Overheard in Fog City

Luke Thomas, Fog City Journal publisher.
Photo by Adam Aufdencamp

By Luke Thomas

January 12, 2007

Répondez s'il vous plait (RSVP)

There's been much ballyhoo over tomorrow's district town hall meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Question Time aficionados are questioning Newsom's email invitation some believe has been engineered to stack the Richmond Recreation Center with Newsom supporters, to drown out critics and to create a statistical advantage.

The emailed invitation, contrary to the idea everyone is invited, requests invitees to RSVP.

According to the invitation's author, Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services, Daniel Homsey, "everyone is welcome" and rejected the notion ulterior motives are at play.

Homsey said the reason for the invitation's RSVP is to help gauge attendance estimates in consideration of venue capacity.

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Lampooned a chicken

Mayor Gavin Newsom has so far declined to honor the will of the voters' request that he attend Board of Supervisor Meetings once a month to field questions from Supervisors and voters, and to be held to account for his policies.

Conversations with mayoral staff argue Newsom is honoring the will of the voters by facilitating Q&A sessions at district town hall meetings.

There's a minor technical problem with this argument: There are only 11 districts and 12 months in a year (last time I checked).

Home court advantage is also problematic if the district venue is stacked with mayoral supporters by way of targeted email invitations.

The real problem with Measure I, passed by 56 per cent of voters, of course, is the measure does not include guidelines to address rules of engagement.

The solution? The mayor's office and Supervisors should work together to establish agreeable Question Time house rules.

Until house rules are agreed to, this mayor will continue to be lampooned a chicken by his detractors.

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