerves of Carole Migden's progressive supporters quite so much given the chance for some real structural reform via the ballot box.
As for running against Newsom? "Not me,'' [Chris] Daly said.
Not likely [former mayor Art] Agnos either, he added, but "hopefully we'll have someone within the next couple of weeks."
"Either that or there won't be anyone," Daly said, "because it will be just too late to mount a run."
Since Chris Daly totally failed to find somebody by his own deadline (and is too chicken to do it himself), I nominate SFist Elaine of the dreaded CrackBerry Chronicles.
Why you ask? Why not?
Since there seems to be zero interest from elected officials and the campaign is likely to be a complete joke, let's at least go with somebody who is funny. In 2007, vote fabulous!
Since Brian wrote an entry about the upcoming Convention, I thought Calitics readers would be interested in my article from yesterday's Beyond Chron.
On May 11th, Supervisor Chris Daly sent out a "save-the-date" e-mail to progressive allies for a Mayoral Convention on Saturday, June 2nd - calling it "the most important progressive gathering of the year." At the Convention, progressives will "consolidate our platform, train in the nuts and bolts of electioneering, launch our candidate(s) for Mayor of San Francisco, and have lots of fun!" With no serious candidate ready to challenge Gavin Newsom this November, many will say that this Convention is long overdue.
But aside from practical concerns - pulling off a convention on such short notice - should progressives prioritize the defeat of Newsom? First, Supervisors have shown in the past year that they have the power and initiative to get things done, even with a Mayor resistant to change. Second, Newsom's hands-off role as Mayor has made him a less formidable foe than Willie Brown. Third, Newsom has sometimes been willing to champion progressive causes - if he can take the credit. While it is obvious that voters deserve a choice this November, the truth is that nobody really wants to run. Which raises the question - why not just let Gavin be the ineffectual lame-duck Mayor that he is for the next four years?
It's now time to re-coronate the Gav. With 
