The CrackBerry Chronicles: Welcome Back

Elaine Santore
Photos by Luke Thomas

By Elaine Santore

August 14, 2008

It’s never too early to become a hasbeen

If JoJo can be a hasbeen at 17, then I guess now is the perfect time for me to become one, too. Or maybe I’ve been a hasbeen since 2006 and nobody told me?

Maybe if I actually left the house, talked to anyone besides the same five people I talk to via the Internet on the regular, or read a blog that wasn’t Perez Hilton, Jezebel, Gawker, Radar, Twitter, or one of the 30-some odd Tumblrs I follow, or one of the 300-something feeds on my Google Reader, I might have the answer to my own question.

LA is kind of strange

As some of you might know, I was in LA visiting Big Brother for the last two weeks. Anybody who knows me knows I just don’t ‘do’ warm weather, sunshine, and tanning, but BB told me my avoidance of LA for the past four years was “getting old,” so I finally caved. And I actually had fun.

But the answer is no, I’m not moving there.

I suppose you’re expecting me to do a whole “SF is better than LA” thing, but that’s a really tired debate. It’s not fair to compare the two because LA is a real city and SF is just kind of…there. I don’t have a huge affinity for either city.

This is difficult for me to articulate because I’m a native, and I’m supposed to have a lot of love and pride for SF, and I do. But half the time I feel like I’m walking through a real-life version of Stuff White People Like, only whiter and less funny.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with being white. Some of my favorite people are white, including my dad (hi, Dad!).

CW Nevius shout-out: Um, thanks?

I feel really awkward when Old Media acknowledges our existence. It’s like finding out your grandmother watches The Hills or something. Just awkward. Also, C-Dubya Nevius appears to have caught Pat Murphy’s obsession with Supervisor Chris Daly. Someone give Nevius his milkshake back, please.

“Every sex worker is a Democrat”

We all know what happened the last time I sat through a DCCC meeting, so I have no idea what possessed me to put myself through that kind of pain again. Oh, well.

Some things:

At the beginning of the meeting, Karen Babbitt leaned over to ask: “Is Aaron Peskin wearing Crocs?” To which I replied: “What?! Ew!” Crocs are for Mario Batali, old people, and toddlers, NOT elected officials.

Former chair Scott Wiener and DCCC Chair Aaron Peskin.

Public comment went on for-ev-er, but had a lovely balance of high school students (supporting JROTC) and sex workers (supporting the decriminalization of prostitution).

Prop 2 is supposed to create more humane conditions for farm animals, which is very nice and all, but humane treatment to animals = not eating animals. Duh.

Chris Daly came up to Luke Thomas and said, “Thomas, do your job. Go over there and get a picture of Eric Quezada’s baby.” Thank gawd for that. You know I need to have at least one baby picture in every column.

Lorena Melgarejo and Eric Quezada with baby Ixchel.

Board of Education Member Kim-Shree Maufus endorsed school board candidate Sandra Lee Fewer, describing Fewer as “the candidate of the day.” Maufus also said  candidate Glenn Davis “needs some grooming,” but he will be “that guy” after said grooming occurs. This made Daly and Jake McGoldrick laugh.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t send a proxy to the meeting. Could that be because she wanted to avoid taking a position on the Clean Energy Act? Hmmmm… who is she afraid of pissing off the most?  Gavin Newsom or Al Gore?

Towards the end of the meeting, Daly thanked the people who spoke during public comment “for not crying.” Luke and I laughed, but I think we were the only ones who thought this was funny. I felt like I was back in college, laughing at inappropriate things during lecture while everybody else took copious notes.

Ballot Endorsements

The Clean Energy Act was endorsed 22-6 with 5 abstentions. No votes: Tom Hsieh, Mary Jung, Matt Tuchow, Meagan Levitan (who Luke thinks is a Republican plant but Bob Brigham says “is good people”), and proxies for Dianne Feinstein’s and August Longo.

DCCC members Matt Tuchow and Meagan Levitan.

The Community Justice Center didn’t get enough Yes or No votes for an endorsement. When Hene Kelly asked why the measure was on the ballot after being passed by the Board of Supervisors, Peskin asked if there was a representative from the mayor’s office in attendance. This prompted Daly to quip, “Supervisor Elsbernd!” (Yes, he did take it there – and just about everyone, including Sean, laughed.)

Elsbernd explained that the measure was on the ballot because Daly said it would be defunded after the new board was sworn in in January 2009. But according to Paul Hogarth at Beyond Chron (who stayed till the end of the meeting so we didn’t have to), Daly demanded a re-vote after Hsieh’s proxy and member Levitan left. Upon a revote, the measure failed to earn an endorsement. Check out the video on fogblog.

The George W. Bush Sewage Plant measure only got 7 Yes votes from Daly, Robert Haaland’s proxy (via Daly), Joe Julian, Rafael Mandelman, Debra Walker, and Tom Ammiano’s proxy, Sheryl Davis. In the end the committee decided to take “No Position” on the measure. Something about feeling sorry for the people who have to actually work at the plant. Whatevs. No Position = No Fun!

The decriminalization of prostitution measure passed 18-12 with 3 abstentions.

The only thing you came here for, anyway: Photos (!!!!) and Supervisor Endorsements

DCCC

Valleywag contributor Melissa Gira Grant speaks in support of the decriminalization
of prostitution measure.

David Chiu, Scott Wiener, Board President Aaron Peskin.

New BFFs Melissa Griffin and Board of Education Member Kim-Shree Maufus.

District 11 supervisor candidate John Avalos won the DCCC’s endorsement.
Candidate Asha Safai narrowly lost the second-round endorsement.

Supervisor (and good sport) Sean Elsbernd pleaded desperately
for an endorsement. Thankfully, he got it.

 
Committee member Eric Mar won the endorsement for District 1 Supervisor.

DCCC member Leslie Katz.

District 3 candidate David Chiu shares the DCCC’s endorsement with Denise McCarthy.
While Chiu tallied votes for D3, somebody in our row turned to McCarthy and said:
“Maybe somebody else should be counting those votes?” Hmm…

Supervisors Chris Daly and Jake McGoldrick.

Assemblyman Mark Leno’s proxy, Supervisor Tom Ammiano’s proxy Sheryl Davis,
and David Campos, who won the committee’s endorsement for District 9 supervisor.

Elaine Santore

Elaine Santore was born in San Francisco during the awesome '80s. She spent a considerable amount of her childhood around City employees, all of whom taught her the value of pretending to be productive. After graduating from Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, she transferred schools three times but eventually received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in Psychology, with a double minor in Political Science and Textiles, Clothing and Design. This unique area of expertise makes her qualified to critique the sartorial missteps and psychological problems of local politicians. Elaine's work has also appeared in 7x7, California Home + Design, Filipinas, the Daily Nebraskan, SF Bay Guardian, and Spin.com.

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