By Luke Thomas
October 14, 2011
High drama unfolded last eve at the Buck Tavern, resulting in Chinatown Community Development Center organizer David Ho and political consultant Enrique Pearce being 86ed by bar owner and former District 6 Supervisor Chris Daly.
It’s not the first time Ho and Pearce, who are working to elect interim Mayor Ed Lee to a full term, have been shown the red card by Daly.
It all started off around 11:30 pm when Ho and Pearce arrived at the city’s favorite political watering hole following a successful, well attended No on E and F campaign fundraiser organized by CitiReport.com founder Larry Bush and Democratic Party chair Aaron Peskin.
After Ho and Pearce ordered drinks, light ribbing and banter ensued between Ho, Daly, and Pearce during which Daly demanded Pearce reveal who financed the production of The Ed Lee Story: An Unexpected Mayor, an unauthorized Lee biography penned by Pearce and financed to the tune of $88 thousand by SF Neighbor Alliance for Ed Lee for Mayor 2011, an independent expenditure committee not subject to contribution limits.
The initial exchanges quickly escalated into name-calling. Ho drew first blood calling Daly “politically irrelevant.” Daly responded accusing Ho of working for the Chinese communist regime and called Pearce a “douche” for writing Lee’s biography, all the while repeatedly demanding Pearce reveal who financed the book.
Unwilling to provide the information, Pearce responded, “October 22nd, baby, October 22nd,” a reference to the date Pearce said the committee will publicly disclose the book’s financial backers.
More heated exchanges followed. There was palpable sense that Daly was losing patience, resulting in Daly ordering Ho and Pearce to leave.
Ho polished off what was left of his libation and headed for the exits, while Pearce tried in vain to smooth things over as Daly was corralling Pearce out of the bar.
Responding today, Daly told FCJ, “Look, I’m a bartender on Market Street. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had to show an unsavory character the door.”
Pearce, striking a more forgiving tone, told FCJ, “It’s always a fun time at the Buck, and last night was no exception. I have a great deal of respect for the intellect and passion of Chris Daly – there is no better sparring partner. It’s a badge of honor to have Chris give you a piece of his mind, which he freely does. I’ll look forward to having a beer with him soon.”
Asked why the committee is not being forthcoming about the book’s benefactors, Pearce said, “Because we’re complying with the law.”
Calls to Ho for comment were not returned at the time of publishing.
Daly moves to turn Buck Tavern into venue for weekly debates
In an earlier discussion with Daly about why Lee refuses to debate mayoral candidate and Public Defender Jeff Adachi over pension reform, Daly said he liked Fog City Journal’s idea of turning the Buck Tavern into a venue for a debating society using similar debate house rules employed by UK Parliament.
“I like it,” Daly said. “In fact, I’ll be the first to sign up to debate Adachi over pension reform.”
Daly opposes both pension reform measures, Props C and D, on the November ballot.
No word yet on whether Adachi will take the bait, but we’ll update this post when/if he responds.
Avalos gets national spotlight from Olbermann over Occupy Wall Street movement
If you haven’t seen it yet, mayoral candidate and Supervisor John Avalos was featured in an interview Wednesday with famed broadcaster Keith Olbermann following an early morning Occupy Wall Street protest that closed down Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco.
Avalos, who has lent his voice in support of the widening protests, told Olbermann record foreclosures and high-employment are the driving forces behind the protest movement.
“People are feeling very desperate, having a difficult time paying their mortgage, having a difficult time paying rent and putting food on the table – and there’s a feeling that the banks who got bailed out have not done enough to support the local economy and to support households against foreclosures and defaults,” Avalos said.
As part of his mayoral platform, Avalos is championing a policy of publicly-owned and operated municipal and state banks “so that we can actually control how we are investing in local businesses and small property owners.”
Speaking of the Occupy Wall Street movement, OccupySF will be participating in tomorrow’s internationally-coordinated global protest. Tomorrow’s protest in San Francisco begins with a “Solidarity March” at 3pm outside the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, at 101 Market Street.
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 17, 2011 at 8:26 am
Catch morning ‘poll’?
Comments on Hellman poll?
Here’s mine to BayCitizen.com
boys and girls,
In a move calculated to demoralize
all anti-Downtown candidates Warren Hellman’s
newly re-constituted (strong Right turn) online
BayCitizen.com released a poll at 4am this
morning declaring the race for Mayor to be
over and declaring Warren’s candidate to be
unbeatable.
As Joe O’Donoghue always says:
“Figures don’t lie but liars can figure.”
Here’s my post to the Bay Citizen:
Gerry,
I’m going to keep asking to see the entire polling instrument until you either
publish it or tell me that it’s ‘proprietary’ which means it’s bogus.
Let me be cold and direct on this. A month ago if I’d read a headline that said
that Bay Citizen was sponsoring a poll I’d have taken the results seriously.
Right now your publication has no credibility to me cue to the shake-ups in your
editorial staff and subsequent move to the Right.
Hellman spent something like 200 grand for outside auditors to get honest numbers
on how much the City needs to find to make the pension system solvent and he came
up with a 300-400 million yearly number. I believed that.
Now Warren is pitching another couple of hundred grand into Prop C which plugs less
than 100 million of the problem. And, I learn that the main thing Prop C does for
Hellman is to change the balance of power on the Pension Board away from a majority
of retirees to a majority of City employees with Controller Ben Rosenfield as the
newly added swing vote.
Since Hellman/Friedman hasn’t been getting as much business (investing the funds
moolah) over the last couple of years I see this as just another move by an
avaricious capitalist with no conscience.
Until you supply the entire poll I will not believe any of it at all.
Go Niners!
h.
Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
October 16, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Sounds like the bar scene from Star Wars (with cameo from Chewbacca):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRwzP23ifI
October 16, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Look, the Central Subway is a good idea gone awry, and Ed Lee strikes me as a puppet. I will respect people when they acknowledge that the CS as it is currently designed is LOUSY. Better to reject the federal funds now being offered and go back to the drawing board — or simply reject the federal funds and go with surface improvements to Stockton Street. I need to see Ed Lee, David Ho, and Enrique Pearce stand up and separate themselves from the current plan and separate themselves from the power brokers behind it — and the status quo that the power brokers represent that all the Occupiers are rallying against. I wait with anticipation …
October 16, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Go Niners!
Yes on C.
No on D.
It ain’t about personalities. It’s about intelligent governance. 11-0 Supes. Concensus.
October 16, 2011 at 1:27 pm
NINERS ARE FOR REAL.
SUPER BOWLTHIS YEAR
GIANTS #1 NEXT YEAR.
October 16, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Greg,
You called Adachi a hypocrite and questioned his manhood. You gonna deny that? You and Salomon and Brooks cruise from site to site telling lie after lie after lie over and over and over and then you whine when anyone responds in kind?
You have no problem with spreading lies about me all over the internet and destroying any chance I might have of getting a job but you’re worried about Marc? BS, you’re worried about Yelp.
Niners down by 4 with7 minutes to go.
h.
October 16, 2011 at 8:34 am
@Greg, I agree. A pension reform debate should include a third participant who opposes pension reform.
October 15, 2011 at 10:37 pm
With all due respect Luke, if the debate is limited to a question of the precise formula for taking away workers’ pensions, that’s not a full debate now, is it?
That’s like having a debate on the War in Afghanistan where one side argues for indefinite occupation, and the other side says we should use tactical nukes.
Doesn’t have to be Daly representing No on Both (maybe better if it’s not, actually). But *someone* needs to represent that side, or else it’s totally meaningless.
And please… enough with the whole false equivalency thing. While there is spirited debate about political figures on all sides, I see only one person here, and one person only, who’s lobbing personal attacks on other posters on this board. That fact needs to be acknowledged.
The fact that someone may think h’s preferred candidate is a horse ass, should not give him license to go after the poster personally.
October 15, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Foggers, let’s keep the discourse on topic and on point. Personal attacks are non-productive and are unnecessary.
@Greg, Daly did not sponsor Props C or D. No disrespect to Daly or to you, but I’m going out on a limb here when I say I think voters would be more interested in a debate between the measure sponsors.
October 15, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Greg and Marc,
Suppose I wanted to get a job as a software engineer and prospective employers went to the internet and found Marc calling me a homophobe and anti-semite. Do you think that would help my chances?
Greg calls my chosen candidate (Adachi) a “hypocrite” and question his manhood. I respond and he wants it deleted.
You boys don’t like it when people defeat you in debate and you quickly degenerate into vulgar name calling. When I respond you run and hide behind the teacher.
Man up boys! If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Go Niners!
h.
October 15, 2011 at 12:20 pm
@h. Well we could open one but I think we would probably end up 86ing each other before we drank up all the profits.
GO NINERS.
1) BAUM
2) AVALOS
3) Still ADACHI – but have had some conversations with strong ‘Union’ old timers who made ‘good’ points. NO on C&D, neither deal with the elephant and just put more burden on the ‘workers’. Appreciate the feedback from Rick H and Steve S at this event.
NO on E&F.
RUN RAFI RUN.
How long before we can grill the Wiener and fry him ??
GO NINERS.
October 15, 2011 at 7:41 am
boys and girls,
I disagree with my friend David Ho about Chris Daly being irrelevant. No one who owns a bar where political heavyweights gather is irrelevant. I think 86’ing however puts him on the level of Joe Mazzola Sr. who pulled his entire union out of an organization because they allowed Adachi in the room.
If you only talk to people with the same point of view you don’t learn anything new do you? You’re left with the same people in the same intellectual circle-jerk year after year after year after year.
Salomon and Kamin are simply delusional liars with no self-awareness. Marc thinks it’s cool for him to tell lies about me. On the Guardian site he called me a ‘homophobic anti-semite’ which is simply a lie. Here, he gets upset when someone tells him he’s ‘unreasonable’ which is usually the truth.
Greg. Marc. You two simply have to get it through your heads that you are not major players. Not only that but you’re both vicious liars with nothing to lose.
Daly screwed the pooch by tossing Ho and Pearce out. They brought business with them while Salomon sits in a corner bringing food that he brought and contributes nothing to the til.
I thought Daly’s place was the answer but his narrow-minded bigotry proves I was wrong. The town still needs a political bar but one where all points of view are welcome.
Go Niners!
h.
October 14, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Adachi’s a hyopcrite. If he was a real man, if he wanted a serious debate, he’d take Daly up on the offer. The fact that he’s not calling for a debate where someone represents No on Both, shows that all he’s desperately afraid of going outside the Scott Walker frame. As long as he can keep the debate to *how* to tweak the Walker agenda, he’s fine. But the minute you ask him to have a real, open debate where you can discuss the issue with intellectual honesty, he’s nowhere to be found.
The billionaires think that they’re so clever. They hedged their bets and think they have both sides covered. They want it all and they want us to tear each other apart fighting for their scraps. But I think we could be in for a November surprise.
October 14, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Enrique Pearce was my favorite cat toy at the Buck. After 20 minutes of him trying to convince me, during the Anna Conda swearing in happy hour, why Ed Lee was a good progressive choice, he could apparently not go another round, and called me “unreasonable.” Like my cats, I’d intentionally not gone for the kill, as it was quite enjoyable to play with him, so he came back for more after I explained that there was nothing “unreasonable” about disagreeing and using that word was hardly civil.
After a another 10 min of messing up Pearce’s efforts to put lipstick on the pig, I tired of it and, moved on to a productive conversation with someone else.
October 14, 2011 at 4:03 pm
Daly should debate Gabriel Haaland,
You think perhaps Chris is afraid? Seriously, why no challenge to Gabriel Haaland? Or, perhaps Chris could debate John Avalos on the merits of Prop C? Is Daly afraid? They both disagree with Daly but he’s not willing to challenge them in public?
How about Chris debates Avalos on the charges John voted for at the arboretum?
Maybe they should cross swords on the Avalos votes to exempt the cops and firefighters from being affected by either props C or D?
Answer up Chris.
Cat got your tongue?
Go Niners!
h.
Yes, and he’s a hypocrite!
h.
October 14, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Adachi and Lee have been invtied to appear on KGO for the full hour- they should accept.
October 14, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Give me debate! Real, substantive debate! We haven’t had it yet, and there’s no better issue than pension reform, revenue and who you gonna tax. Let it be at the Buck and thanks for the spirit behind that!
(but in case you want all the contenders, including union reps, candidates and the audience to be asked by our local media, your best bet right now might be KQED’s Forum. E-mail em.