Watching City Hall #236, (11-17-03) “Figures don’t lie … but, liars figure.” (Heard from Joe O’Donoghue, poet) Lord, Lord, Lord do I hear a variety of fascinating conversation sitting in this little office in the middle of the Harmonic Convergence\San Francisco Commune usually referred to as the Matt Gonzalez for Mayor Mission Street Campaign Headquarters. … And, I hear the poetry of the lion as O’Donoghue purrs forth verse that in turn caresses and slashes. You can throw a stone out my window in the center of Matt’s Headquarters and anyone you hit would be worthy of a novel. … Joe stopped by to chat on his way to confer with senior staff in the ‘West Wing’ of the Gonzo Headquarters. I can’t tell you how important O’Donoghue’s help is. He’s the real thing, right here on the front line, leading 600 skilled builders who construct housing stock no higher than around 45’. … (I’m an ex-fireman and 45’ is important because it’s usually the highest point you can reach with a ground ladder – in a big shake, the streets are blocked and you need portable mains & hand equipment – stuff like that) … So, Joe comes in and we’re talking about the manipulation of the polls and he comes out with that ‘liars figure’ thing and I cracked up. … I mean, you following this stuff? What the hell has happened to David Binder? The guy used to be on the up and up and now he’s doing push-polls for downtown moguls and spinning the results like a crooked gambler. Shit David, get a grip. Take a shower. Is the money worth losing your reputation? Do you believe in magic? Walter Wong, who owns CitiCenter where Gonzo’s main headquarters resides is a very spiritual man. A friend who knows him said that when he considers political candidates, he sends everyone out to find the exact time of the candidate’s birth & the place. Walter told me flat out on the first day I walked in that Matt was a sure winner. … Cause the stars said so. … Now, of course, we bonded instantly. We both hack numbers and have transcripts with A’s in statistics, but we follow our spiritual side on many very important decisions. As an example, he has these little pieces of paper (maybe 6” square) the papers are covered with Chinese characters and mounted high at strategic points in the traffic pattern of CitiCenter. You can always see one of the small postings if you look closely. You can see the reflection of one if you can’t see the original. It’s become something of a game for the volunteers to find them. … So, anyway. So, anyway, the arrangement of the pattern ends at the koe pond outside the back doors, and what a peaceful place that is. If you’re stressed, go sit around the koe pond. … I was gonna tell you what happened last night. … Everyone works late here. Bruce Wolfe (overall campaign facilities guru) worked 72 hours without a break. … So, what do you do when you’ve been pulling that kind of duty (in almost every case, for free – eat your heart out Gavin) … when you’re stressed, what happens? … Here, the results are often not what you might think. … As I said, I was strolling through the hall with my old buddy Jens and Marc Solomon and a couple of others and Judy ‘b’ (that’s her name – I don’t pry) … Judy, who is District Office Liason was coming from the other direction and suddenly drops her stack of papers and bursts into song: “It’s the right place, but the wrong time … it’s so easy …” Of course, we all started dancing in the hall as she belted out the old Broadway jazz tune. … Others joined us and suddenly, there are a half-dozen people dancing in the hall at midnight … right under the aura of the little charms high on the wall. … Talk about a magic moment. … Walter (who works a 20 hour day as best I can figure) … Walter was headed out (he’s a singer too, you know – sang the national anthem at football & baseball games here) … Walter walked right into the scene and smiling, paused to watch. As soon as Judy finished, she picked up her papers and continued on to wherever the hell it was she was going. I turned to Walter & said: “You know Walter, sometimes I think I’m living in the middle of a God Damned Broadway musical.” … Magic … magic … magic. Gavin Newsom turns vengeful Newsom tried to get Walter Wong’s endorsement. … He tried hard. … They had a number of face-to-face meetings and Wong was not impressed. He met with Matt. … He was impressed. Now, like Matt, Walter’s friends span the political spectrum. We were shooting the breeze last night and he said one of his friends on the ‘other’ side (until Dec. 10th when we all hug & make up) … his friend said: “This (Matt’s lead in the polls – despite being outspent by 4 million dollars to less than 200k) is all your fault, Walter. If you hadn’t rented him this place, he could never have gotten this organized!” … I think that was the idea, bro. Newsom strikes back So, Gavin decided to try and destroy Walter’s business. Gavin’s good at that. Adriel Hampton reports in his column in the Examiner (‘The Body Politic’ – best & fairest political read in town) … The Ex reports this morning that Newsom will “introduce legislation to impose registration and disclosure requirements on permit expediters -which- just happens to be the business of Walter Wong, Gonzalez’s most prominent Chinese-American supporter.” Newsom is indeed vile. Last Thursday while Gonzalez was soaking a sore ankle and talking goals with myself and Carlos Petroni (‘Frontlines’ publisher) while we were talking, Gavin’s buddy Stanlee Gatti & his PlumpJack investors (funded by Gordon –‘my other wife is a Volvo’ – Getty) … the investors were arriving at ‘2 B’ restaurant in Soma. They announced that this is the next PlumpJack and they are all fired. … As in, right now, get the hell out. And, it was raining for God’s sake! … Oh, but, they wished everyone a Merry Christmas. Can you imagine that? Gavin, I’m assuming you didn’t run that little escapade at ‘2 B’ restaurant (firing the 31 employees) by Eric Jaye, did you? … You bad, bad boy, Gavin. … Here they spend all that money on you and you gotta fuck it up by trying to grab more restaurants just 3 weeks before the election. … Hey Gavin, you go after Walter, he’s a wealthy man and can take care of himself. But, restaurant workers during the holiday season (Oh, yeah … Newsom’s people said that the people could come and apply for their jobs back after the place becomes another trinket on the Newsom/Getty chain – their odds are about as good as Adam Werbach getting re-nominated for the PUC by Willie if Adam were to resign – or, the old residents of the North Beach Housing project getting back into the new housing John Stewart will control) … Firing restaurant workers. Attacking peaceful, hard-working businessmen and … oh yeah, stripping the homeless of 75% of their cash benefits. … Happy Holidays from Gavin Newsom. More Newsom shit The Newsom campaign has people circulating along 3rd street in the Bay View getting people to sign up for absentee ballots. … But, they aren’t even asking for their address. … Just their signatures! … What you make of that? I asked Eileen Left. h.: “So, what do you make of that?” Eileen: “I was listening! … Can you say ‘swims with the fishes?’ … obviously they’re getting ready for massive absentee ballot fraud. A woman from Bay View called and said she got 3 absentee ballots at her house addressed to people she had never heard of. She’d lived in the house for over 20 years. … Sound familiar?” h.: “Yeah, when I was managing 676 Geary in 2000, we got lots and lots of voter handbooks addressed to people who weren’t there. I always wondered what happened to the absentee ballots that should have followed at least some of them.” Eileen: “Yeah, John Shanley said in the paper the other day that he expected the absentee vote to go as high as 40%. … That’s bullshit. The fix is in and their using the old fashioned way. … Physically stuffing the ballot box. … Of course, before you can do a recount, those babies will be floating in the Bay.” h.: “I’ll take care of it.” Eileen: “YOU’ll take care of it? And, how will you do that, pray tell.” h.: “I’ve learned a few things since 2000, baby.” Eileen: “You mean you want me to go hang with that sleazebag from the elections department?” h.: “It couldn’t hurt.” That’s enough for now. I’m gonna go back to chasing Angela Alioto. … I’ll be frank, I don’t give a crap if she endorses Bush or Newsom or Matt or even … you, I’m fascinated by her. I hope she doesn’t sit this one out. It will make the novel harder to sell if she exits before it’s done. Buddy with another voter: