Watching City Hall #224, OCTOBER 8, 2003 “Our only hope is that he’s pussy-whipped.” (Eileen Left reacts to Arnold’s victory) It has been one hell of a Wednesday and Wednesday’s are definitely my favorite day. 5 newspapers come out … and, today, … they all held, if not great news for my boy, Matt Gonzalez, for mayor … even when the news was twisted, the ink was good. … First, before getting into the race for mayor, let’s dispose of the new state ‘governator’ thingee. Arnold will be a fine Governator Before he went completely crazy and was locked up, my old buddy Dave McDude used to say: “People get exactly what they deserve!” … Yep, uh huh, he used to say that all right and I think he was right. … The people of California deserved Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson and Gray Davis. … Now, … we deserve Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. … I went to Eileen Left in search of what the people of California can possible gain from this change I leadership: … h.: “What possible gain can the people of California get from this change of leadership?” Eileen: “You know, you repeat yourself lots and it does get kind of annoying.” h.: “So, anyway, … what possible gain … “ Eileen: “All right, all ready! … You have two big hopes here as I see it. … Obviously the steroids haven’t destroyed the boy’s libido. … Arnold is clearly a serious cunt hound. … That’s not necessarily a bad thing. … No, the greatest advances men have made have been because a woman had a boot up their ass. … It could work out the same way with Arnold. I mean, don’t forget that this guy’s wife is a Kennedy. … Unless they do a ‘Stepford’ thing on her, the woman is gonna influence him. He ain’t gonna be able to go grabbing quiff in a gym for at least the next 3 years. … That means he’ll be sticking closer to home and as a natural consequence, probably listening to his wife who just happens to have the best liberal blood flowing in her veins of any political wife in the country.” … h.: “OK, … but, Willie Brown is at the top of Arnold’s list of ‘advisers’ … doesn’t that bother you?” Eileen: “You think Gray Davis was any better?” h.: “Good point.” The background It is a gorgeous Fall day in San Francisco. The Blue Angels are roaring overhead for the third day in a row, practicing for their weekend shows in the Marina. We will look back upon this era and think, (as Dickens said) … “It was the best of times … It was the worst of times.” I’m house-sitting a couple of ferns for a friend who’s in the hospital fighting to save his right leg. My best friend is fired and evicted along with the 3 cats we gathered over the past 10 years. She has to out of her place by November 7th after 8 years on the job. Basically, the new owners fired her because I wrote bad things about them. More on that later. … On the up side, Matt Gonzalez is going to be our next mayor. … Crazy as it sounds, lots of people haven’t figured that out yet. The numbers on Tuesday’s Schwarzenegger victory bear me out. … As a ‘pundit’, I’m always looking for patterns (preferably with attached numbers) to identify a trend, so that I can go to my bookie and get down a bet on a future event. … Let me explain to you how Tuesday’s numbers confirm a trend toward Matt’s candidacy. 81% of San Francisco voters voted against recalling Governor Bland. … Now, you have to be committed to have voted to keep this guy as governor. The ‘smart’ thinking around for the past few years here has been that the increasing gentrification of The City would result in a shift toward the right in voter patterns. … The shift, instead, went to … the Left!! … Even when Reagan was in his prime, he was only able to get a 75% negative vote from San Francisco voters. … When Ron was re-elected in ’84, the country loved him by something like 75% to 25% but in San Francisco, we hated him by about the same spread. … What does this mean? It means that although San Francisco has definitely gotten more gentrified, it has not shifted right in its thought. … Nope, even the dot-commers in their hay day were mostly a politically radical group. … Thus, we may have lost most of … 10-12-03 Lord, lord, lord … it is taking me forever to finish one of these. … Where the hell was I? … Yeah, the import of the City’s 81% vote against the Recall. The numbers show that San Franciscans are still the most thoughtful population in the country. … This bodes very well for Gonzalez. The boys and girls around here think and dig. It doesn’t take long to dig through Gavin Newsom’s veneer. Matt is the proverbial onion … peel a layer and you get another. The piece of shit Chronicle’s depiction of Newsom as a “deep thinker” was hilarious. The citizens of this town … hmmm, wait. … Let me get to the news of the day. Newsom’s push begins Since the Newsom campaign is run on ripped-off h. brown ideas, the bastards should pay me for them. … The latest of my advice they’ve taken to heart is to hide their boy’s face from the public (see: ‘Newsom overexposed’ – Bulldog) … now, we see a collection of ‘Uncle’ this and Uncle that mouthing the airhead downtown campaign slogans. As the last push begins they’ve begun to run ads featuring Dr. Pablo Stewart. You remember ‘Uncle’ Pablo. You can always find an ‘Uncle’ to represent your views in any ethnic community. Uncle Pablo should hide his head in shame. He spouts views (most homeless checks go for booze and drugs) that are completely unsupported by fact. The New England Medical Journal and the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic have both busted Stewart and the Newsom campaign for using their names to endorse lies. … Pablo has only 2 things going for him. … First, he’s brown as a nut and they think Latinos are stupid enough to think he represents them. And, … secondly, he’s a medical doctor (so was Dr. Jeckyl). Pablo joins a variety of black and APA downtown flunkies who have been Willie Brown fronts for years. … The likes of Amos Brown and Julie Lee and Arnold Townsend. … You get the drift. Chronicle as a guide I honestly believe the Chronicle does not realize that people look to them mostly to vote the other way. … Anyone with a brain knows the Chronicle represents only downtown interests. They hate democracy. When the people voted overwhelmingly to give the Board of Supervisors a pay raise, the Chronicle said the Board ‘finagled’ a raise. … Oh yeah. They didn’t mention that ‘finagle’ meant that the Board went before the voters with the full-time job proposal and it won overwhelmingly. … The fact is that the Chronicle is against District elections because they do not want to empower the people at the grass roots. … Uh huh, that’s it all right. For the last couple of weeks they’ve been pushing to cut the Board of Supervisors down to half its present size and having them elected City-wide. … That means it would require massive amounts of money to be elected to the Board. Then, we go back to a Board chosen by PG&E and Walter Shorenstein and Donald Fisher and Gordon (‘my other wife is a Volvo’) Getty and, of course, the unavoidable Warren Hellman. … Hell, the City was run as an out-and-out autocracy for over a hundred years. They liked it fine. Then, … they were in total control. … Don’t get me wrong. I’m not as dumb as I look (or smell, lately) … I understand that downtown still runs the City. … They just aren’t in complete control now and an independent Board has cut away somewhat at that power over the last 3 years (thanks again to Tom Ammiano for giving us that Board). … Imagine what an independent Mayor working with a grass roots Board could do. Bottom line … vote opposite the Chronicle line on every major issue. They do NOT represent the needs of the people. They represent the greed of the rich. Short people and tall buildings Now, you know me and I’m not one to cause trouble. I’m just a little guy who walks (ok, sometimes, ‘stumbles’) amongst the growing antenna field of San Francisco skyscrapers. … Did you ever notice what tall buildings do to your hats? … When I walk from the Civic Center to the Tenderloin, I’ve taken to walking a wide berth around the state and federal buildings adjoining them. … It is much easier (and warmer) to walk a block or two out of your way to keep from getting hit with the high winds these buildings generate on even the calmest of days. … No shit! … Now, downtown wants to add another couple of dozen skyscrapers to our landscape. … Talk about a bad idea. … How’d you like to be in an 85 story building when the next earthquake hits? … About Aaron Peskin. Swallowing treble-hooks I like Aaron Peskin. … However, did you read where he hit Terence Hallinan because his bodyguard is accused of bailing his lover out of jail? … Ahhh, sad, sad, sad. … Sooo, it’s OK to shut down the Savoy Tivoli in North Beach because your wife doesn’t like the noise at night? (word around Sacramento said it was Aaron who kept the Savoy closed for months) … Peskin uses his power increasingly for downtown. Supporting Kamala Harris (lover to Willie Brown & buddy with the Gettys) against Terence Hallinan is the latest example proving Peskin has taken the treble hook of downtown deep into his stomach. … It may be impossible for him to spit it out at this time. … This is hard for me to write. … It really is. Aaron is to me and my kind (guys under five and a half feet) … he is to me what Matt Gonzalez is to the Greens. He is, and has been, proof that it is intellect and ability that really counts and not your physical or demographic bulk. … I won’t go any further with this. Just, let me close in saying that I thought Aaron would be a shoo-in as President of the Board once Matt moves to room 200. … Now? … I still like Aaron, but, as they say … ‘we are known by the friends that we keep and Tony Hall and Chris Daly are looking better. Use my new e-mail: