Entertainment Commissioner Jim Meko. Photo by Luke Thomas.
By Luke Thomas
October 6, 2010
San Francisco Bay Guardian Editor Tim Redmond will post a correction and a mea culpa after falsely stating in its current print issue and on its website that candidate for District 6 Supervisor, Jim Meko, supports Proposition L, a controversial Sit/Lie measure on the November ballot.
In this week’s long-anticipated endorsements issue, the SFBG states, “Jim Meko, a longtime neighborhood and community activist, has good credentials and some solid ideas. He was a key player in the western SoMa planning project and helped come up with a truly progressive land-use program for the neighborhood. But he supports sit-lie and is awfully cranky about local bars and nightlife.”
Meko is opposed to the Sit/Lie measure.
D6 candidate positions posted during the D6 SFYD debate in June. Photo by Michael J. Costa.
“How can they ever make up for a misrepresentation of such a key progressive position now that it’s already in the hands of tens of thousands of their readers?” Meko said. “With a little correction next week? I don’t think so. They’ve trivialized the whole ranked choice process with their sloppy reporting and dealt my campaign a serious blow.”
Responding to FCJ inquiry, Redmond said, “I just put a correction in the file. It’s our error. I will also correct it in the paper this week, add it to the comments and I am sending an apology to Meko right now.”
Redmond said Meko’s position on Sit/Lie was not a factor in considering its D6 endorsements. “It was only one factor and wouldn’t have changed our endorsement,” he said.
Building Inspections Commissioner Debra Walker, School Board President Jane Kim and Glendon “Anna Conda” Hyde received the SFBG’s respective 1-2-3 ranked choice endorsement in the race to succeed termed out Supervisor Chris Daly.
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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October 12, 2010 at 2:07 am
Greg,
You love these mental political gymnastics as much as I do and I have the excuse that I’m retired to justify how much time (all) I spend on them. Hmmm. That was ‘chasing rabbits’. What I meant to say is that I’ve enjoyed reading your comments all these years and I want Howard Epstein to start contributing more … Debra Walker said today that … I think … wait, I was drunk and stoned and it was at the Chronicle editorial board D-6 thing or going into or coming out of … great event … that when Newsom wins … the present Board has like 5 days to appoint a mayoral successor for a year or the new Board meeting a few days later will pick a NEW (maybe) President of the BOS who will become acting Mayor and then ….
Go Giants!
h.
October 11, 2010 at 9:31 pm
h,
I’m not backing anyone for mayor yet. I have no idea who all the candidates are.
When I find out who’s running, I imagine I’ll back the most progressive candidate who can win, as I usually do.
October 11, 2010 at 10:31 am
Greg,
Aren’t you backing Leland Yee for mayor?
Enough said.
Go Giants!
h.
October 10, 2010 at 7:48 am
That’s good to hear, Luke. But I’m actually more disturbed by his position on immigrant children. I could understand if he was against sanctuary cities for adults. I wouldn’t agree, but ok, whatever. But children??? I mean, some of these kids have grown up all their lives here. This is the only country they know, and they didn’t even make the choice to cross the border -their parents did. And Keys wants to deport them? Hell, even Sparks understands that’s just wrong. This is really one of those “WTF” positions for a progressive to take, on par with Kim saying she supports CNC.
Problem is, every one of the progressive candidates has taken one of those “WTF” positions on something, except Debra Walker to my knowledge.
I’m not arguing for a bullet vote by any means. I understand that all of them would make great supervisors 90% of the time. Everyone should have two backup votes. But in first place, I’d prefer a candidate who hasn’t taken any of those positions that make me say “WTF???”
October 9, 2010 at 4:00 pm
@Greg, it is my understanding that Keys changed his position on Prop B sometime after the D6 SFYD debate.
October 9, 2010 at 3:32 pm
That’s a great chart up there, Luke. All this stuff about ranked choice is good and well (and obviously progressives should excersize their options), but for me it validates my original position of supporting Debra Walker for first place.
Annaconda wants to blame MUNI drivers for management’s failure and to jack up the prices for people’s health care. Lovely.
James Keys is also for Prop B, and also wants to turn over immigrant children to ICE for deportation. Disgusting. What does Chris Daly think about that?
Jane Kim has taken all sorts of anti-progressive positions: blame drivers, wishy-washy on prop B, and YES on Care Not Cash! WTF?
Meko is Yes on Prop B, and bad for nightlife as well.
Only Debra has taken the positions on the issues that align closest to mine.
I do have to say that Keys was best on the America’s Cup issue, and Debra was weak on that. But after seeing the above, she’s still far and away my first choice.
October 7, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Welcome back, Brian – and thanks for the reminder. Now added.
October 7, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Speaking of “sloppy reporting,” once again (I’ve lost count as to how many times) Luke Thomas fails to mention at the end his article that he is a resident and a voter in District 6.
And once again, Luke Thomas fails to mention he has provided photography services to the campaigns of Jane Kim, Jim Meko and Debra Walker.
Then again, all of this is pretty evident anyway since he’s been using the exact same campaign / “news story” photos over and over and over again for months on end.
October 7, 2010 at 5:10 pm
It is always put out there that San Francisco needs to tighten it’s belt, then a person that puts an idea out there, then them and their supporters are demonized by a few that have no idea’s of their own.
October 7, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Fine, he doesn’t support L. He does support B, though, and that’s a real shame.
October 7, 2010 at 10:36 am
This is disgraceful. The Bay Guardian likes to lecture others on what constitutes proper journalism, rather like it lectures others on the importance of union labor after breaking unionizing efforts at its own shop, and exploiting “interns” for decades. It’s not like this mistake about Meko’s sit/lie position was a typo, or an inadvertent error. They actually editorialized against Meko because he was for sit/lie when he wasn’t. The real problem for the Guardian is that Meko is supporting Prop B, which I have a funny feeling is going to pass this November.
October 6, 2010 at 1:38 pm
This can help,
Really. The Guardian had taken on a Matier & Ross/Gonzalez stance where they refused to mention the candidate they detested at all no matter how strong.
Meko can win this and Redmond with his foot in his mouth helps more than hinders. It got me carrying my Meko signboard to the liquor store and Farmers Market and back where 1,000 people saw it (very handsome – old cane with double sided posters stapled together) …
See Shaw’s ‘Ode to Jane Kim’ in Beyond Chron. Totally illegal for a non-profit that lives off tax exempt funds. The fine for that one is $10,000 and probably lawyer’s fees for anyone who wants to take the case.
I thought his endorsement of Anna Conda was disingenuous too after what he and Gabriel Haaland did to Hope Johnson. He says he endorsed Anna Conda to encourage young talent? Then, he laments the fact that there are no alternatives for Community College Board. Is he saying he’d have endorsed Hope if she’d have stayed on the ticket? Shit, he helped chase her away.
go Giants!
h.