COURT JESTERINGS

With h brown

San Francisco mayoral candidate, h. "Court Jester" Brown.
Photo(s) by Luke Thomas

Sutton feasting on Ed Jew stew!

(prime-time political incest)

By h. brown

July 7, 2007

OK, let's get this straight, once and for all. Jim Sutton is Ed Jew's lawyer, right? All right, all right, he's one of his lawyers. Got that? Of course, we all know that Sutton is one of Gavin Newsom's lawyers too, right? You also need to remember that Sutton is also one of Kamala Harris' lawyers. And, it goes without saying, that as the top legal mind on the local elections codes, that Sutton does extensive work for the Downtown interests who have attacked District elections since their inception.

Jim Sutton (center) pictured with former Newsom Campaign Manager Alex Tourk and son, Joey, at the Excelsior Branch Libarary reopening event, 7/9/5.

Do you recall Milo Minderbinder?

One of the funniest parts of one of the funniest books ever written ('Catch 22' by Joseph Heller) is when an enterprising enlisted man (played by Jon Voigt in the flick) stationed in an allied bomber wing in Italy, creates his own company and dabbles in everything from purchasing the Egyptian cotton crop, to contracting with the Americans to defend the air base where he's stationed … and, makes a separate contract with the Germans to bomb it!

As Heller notes, there was great outrage in congress until Milo opens the books of his 'M&M Enterprises' and shows how much money he's made. Everybody backs down.

Sutton is much worse

Milo was only working two sides of the street. Sutton is working all corners of a 4-way intersection and also has control of changing the lights.

If you're Newsom or Harris, what better way to know what the defense is going to do than to have a member of the defense team on your own payroll. For years.

If you're Ed Jew, what better way to know what the prosecution is going to do than to have a member of the prosecution's team on your payroll?

And, if you're Jim Sutton, what better way to make money than to get a fee from everyone involved in a complex case such as this? I tell you my fellow San Franciscans, it boggles what mind I have remaining. Let's toss in the Ethics Commission.

Ethics is Jim Sutton's 'bitch'

When San Francisco voters created the Ethics Commission, they wanted to level the playing field between heavily financed Downtown hack candidates and courageous, yet poor challengers (OK, Larry Bush wrote it cause of what happened to Agnos and Kevin Shelley signed his name as primary sponsor). Well, that didn't work out very well did it?

The fact is, Ethics is controlled by the people it was created to curtail. That is, 'Downtown'. The Chair of the Ethics Commission was appointed by the Mayor Newsom. Her name is Susan Harriman and she is a partner at Keker and Van Nest in San Francisco. Now, what do you know about Keker and Van Nest?

It was founded by a guy named John Keker who was formerly a public defender. As reported in USA Today on February 3rd in the year of our Lord 2004 (Money Section - there's a surprise) … Keker says the idea for this 'boutique' law firm was to serve a very specific class of clients:

"Criminals who could pay."

(Keker's own words)

They've defended Enron (Fastow and Quattrone), Mobil, Exxon, Comcast, Google … just to name a few. Of course, along the way, they hired people like current Matt Gonzalez partner, Whitney Leigh for window dressing and did a few high-profile pro-bono cases. But, get real, these guys are about protecting the fat cows they milk to pay for their luxury living.

That's why it is disturbing that a partner in this firm is Chair of the Ethics Commission. And, Lord Almighty! You should read the transcripts of the way that woman defends Jim Sutton!

Watch it on SFGTV?

Well, you could if Board President Aaron Peskin hadn't reneged on his promise to put televising the Ethics Commission ($32k - negligible cost) into the current City budget. Not so oddly, the Mayor didn't put it in there either.

More succinctly, when Ed Jew goes before the Ethics Commission, he'll be facing a body completely shaped by the very Downtown interests who want him out of office and replaced with one of their own stooges. Here's the Ethics Commission as of 9:00 a.m. today:

Mayoral appointee and Chair: The aforementioned, Susan Harriman.

Board of Supes appointee: Eileen Hansen. The Sutton contingent lobbied mightily and tried to pass legislation through Alioto-Pier at the Board to have Hansen and former staffer turned Hallinan-appointed-Commissioner, Joe Lynn, removed from the body.

Current D.A. appointee: Charles Ward. Guess if he'll side with the woman who appointed him (Harris, who is also after Jew).

City Attorney appointee: Jamie Studley. Oddly, her mentor (Dennis Herrera) is also trying to put Supervisor Jew in jail. Think Studley is gonna have an open mind here?

Assessor appointee: Emi Gusacuma. Let's see, wasn't the Assessor first appointed by Newsom who (here's a shocker) also wants Jew out of office?

My point is that if this thing gets to Ethics, Jew loses at least 4-1 just on the conflicted self-interest of the 4 commissioners with mentorship ties to public officials elected by Downtown interests.

Let's not even get started about what happens if this case gets to the Board of Supervisors. Aaron Peskin and Tom Ammiano have regularly slandered Jew in the local media.

Ed Jew cannot get a fair trial in this town except in the FBI criminal investigation, and that can take years to conclude. The Mayor, the District Attorney, and the City Attorney all have deeply personal and conflicted interests in seeing Jew tossed out of office.

He's a feather in the cap in future runs for office for Democratic machine politicians whose own activities make Jew look like a choir boy. Harris, Newsom and Herrera have no business prosecuting Jew.

Ammiano in full-blown Queen mode

"Well, most of us live in our districts!" Thus spake Tom Ammiano as he kicked his pointy high heels into the body of the prone, Ed Jew (at least wear open-toe, Tom). Yeah, Tom said that, and much much more, to disparage the embattled 4th District supervisor.

"Well, I want to thank you for coming to this hearing for your Charter Ammendment, Supervisor McGoldrick. It's important that when your proposed Ammendment comes to the Board, that the supervisor be there."

The comment was one of several shots the Senior 9th District supe took at Daly and members of his staff during yesterday's Rules Committee hearing. Whyfore he do that?

Does Tom hear footsteps?

I told Ammiano that I'd back him for Assembly. If Daly runs against him, I'll rescind my endorsement of Ammiano and go with Chris Daly. In a heartbeat. Literally thousands of people feel the same way I do on this one.

That's the only reason I can think of (short of, he just likes to kick downed male bodies) … only reason I can think of that Ammiano has joined Peskin in attacks upon Chris Daly. Watch and see if I'm not right.

'Emissions reduction', my ass!

Aaron Peskin is pushing a union-busting charter amendment that would destroy 400 union jobs at MUNI and replace the protected workers with employees hired and fired 'at will' by political appointees beholden to the likes of him.

That's the real purpose of this charter change that will be coming to you on the November ballot. Oh, he tacked on 'and Transit Reform' to cover the attack on the jobs and benefits of current MUNI employees. I mean, shit, who can be opposed to cleaning up the air and reforming MUNI?

You'll hear more about this down the road but this is just another case of the Board President's complete betrayal of the Progressive cause.

Here's a piece Pat Monk sent me which opens with a quote from Francisco de Costa regarding the attacks on Jew. The piece itself is by Monk.

If it walks like a duck...
(by Pat Monk, RN. Noe Valley)

Francisco Da Costa, Director of Environmental Justice Advocacy, recently wrote a column entitled "San Francisco, most racist city in the Bay Area". The following few examples seem to give credence to this assertion.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera made the following statements in his request to State Attorney General Jerry Brown for permission to prosecute Ed Jew:

"There is a crisis in governmental legitimacy that is unprecedented in San Francisco's modern history... the citizens of San Francisco have a right to legitimate representation in their democracy"

This from a man who recently, at the bidding of the Mayor and a couple of the people's 'representatives', effectively disenfranchised 33,000 registered voters in an ongoing legal struggle to have a voice in the future of their city, and question the Redevelopment Agency's (RDA) proposal to annex and gentrify Bayview-Hunters Point, a district populated by predominantly Black and other minority residents.

The Board of Supervisors ceded control of this area to the RDA who handed it over to Lennar Corporation, an odious operation with a history of flagrant violations and abuses. There is currently a health care crisis in the district as a result of the company's unmonitored excavations which have released toxic particulates; children and seniors in particular are experiencing significant respiratory and other medical problems as a result.

This years City Budget exceeds 6 BILLION DOLLARS, and yet those in most need; largely minorities, low income, the dispossessed, veterans; are forced to plead with their 'representatives' for a few crumbs for vital human services that fall off the fat cats table of
excess.

These proven effective Community based programs should be nurtured and receive a substantial increase in funding, not be replaced by more feel-good, politically driven, exercises in self promotion like "No Cash and Less Care".

The attacks on Chris Daly for mentioning the Mayors acknowledged substance abuse 'problems' were completely off base. He did not accuse the Mayor of cocaine use, as erroneously reported in the corporate media, he merely pointed out the irony of his proposed cuts in substance abuse programs for regular folks while he is undergoing similar treatment himself.

Of course he has access to special treatment not available to the rest of us, are we subsidizing this?. The hypocrisy is despicable, I'm going to cut off funding for programs that dramatically improve your lives, but, if there's a camera in the vicinity, I will wash your feet.

Meanwhile he, and various other Pooh-Bah's, continue their practice of disposing of City/Public assets; eg. recreational fields, golf course, marinas, waterfront property; to favored entities for a dollar or a pittance, all the while claiming lack of city resources to fund public needs.

In order to at least make a pretence of being 'fair and balanced', I feel it should also be noted that much of the progressive establishment has also been deficient in it's attention to institutional and environmental racism. With a few notable exceptions there has been very little organized ongoing support for the folks in Bayview-Hunters Point in their struggle for survival and justice. While progressives bemoan the lack of a credible mayoral candidate; Grumble about Gonzo; Criticize those who decide not to tilt at windmills; Grasp at John and Josh; they have so far given very little attention to another declared challenger.

I trust it is not because this person is a strong, articulate, informed, committed, black female who has fought fiercely for years to bring justice, equality and empowerment to the Bayview in particular, and all people in general.

Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai is running for Mayor!

While we were 'celebrating' the Fourth, I hope some also took a few moments to lament the loss of liberty, and despair over the demise of truly representative democracy that is occurring everywhere, even in our beautiful but increasingly fair-skinned-city.

Thanks for the work, Pat.

Avoid sniper alley

h. brown is a 62 year-old keeper of sfbulldog.com, an eclectic site featuring a half dozen City Hall denizens. h is a former sailor, firefighter, teacher, nightclub owner, and a hard-living satirical muckraker. Email h at h@ludd.net.

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