Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos attended a campaign launch event for Jane Kim in the race to succeed District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly. Photos by Luke Thomas
By Luke Thomas
June 26, 2010
Former San Francisco mayors Art Agnos and Willie Brown attended a campaign kick off event held Thursday for School Board President Jane Kim in her bid to succeed Supervisor Chris Daly in the hotly contested race for District 6 Supervisor.
The campaign launch drew as many as 250 supporters to the event held at 111 Minna Gallery in the heart of Downtown San Francisco, far exceeding the attendances of previous kickoff events held by Kim’s closest competitors in the race.
Jane Kim addresses supporters at her campaign launch event at 111 Minna Gallery.
“District 6 is the heart and soul of San Francisco,” said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu during introductory remarks. “District 6 has been represented by Chris Daly who has ably served this district for the past ten years, but it is now time for change.”
Citing Kim’s work as an affordable housing activist and working as a community organizer, Chiu said he is supporting Kim because she has “epitomized progressive values that I think all of San Francisco shares.”
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and Jane Kim.
Former Mayor Agnos, who arrived fashionably late to the party, told the SF Bay Guardian he is supporting Kim over Debra Walker because Walker supported Prop D, a failed measure on the November 2009 ballot that would have turned mid-Market into a haven for electronic billboard advertisers.
Insiders believe Walker reluctantly supported the measure because of pressure from her campaign consultant Jim Stearns who was representing the measure’s sponsor, businessman and real estate speculator David Addington.
As to why the ever-dapperly dressed former Mayor Brown attended the launch party remains somewhat of a mystery, but Kim told FCJ she personally invited all current and former electeds to the kick-off event.
Jane Kim greets former Mayor Willie Brown at her District 6 campaign launch party.
Also in attendance were School Board Commissioners Hydra Mendoza and Sandra Lee Fewer, Police Commissioner Angela Chan, Golden Gate Bridge Board Commissioner David Snyder, Sunshine Task Force Commissioner Hope Johnson, renowned filmmaker Kevin Epps, fellow District 6 candidate Glendon “Anna Conda” Hyde, and several supervisorial aides including Judson True, Cat Rauschuber and April Veneracion.
Lennar spokesperson Kofi Bonner, looking in the wrong place for a Progressive District 6 candidate supportive of Lennar’s development agenda, was also in attendance. Kim supported Proposition F on the November 2008 ballot that would have mandated 50 percent of all housing developed by Lennar at Bayview/Hunters Point to be affordable.
During her speech, Kim said she “never wanted to go into politics,” echoing sentiments expressed by Plato who believed the common good is best served by individuals who are not politicians.
Jane Kim addresses supporters at her campaign launch event at 111 Minna Gallery.
Kim said she is running for office “to build safe, strong communities” and “to invest in smart planning that brings more opportunities for working class and middle class communities.”
Her platform includes creating more parks, open spaces and recreation centers, investing in street-scape beautification, promoting traffic calming in SOMA to reduce pedestrian accidents, affordable housing development, investing in bicycle infrastructure projects and promoting public transportation projects including the Transbay High Speed Rail Terminal and the Central Subway project.
“We have an opportunity to make District 6 a model neighborhood of the future and smart growth for San Francisco,” she said.
Jane Kim addresses supporters at her campaign launch event at 111 Minna Gallery.
In closing, Kim said, “I’m not part of anyone’s machine, and I’m certainly not a part of anyone’s master plan,” an apparent dig at fellow District 6 candidate Debra Walker, according to SFBG City Editor Steve Jones.
“That emphasis on her independence could be seen as a subtle dig at Debra Walker, another progressive who has been running for the seat for the last two years, who locked down early support from many progressive groups and officials, and whose supporters were unhappy with Kim’s late decision to enter the race, concerned it might split the vote and allow downtown-backed Theresa Sparks — who could be viewed as a ‘machine’ candidate on the other end of the political spectrum — to steal the seat for the moderates,” Jones wrote.
Mayor Agnos could not resist giving SFBG City Editor Steve Jones a smoocher.
More photos after the jump
Political svengali Marc Salomon with Jane Kim.
Board President David Chiu aide Cat Rauschuber with Golden Gate Bridge Board Commissioner David Snyder.
Board President David Chiu and LGBT activist Bobbi Lopez.
A large crowd of supporters attended the launch party.
Board of Supervisors President David Chiu with Police Commissioner Angela Chan.
Community College Board candidate and Sunshine Task Force Commissioner Hope Johnson with Jane Kim.
Central City Democrats Vice President Michael Nulty and Jane Kim.
Former Ethics fines officer Oliver Luby with Jane Kim campaign coordinator Sunny Angulo.
Judson True, Cat Rauschuber and Steve Jones.
District 6 candidate Glendon "Anna Conda" Hyde (center).
SEIU organizer Tami Bryant and School Board Commissioner Sandra Lee Fewer.
School Board Commissioner Hydra Mendoza.
Activist Julian Davis, Mayor Art Agnos and Jane Kim campaign consultant Enrique Pearce.
Former Mayor Art Agnos smooches possible future mayoral contender Julian Davis.
Julian Davis with sisters Makay and Andrea Davis and filmmaker Kevin Epps.
Editor’s Note: Luke Thomas is a resident and voter in District 6. In the interest of transparency, he has provided photography services to the campaigns of Jane Kim, Jim Meko and Debra Walker.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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June 30, 2010 at 8:20 am
It is clear that Randy Shaw needs to be kept as far away as possible from influence over how public dollars are spent, lest he double his salary again over the next ten years as he has over the previous ten years.
How many of you all have seen your salaries double since 2000?
How many of landlord Shaw’s tenants have seen their income double over that interval?
How many of you all are glad that your tax dollars are subsidizing Shaw’s media operation designed to snag more tax dollars for the THC?
District Six needs a mirror image of “Citizens United” to take politics away from the for profit and non profit corporations which see our district as a profit center and vest it with residents.
-marc
June 29, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Greg,
The Kim candidacy is a poison pill for Debra Walker administered by Randy Shaw and the RBA cause Debra wouldn’t let them do what they wanted at DBI. The money is from Pak unless you think that all of Pak’s major donors each came up individually with the idea to give $500 apiece to Jane. Could be. Could be. You believe they did? Could be. Could be. I doubt it.
Kim’s fine with Downtown. Last week she got the de facto endorsements of Pelosi and Willie Brown. Keep in mind that she was a flat mate of Chiu’s in the Richmond when Downtown tried to get him to run against McGoldrick. Newsom said that he liked Chiu alot and that David was on his short list to be Assessor.
h.
June 29, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Luke,
I don’t think the mystery would be “solved” if we see Willie write something about it. But we may get a few more clues to the mystery when we find out where some of Jane’s money came from. From the looks of who attended that event, I’m not too encouraged.
Look, I’m not out to skewer Jane. Currently, she’d probably still be my second choice after Debra Walker. But I am raising questions, and the more I find out, the less I like.
It’s more than any one thing. It’s how she seems to be out for herself. It’s the recent move to the district. It’s some of her associations… perhaps any one of these things would not be enough in and of themselves, but that steady drip, drip, drip really starts to weigh against her.
More than anything else, it’s the fact that there’s really no good reason for her candidacy. In an IRV race, she may siphon off just enough votes/ cause just enough exhausted ballots to let Theresa Sparks win the seat. Why put the progressive majority at risk like that, when we already have a strong progressive candidate in Debra Walker who has none of the baggage Jane brings?
June 28, 2010 at 9:38 am
Land use is a major factor in the D6 race, one with all sorts of behind the scenes machinations because the profits are so immense.
How many D6 candidates would be willing to participate in a public candidates’ forum on land use where it was me pitching questions for discussion?
Not looking for cooties based gotchas here, more for how the candidates’ minds work when it comes to making tradeoffs on land use decisions.
-marc
June 28, 2010 at 9:20 am
I’d say it is too late for Rose Pak to cover up this blooper … we know she’s trying to buy District 6’s seat already. Like I said, I like Jane … she’s charming as hell even to this gay man – but I do not trust her loyalty after learning Rose Park is one of her primary benefactors … not to mention her lack of qualifications to represent us (no knowledge of planning and land use in areas of the City subject to huge real estate development, never shown her face at my or other neighborhood association meetings prior to running for office, no record of listening to residents except for brochure photo opportunities) … the same can be said for Theresa Sparks, by the way …. but I figure we already know what a phony she is.
June 28, 2010 at 9:16 am
@PoliticoWatcher, that thought had occurred to me also, but I haven’t seen anything posted under his byline as yet.
If Willie does mention Kim’s kickoff event in a forthcoming post, perhaps the mystery of his attendance will then be solved.
We’ll see.
June 28, 2010 at 9:04 am
Folks. Willie Brown is a columnist for the Chronicle. He goes to lots of political events to collect gossip, etc. for his column.
It is as reasonable a conclusion to draw that he attended this event as a reporter, although I could be wrong about that.
June 28, 2010 at 8:23 am
@Luke “I’m curious to know how you are able to discern any difference between Willie’s attendance at Ross’ kickoff re-election bid and Kim’s kickoff election bid.”
The differentiation is that incumbents almost always get re-elected. Mirkarimi was an incumbent when slick Willie showed up. That, of course, is not the case for Jane … and I’d be curious if anyone knew of Willie showing up this early at other non-incumbent Supervisor candidates’ kickoff parties without Rose Pak being one of the major benefactors of the campaign.
Yes, everyone’s poop stinks, but at least I know Jim Meko and where his loyalty stands for making sure everyone is heard – not to mention he actually knows about creating a complete neighborhood after hundreds of meetings he’s conducted for the Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force instead of just allowing a political consultant to plug in the comment with the candidate not knowing shit about planning and land issues.
June 28, 2010 at 7:56 am
@Greg, what counts is a record of accomplishment, not the amount of time spent trying to accomplish. What matters is how one overcomes political obstacles, not how many political obstacles impeded progress.
The issue of the incumbent District Six supervisors’ short tenure in the district when he first sought the office was answered a decade ago by Bill Barnes, Daly’s campaign manager, in a spinful bout of sophistry, with “What do you mean Chris Daly did not live in District Six for very long, the district did not exist until it was created a few years in preparation for district elections.”
District Six in 2010 is going to involve serious compromises, none of which are very palatable, if the seat is to be retained. Everyone’s shit stinks.
-marc
June 27, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Hey Greg,
I’m curious to know how you are able to discern any difference between Willie’s attendance at Ross’ kickoff re-election bid and Kim’s kickoff election bid.
Shouldn’t his attendance at any Progressive event generate the same inquiry?
Why is not possible that Willie was “making nice” with both Mirk and Kim? Or, for that matter, that he was testing the political waters with both Ross and Jane?
To attribute different motivations is a little reaching, IMHO.
June 27, 2010 at 11:10 pm
Marc,
I think there is a qualitative difference between Willie Brown attending Ross’s re-election bid, and Jane Kim’s campaign kickoff.
The first was a case of a politician making nice with another politician who was assured of winning. That’s just good politics. The second is a politician making a supportive gesture to someone who needs all the help she can get. If Brown does help her win, and she does win, the question becomes how much will she feel like she owes him something for his help? I think that’s a legitimate question to ask. Belittling the argument to a question of “cootie politics” isn’t exactly fair.
It’s also a mischaracterization to imply that Debra Walker’s supporters argue that it’s “her turn” or she “deserves” the seat. I have heard nothing of the sort.
What I have heard, is the argument that Debra would make a better representative than Jane because Jane just moved into the district, while Debra has roots in the community. You can agree or disagree with the notion that 25 years of community activism in the district is meaningful, but please don’t mischaracterize the argument.
June 27, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I would not consider Willie Brown or David Chiu progressive endorsements. Indeed, I interpret both as negatives, as far as progressive politics go, though I’m sure they’ll help Jane Kim raise money and win. Sigh.
June 27, 2010 at 12:43 am
What about D-10?
Did Chris Jackson get the boot from the Labor Council? I was surprised to hear he hadn’t qualified for matching funds yet while 5 others have. Someone do another piece on D-10 please.
h.
June 26, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Thank you for your comment Erika. I never thought anyone valued my opinions much– which are eccentric to a point that the need to explain them anymore are a chore indeed. I will hardly do so here, where it might be twittered between “patients” on cannabis.
My experience with the SF Green Party was initially full of optimism– and naivety. For the sake of some of the endearing and touchingly sincere persons involved, I suspended belief on its behalf many times. The best in the Green Party began to drop out when others, I believe at the behest of Democratic Party manipulators, installed David Cobb as the party’s presidential candidate in ’04. Many of those who remained in the party were clueless about that history; some knew about it but couldn’t face it. None wanted to talk about it.
The party had a slim opportunity to get back on track in ’08 by nominating a good person, Cynthia McKinney. But it was an opportunistic alliance. She lent the party her name and an opportunity to expand the party– but it didn’t happen. She went off elsewhere fast enough to broaden her base in other ways and to help people and promote her causes, which should have been the party’s causes, in any way she could.
Club Green talked often about forgoing broad state and national tickets for the sake of making local inroads. A formula espoused by Democratic Party “neutrals” like Howard Zinn. “Organize!” was its mantra. It seldom happened. The party lost momentum by forgoing universal issues that impact locally and wider. The last time I saw Barry Hermanson, someone I admire, he was fired up about what he thought was getting an ear in the Obama administration!
Mirkarimi advised me once to look at John Edwards as a viable national candidate. I have always liked Mirkarimi– but when he suggested that, I was shocked beyond belief. Still, he is a good person and effective politician (within the confines of our system). But he was no real Green if such ever really existed.
Is it any surprise that Kim, also gifted, would follow his lead to rub elbows with the likes of Willie Brown– or stoop to a snarky “debate” of a group of Young Democrats (which was said foreordained the anointing of one candidate, who we discovered could only frame issues vis-a-vis SF nightlife)? (The joke was on us– everyone now thinks Kim, not Sparks, was the anointed one.)
Are there any Green candidates being fielded anymore– or anyone in the Green Party responding to city issues in any substantive way? Are there any Greens who do anything tangible anywhere except for in a few better privileged niches? Or in the case of the city of Richmond, or New Orleans’ 9th ward, beyond the pale of influence– save for the rest of society to declare, “We told you so”? Are there any Greens who can drop more than Lincoln in a Green Party bucket?
And today’s “big” issues– all contained in a teapot– especially Sit/Lie. What a manufactured issue if ever there was one! Participating in it it is tantamount to lending it credibility.
In March ’03 there was a real Sit/Lie in the streets of San Francisco– and the police were out in full force with a fleet of helicopters to move the protesters along. Afterwards the antiwar movement was hijacked by a consortium of identity-issue driven specialists skilled at pushing “independents” toward the center. The anti-Prop 8 Sit/Lie May ’09 at Van Ness was an orchestrated minuet between the police and activists needing to let off steam. Who owns this country? The people? I can’t imagine Pelosi and her staff giving it more than a glance from the height of her city office building.
If you learn the dance the system requires you may get to consume your marriage– or consume your medications– along with the rest of the consumables that make our way of life “non-negotiable.”
The sick and the poor will always be with us. Except for the interest banks earn on what they loan states to dole out food stamp money etc., they hardly register on the map of the two parties of the financial elites, and their clueless abettors.
Any debate on anything anymore is framed within boundaries set by the ruling classes, their stooge media, and their aspirants. “9/11 was a conspiracy of hijackers sent by al Queda.” To ignore this great lie is to ignore the catalyst for our wars without end.
With a wink we all know it– but we are treading on dangerous ground if we back any alternate theory. And isn’t it just a hop skip and jump before we are wearing tinfoil hats and talking about Obama being Soetoro? Who indeed are we to blame for 9/11 if it was not the hijackers named in the Official Commission Report?
[Plenty of people are at this moment working overtime to pin it all on Mossad. Echh. I don’t want to go there.]
[On the other hand, Noam Chomsky and his sycophants won’t go anywhere substantive except places that give intellectual wannabees permission to hate.]
As for tinfoil hats– that is what became of the antiwar movement.
There is nothing particularly effective about the street theater that passes for action. God forbid real action take place– the ruling class might take off its gloves! The mainstream laughs and tolerates. Come close to becoming a dangerous truth teller and you will be crushed. You, me, we, might be all crushed anyway. Sigh. If someone in our land is telling the truth they are either inconsequential or locked away. There might be a creative alternative yet– but it will probably involve ticketmaster. Sigh again.
Imagine the billions in supplemental funds Pelosi wants to give (yet again!) to one of the cruelest imperialistic war efforts in human history. Compare the ransacking of the economy and her failure to help the unemployed, the hungry, the uneducated, the hopeless.
How can anyone with any conscience whatsoever appear on a dais built to bolster the bona fides of such evil and corruption?
Within the confines of our system, which is not a democracy or even hardly in the service of life, it’s easy I suppose.
To imagine anything different would make you a Marxist I suppose… and in our system that makes you inconsequential.
Well, I could rail on for quite awhile. Maybe if I said I was a sports fan or that vibrators are non-negotiable– you might think better of me.
I miss Ruth Snave’s refreshing crotchetiness here though his interminableness could be trying. My apologies to all if I failed to explain myself well enough, or if I outwore my welcome. Like Snave, I’ll lend a quote.
Rather than argue this or that (I don’t think I can convince anyone of anything) it seems best to me, and maybe like Snave, to disappear. A Weltanschauung for our times:
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http://tinyurl.com/2eov2cn
June 26, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Thank you for the thorough and beautifully photographed coverage of Jane Kim’s campaign kickoff. I am convinced she is a solid, progressive vote on the issues that matter the most. I have not seen the SFYD debate, but if as is stated she “waffled” on the pension initiative, then I think that is a good sign. She is a thoughtful person who will weigh both sides of an issue. And she expressed the right position.
Although I do not support this pension reform measure, I do support Jeff Adachi as a solid, progressive ally, just not on this issue. That said, as a public worker myself, there is a need for frank discussion on funding, budgets, and how public workers fit into this. However, it is not a one size fits all issue. Low paid service workers should not be treated the same as six figure employees. Wasteful overtime practices need to be rectified, salary caps are necessary, as always I say “chop from the top,” and certainly no one deserves a pension over $100,000 a year, especially when all that money is getting spent outside of San Francisco! I believe in a residency law for all city workers, especially for public safety workers. Then they spend their discretionary money in San Francisco, they pay taxes in the city, they care about public schools and the general well being of the city because it is not just the place that they work, while their heart and commitment is based in the suburbs. That alone will raise untold millions in revenue!
Wall Street is largely to blame for the pension crisis as well! As a state worker, I remember when CALPERS was solvent, now after the Bush/Schwarzennegar era, that is no longer the case. Generally speaking public workers have always forgone comparable salaries for the work we do in order to enjoy the benefits of a secure pension, etc. Now it seems that the public sentiment is headed towards low salaries AND insufficient benefits. That does not seem fair to us either.
Lastly, I spend 40+ hours a week serving the public, I believe I provide a thorough and vital public service, a lot of folks are relying on their unemployment benefits right now. I do not believe those that I serve truly begrudge what I am earning, they just don’t always hear the facts.
I believe Jane Kim is a candidate with integrity who I trust implicitly.
June 26, 2010 at 7:42 pm
District Six has few political organizations representing residents that can create a political culture for a variety of reasons. What it lacks in civil society it makes up for in tons of nonprofits and as many lucrative development opportunities.
This means that supervisorial races here don’t look much like other districts because there aren’t enough voters capable of financing campaigns, and it ends up that there are generally more external forces at work than home grown.
I’ve tried my best to move my progressive vision of land use forward, but the forces with direct economic interests are just too strong, or nobody has figured out how to out flank them by organizing.
If only length of residential tenure in a district correlated with effectiveness, but alas, those who have lived here for decades can still fail to execute in the face of corporate power.
I forgot to mention Sean from the RBA in my list of those with keen interests in D6 politics.
On Adachi’s petition, D6 saw the first waves of what would become the economic collapse in the orgy of development during Daly’s tenure. Having caused the housing market to swoon and after receiving government bailouts while housing prices languish, the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sector is now turning its attentions to diverting collateralized obligations of tax revenues from pensions and social services to their own stabilization, prosperity through austerity goes the slogan.
There is a progressive response to this, Jeff Adachi carrying water for the Chamber of Commerce is not it, not during this global tsunami of class warfare attacks on the last 300 years of enlightenment economics–compared to Adam Smith, these banksters are radicals.
We have plenty of money for dignified retirements if the income cap on social security payroll taxes are lifted, our problem is a massive discretionary unfunded military obligation.
San Francisco’s fiscal crisis is due to a lack of progressive taxation, the fault of Adachi’s petition is that it jumps on that regressive bandwagon, treating MEA six figure managers like SEIU 40K workers. This approach also leverages public outrage at high public service pensions where most voters get none, but does nothing to do anything to help solve most peoples’ pension insecurity. That’s cynical given the crisis facing what’s left of the safety net.
Moderates and conservatives can quibble about the details of such an exercise in class warfare. Progressives should back away slowly and promote a progressive alternative.
-marc
June 26, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Well, if you’re cool with one part of town controlling the rest of San Francisco, I don’t know why you would defend District elections … care to explain?
When a candidate makes a big deal about being “independent from machine politics” http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/06/25/kim-launches-d6-campaign-stressing-independence-machine-politics when anybody with any common sense CAN sense that is complete bullshit, I think we should call them on the floor about it.
Issues? Well, she was the only candidate who waffled on Jeff Adachi’s Sustainable Pension Reform measure and gave a “No Answer” for the SFYD candidate forum. When asked about it, it became clear she was against it. On her website, it says “It’s our time to change our neighborhood.” Funny, but leaving pensions and retiree benefits as is means more young people get laid off every year and their ideas and familiarity with the latest tools leave San Francisco … not to mention all of the service cuts that impact our most vulnerable neighbors the most. Hmph … change? Sounds like more of the same machine politics to me where career politicians do what is best for themselves … and their financial benefactors (ie: Rose Pak).
Your turn sweetie … happy Pride
June 26, 2010 at 5:05 pm
“Chinatown trying to power grab District 6?s vote for their own needs is complete and utter bullshit.”
Campaign manager for caucasian candidate who celebrates SOMA’s history as a place welcoming newcomers decries participation by people of color in district elections?
Eww, as if the interference of Calvin Welch or Sue Hestor or Randy Shaw in D6 politics is okey-dokey?
Can we please keep the attacks to attacking bad policies, specific land use policies, instead of imputing cooties by association?
-marc
June 26, 2010 at 5:00 pm
@Robert B. Livingston
I have respected your opinions in the past, and I am curious as to why you think the Green Party was hijacked by the Democratic Party. Is there something we did or said that made you draw this conclusion?
June 26, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Not certain,
I think since Eric Jaye lost his control that Downtown really has not had a captain. The Progs have shown with the careful nurturing of the Kim candidacy that at this point they are better organized. As I said in a column after watching the SFYD film the other day: “If I’m running against Kim I’m feeling like a Belgian farmer working in my field peacefully in 1939 and I hear a rumbling.”. She can’t be stopped.
Not that this is a bad thing. It’s just that Daly was always so ‘authentic’. Kim’s someone Willie Brown is comfortable endorsing as is Nancy Pelosi. How’s she gonna vote on the Lennar project on Treasure Island?
h.
June 26, 2010 at 1:30 pm
San Francisco is such a small pond where I think, with minor adjustments, we are bound to see more of the same– or more likely, less of the same from its identity-driven political insiders as our economy tightens and unprovoked foreign wars are marginalized by propaganda and diversion outside the interest of anyone except the wars’ suffering victims.
Most of the candidates seem to be just good people.
Debra Walker is– I mistakenly thought I would back her at the beginning for that reason alone.
Kim probably is, but what an obvious opportunist, like Mirkirimi– moving to the Democratic Party. Then, the Green Party in San Francisco was already hijacked by the Democratic Party and its apologists; it came close to being an independent force for a time, but never became more than a left flank of an almost wholly ignored left progressive wing of the Democratic Party (think Kucinich).
Good luck to all the candidates in this yet another charade of democracy. Those that rise, pray lightly and think occasionally of who you will likely sell out on your way– through intention or by rationalization.
And I will try to tend my own garden and pray not to have to step over Pollo Del Mar at anytime.
June 26, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Wilie Brown showed up? I agree that this stinks of Rose Pak/Chinatown trying to buy a second District seat on the Board of Supervisors to fund more awful projects like the Central Subway that will allow folks pass by the alleys and stores (if businesses can survive the next few years of construction along 4th Street that is … Hotel Utah, hang in there!) of South of Market.
I like Jane, but it appears as though she has sold her soul to Rose Pak. I’m sorry people, but the whole point of District elections is to make sure that each region of San Francisco have a Supervisor that answers to them primarily … Chinatown trying to power grab District 6’s vote for their own needs is complete and utter bullshit.
There ya go … do not vote for Jane Kim. She just moved into District 6 last year to become a rubber stamp for Chinatown. District 6 residents deserve their OWN Supervisor.
Just calling it like I see it ….
June 26, 2010 at 12:44 pm
@h, Hmmm… does that mean Theresa gets thrown under a bus?
June 26, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Another harbinger,
When Pelosi hit da Dome last week the last thing she did was to put in a plug for Jane Kim for D-6 supe. Y’all realize that? I’d say Downtown has settled on their lady and it ain’t Theresa Sparks or Elaine Zamora.
h.
June 26, 2010 at 10:52 am
Of course as a good progressive Kim supports the Bicycle Plan, even though it’s going to jam up traffic on Second Street, Fifth Street, and Cesar Chavez. And the Central Subway and the high speed rail boondoggles. She also supports the high-density development that threatens to degrade any city neighborhood anywhere near a major city traffic artery.
It would be helpful, too, if the candidates take a stand on the proposed CityPlace development on Market Street on its most blighted block. Is the city’s anti-car movement going to block the much-needed project just because the project includes a parking garage?
June 26, 2010 at 10:39 am
Some connections would be clearer to the casual observer if one could capture Rose Pak’s image in a camera lens or a mirror. But her steady diet of unicorn blood and infant hearts keeps her corporeal form kinda shifty.
June 26, 2010 at 10:15 am
To clarify, I’ve not endorsed any candidate running in the District 6 race. I have attended many of the District 6 candidates campaign kickoffs and other candidate related events and forums.
I plan on remaining neutral, since I am connected to several entities that will each have their own endorsement process.
I will have to wait for those processes to occur first. I’m looking forward to inviting all the actual candidates (after last week of August when the Supervisor candidates names will appear on the November ballot) to participate in District 6 candidates forums, and I looking forward to reviewing their websites and campaign platforms.
June 26, 2010 at 9:15 am
@Kay, do you all really want to get into that kind of a cooties fest? Each of the major candidates has political associations that stand antithetical to progressive policies.
If I’m not going there, you all can figure out a way to not go there either.
For what it’s worth, Willie Brown was at Ross Mirkarimi’s 2008 reelection campaign kickoff. Now Ross has cooties too!
Observers agree that going negative at the SFYD debate did not prove fruitful.
Let’s not go there, Kay, it doesn’t work for progressives. There are no entitlements, no “deserves,” it is nobody’s “turn,” all that counts is putting together the package that can win.
-marc
June 26, 2010 at 8:57 am
@Kay, I never spoke to Willie so I don’t know why he was there. Perhaps you can enlighten us?
June 26, 2010 at 8:54 am
Luke, your readers are insiders. Don’t insult them with things like you have no idea why Willie was there.
June 26, 2010 at 8:45 am
Kickoffs are for show. That said, they do show off a candidate’s strength (e.g. how many people show up, if any ‘important’ folks show up, etc.)
Looks like Jane Kim passed the test with her event. I did watch her speech online. She did a good job, but it’s only a kickoff. The true test will be with her signature in lieu numbers and fundraising totals.
Just watched the Young Dems debate.
Jane Kim clearly won that one. I thought it would be close, but it really wasn’t. The other candidates made a mistake in giving her so many questions–it gave her much more facetime than the others. You could tell that Jane was a bit nervous at first, but once settled in, she showed her strong command of issues.
Debra Walker was surprisingly weak to me. I had expected more from her, but she didn’t deliver. Theresa Sparks did well, though. Her style was very good, and she seemed poised. Theresa did better than Debra, but didn’t get the questions that Jane did.
Jim Meko and Glendon ‘Annaconda’ Hyde also did okay. Jim spoke in too much politico jargon, and Hyde’s remarks seemed unpolished. James Keys flopped. He wasn’t very impressive and gave a backhanded slap at Chris Daly…whose support I know he’s working hard to get. And watching Matt Drake is like watching paint dry.
It was a good week for Jane Kim. Time will tell if she can keep it up.
June 26, 2010 at 8:39 am
To clarify, I’ve not endorsed in D6, am supportive of the progressive and community rooted candidates, Walker, Meko, Keys, Hyde and, yes, Kim, who I’d supported for School Board in ’04 and ’06, but like many am not supporting any candidate.
It is critical that progressives cast a gimlet eye towards the cold, brutal electoral realities of IRV and how it plays in D6 and not deceive ourselves.
My primary concern this November, aside from ballot measures and electing Rafael Mandelman in D8, is educating the voters about Theresa Sparks’ record of serial failure as qualification for serial promotion, and how that record wholly disqualifies her from yet another inexplicable promotion to Supervisor of our beloved District Six, the special needs district of SF politics.
-marc
June 26, 2010 at 6:00 am
Great pics,
Willie was there because Rose Pak is a primary fund raiser for the campaign. Also, don’t forget that it was Willie who gave Theresa Sparks her first boost in SF politics. As I wrote after watching the SFYD forum, Walker and Meko would make better representatives but the ‘Kim Machine’ is walking away with this one. Congrats to her. Lots of wonderful people working with her. Starting with Agnos.
I notice Daly wasn’t there.
Bumgarner throws at 4pm!
I think there’s some soccer game too.
h.
June 26, 2010 at 5:11 am
Luke thank you for covering another District 6 Candidate Kickoff Event. I just want to clarify my current connects to District 6 which is Vice President of Central City Democrats (the only chartered Democratic Club for those who work or live in District 6. And I am currently the Executive Director of Alliance for a Better District 6 and co-founder. The current President of Alliance for a Better District 6 is James Keys (Candidate for Supervisor in District 6) Please make the correction. Thanks.