Watching City Hall #187 “Hard work good and hard work fine … but first take care of head.” (My advice to the Budget Committee) The temperatures, they were uh rising. Uh huh. … Yep. … June 9th’s Budget committee meeting was a doozie. SFUSD chief, Arlene Ackerman was there with serious attitude. Kinda odd coming from someone with a tin cup extended. She got a serious haircut and it becomes her. Looked at least 10 years younger. … But, what a snarl. She wants the Board to continue giving the district about 4 million a year for starters. She wants them to put a bunch of money in another fund for the district Treasurer Susan Leal and 6th District supe Chris Daly set up as a publicity stunt for Leal’s run for mayor. She wants another 150 million or so from the public in bond money. It was all very persuasive with one little, itty bitty drawback. … The money has to go through her staff which has a habit of losing 10’s of millions at a whack. The kids would have a better chance of getting the money if the supes just dumped it off Willie’s balcony by the basketful. Friday again? The 13th too. Like I need help with bad luck. … What a week for the Board. The regular meeting ran til midnight. Budget Committee ran so late all week that I missed about half of my cartoons. Cheee! Let me give you a few highlights I jotted down in my rare moments of consciousness. Public Comment Highlights: Planning Department’s fast one A well groomed & school-marm-serious lady came to inform the Board that Planning was adding so many potential charges in their new billing for Discretionary Reviews that it will completely undercut neighborhood complaints on local projects. … Ya got me. … I’m one of the no-life stiffs who started watching Planning a few years ago when the big question was not whether da Mayor’s projects would pass (they always did – unanimously) … naw, big question was how much cleavage Anita Theoharis would show. But, I always watched. And, like everyone with a brain, I knew shutting down the cameras was an idea that came from Willie Brown. Now, the Board is making tentative moves (Fiona Ma of the 4th District leading the way) … making moves to put aside some funds to show, not only Planning, but also the Redevelopment Agency and the Board of Appeals. … Granted, that gang of bootlickers and scumbags will be tough to watch but, I have a strong stomach and as reality TV, Willie’s appointees beat all hell out of the Sci-Fi channel. Good work and good luck, Fiona. Can you throw in a couple of cameras in Willie’s office and apartment? You could probably make those Pay-to-View and drive the Playboy channel off the air. Hmmmm. Speaking of 1,000 Clowns About this time last year, the City had 3 Directors of Elections on the payroll. One (‘Dr. Phil’) was chained in the attic as I recall for blowing a soft whistle on Willie’s use of the department as an ATM for his cronies. Another (Tammy Haygood) came from running a diaper factory (actually, pretty good credentials for running SF elections) … The third stringer was John Arntz who always looks like he just awakened from a bad dream. Now, the key to finding a link between these lost souls is in the Civil Service Commission. This gang has more wires attached to each of them, than Howdy Doody. It’s run by Don (da ‘friendly ghost’) Casper who actually hired Haygood … several times, I believe. At Willie’s behest (you think otherwise, you’re dumber than you look – which isn’t possible) … at da Mayor’s behest, Casper opposed the will of the new Elections Commission, the Board of Supervisors and the voters who all wanted change. He wasted a couple of hundred grand, not to mention loads of time and energy first fighting to reinstate Haygood, then making certain Arntz got the job as Director. Oh my, oh my. What are we to do? Over? … not quite rube! Willie’s next move was to go after the most strident member of the new Elections Commission. … That would be Richard Shadoian. He’s a guy who likes to go around opening windows to let in the sunshine. … That doesn’t work too well when you’re busy stuffing ballot boxes. Soooo, as Kimiko Burton (in a pique over her butt kicking by Jeff Adachi) was doing a ‘scorched earth’ thing in the Public Defenders Office, she gave us a pawn (Alix Rosenthal, now Elections Commission Chair/President/whatever). After firing top people, leap-frogging toads to the head of the Deputy Public Defender ranks, destroying good programs … after all this, Kimiko makes Alix Rosenthal as her pick to the new Elections Commission. Now, you know me. I’m not normally suspicious. Still, I wondered if we could trust this lady to implement IRV and stuff like that. The Shadoian affair has given me some insight … Now, let me give you some insider information. Why Willie hates Shadoian Remember when Public Power lost by a couple of hundred votes? Uh huh. … Yep. … We were ahead! We had PG&E beaten. … Suddenly, boxes filled with thousands of ballots were moved from the counting room in the basement of City Hall where they could be observed, on over to Brooks Hall across the street. It was Richard Shadoian who was a member of some Citizens group observing the election who asked everyone making the move, who ordered it. … The answer came back: “Willie Brown”. Then, Shadoian, he like … he like, goes in front of the Rules Committee of the Board of Supes run by the likes of Tony Hall & Matt Gonzalez who are not in the business of kissing Willie’s posterior. … And, Shadoian? … He goes up to testify and says what he learned the night the crooks stole another one (my characterization) … he says that Elections department people moving the boxes said the Mayor ordered the move. … On TV he said this! Bill Lee rushes out to phone Willie Y’all know ole Bill Lee? You remember. Tall, Chinese American fellow with no hair and a permanent smirk? Willie appointed him City Administrator for 10 years and teamed him up with Controller Ed Harrington whom he also gave a fresh 10 year contract … Willie appointed ‘Easy Ed’ and ‘Wild Bill’ to oversee the election. … Now, I’ll wait til you’re finished laughing. … … … So, back on point. … Bill Lee is sitting in the audience watching Shadoian tell the truth and he immediately runs out into the hall. … Followed by a sometimes friend (when I’m not trashing Ammiano) … followed by a progressive insider who looks around like he’s just taking a break and moves closer to listen to Lee’s conversation. It went like this: “Shadoian just said before Rules that the order to move the ballots came from you!!!” Now, Richard Shadoian was already on Willie’s poo-poo list. But, at Rules that day, Richard moved to the top. He was (and is) a marked man. Oh, the honor of it. Still, Willie is having his way. Even Board President, Matt Gonzalez is looking toward endorsing a less ballsy Board rep to the Elections Commission. Calls to Gonzo’s office questioning why Shadoian is getting the boot … /// … ok, I talked to Gonzalez. … Shadoian is the School Board’s appointment! Hmmmm. … The new candidates are excellent say a number of people feeding me leads now, but … Shadoian is the best and before the others get their sea legs, November will be past. … Hmmmm. Could this be Willie … trying to weaken the Elections Commission by going through his best buddy, John Burton’s daughter’s (Kimiko Burton) husband … in order to strike an enemy (Shadoian) from the Elections Commission? That would make Emilio Cruz the inside assasin (Webster’s defines the word as: “one of a secret order of Muslims that at the time of the Crusades terrorized Christians and other enemies by secret murder committed under the influence of hashish”) … wooo. Hmmmm. Now, I’m not accusing Cruz of trying to lay the destruction of Shadoian’s appointment upon Willie and a bunch of hash … but, I mean … how very San Francisco that would be! And, I mean, like shit man … I didn’t even know John Burton was a Muslim. Bottom line? The fix is in for November. The voting machines have the proven ‘capacity’ to be rigged. The new Elections Director is either dumber than Homer Simpson or an outright co-conspirator. Willie just went before the Budget Committee yesterday (June 12th) to request more transfers of his troops into the Elections Department. The core of department Willie flunkies remain on site, busily defaming Instant Runoff Voting. … I’d say the left is toast again on this one. Charles (last name starts with a ‘K’ but he doesn’t want it used in my columns) … anyway, Kalish says that the best hope we have is to gather 600 volunteers (one to oversee each and every precinct). I like the idea (though, I’d rather use a random pool taken from voters who’d be offered the option … ‘Jury duty or Poll duty?) … Whatever. How’s the song go? … “Too much or too little, too late” … da da, da da, da Duh, da dee. … what else? Nothing … it is Friday Sculptor Kim Spicer is here with wine Savannah Blackwell is in Texas & on my mind. Angela Alioto is ignoring my advice and on my mind. Sue Vaughan says ‘thanks but no thanks’ … It is Friday & I owe you. Chris Daly writes from his Winnebago on the road to his Bachelor party in Vegas. Bragging because he beat Newsom in my yearly poll of the supes (‘F’ to ‘F-‘) … he has a sense of humor. I have to arrange a ‘surprise’ for him at the Bally in Vegas but who do I know twisted enough to screw with the Lord of District #6’s bachelor party? … OOOOh, just about everyone I know. … Friday the 13th … incarnated as h. brown … what could be a better match? Send pot to: