Watching City Hall #458

“Most campaign staffers mate for life.
Consultants are all political whores.
We, the voters … we’re the real power.
We have affairs with our candidates.

In ‘99 we gave it up for Ammiano.
In ‘04 we were crazy about Gonzalez.
Now in ‘06, Krissy Keefer has that smile.

There’s a big difference in us and Downtown.
We only do it for love.
They steal our hearts.
They break our hearts.
They go away.
Those are our candidates.

A raging & fearless Queen.
Prince Hamlet with a law degree.
A renegade bi-sexual dancing diva.

We can pick em, can’t we?”

(Eileen Left studying Keefer’s poster)

But, as if to validate Eileen, Ammiano’s core people refused to work for Gonzalez. A fringe of Gonzo’s inner-circle tried a back-door maneuver to deny Keefer her run against Pelosi. Eileen, newly separated from local Commie boss, Carlos Petroni is sitting in my window smoking a joint and watching government workers stream up Mcallister toward the Civic Center garages. She’s less buoyant than usual. Thoughtful to the point of sadness. I pushed on with the conversation.

h.: “So, you don’t think we have a chance of rebuilding the Gonzalez army?”

Eileen: (slight snort and laugh) “No. They hate you and always will because you’ve impugned their god. But, that doesn’t mean Krissy can’t win. (pauses) It will just be with an entirely different group of people on stage on election night. … Oh, you’ll get some of the top people from Ammiano & Gonzalez. You already have. There isn’t a better political mind in town than Marc Salomon. Denise D’Anne gives you credibility. She has the core of Matt’s I.T. staff and they’ll give your ‘Wicked Witch’ a higher national and international profile than Tom or Matt dreamed of.”

h.: (EVOC plays on the salvaged Gonzo boom-box) “But, only locals can vote.”

Eileen: (moves from the window and pours a glass of merlot) “Exactly, and that’s why Krissy will win. These battles are won on the ground and she knows the terrain. She’s led tens of thousands past every significant corner in town calling for social reform and the end to wars and discrimination and gender and orientation equality. (nods as she continues) This one will be won on the ground.”

So, how y’all been?

It was good to see Eileen again. She came mostly cause she thought I was pining away after announcing my year’s-end retirement. Not the case at all. I haven’t posted a column cause I haven’t had enough time in front of a computer. When you’re a vagabond journalist such as myself, you take your online time where and when and in whatever quantity is available. Lately, that’s been scant but I’m back in my own space now and fully connected. Let’s run to a few other items.

My boy, Peskin

It’s hard to establish a distance from the Mayor in the public’s mind if you’ve been in bed with him for 2 years. Still, that’s the move Aaron has chosen to make at this time.

After providing the deciding votes for Gavin’s giveaways to Home Depot and Comcast and sitting on the stage with him at the Chinese New Year’s parade … and on … and on. Now, the Board President has found an item with which he disagrees with Gavin.

That would be Annemarie Conroy who is to emergency services what tits are to a boar hog. That is, not very useful. Look for Gavin to de-fang this attack by hiring another woman to fill the job bracketed above Annemarie’s and quietly moving Annemarie out of town to a state job within the next 12 months.

Where’s that leave Aaron?

Well, I guess you might argue that he voted to allow rich golfers to smoke in the park because he hates them and wants them dead of lung cancer. That’s a good idea in my opinion but the average San Francisco voter ain’t gonna buy it.

Face it, Aaron’s term as Board President has been a huge disaster for the Progressive community. He has squandered his opportunity. He has no Progressive legacy at all. He hates to listen to the public talk and limits them at Public Comment every chance he gets. He’s voted with the fat cats on every single significant land use issue. His only prayer is to get a signature item on the ballot for this November (preferrably, the tax on the rich he promised 5 years ago) and another next November. I like the boy but he hasn’t delivered. By this point, Gonzalez had a tidal power demonstration project in the pipeline (killed by Newsom), he’d passed an increase in the minimum wage, gotten a raise to make the Board full-time & moved meetings to Tuesdays to allow Board staff at least one day a week off, reformed the selection process for choosing members of the Police, Election, and Planning commissions and the Board of Appeals.

Any of you catch that item before Rules (I think) a couple of weeks back where Aaron showed up and rammed through a strange piece of legislation requiring the Planning Department to give more CEQUA information to requesters than they’d been required to provide in the past? Well, I saw it. Twice, actually. Maybe more. I was struck by several things.

First, what was the item doing before Rules? Land Use items should go before Land Use. Second, why did Aaron hurry the item along by saying that he had an appointment for a haircut in a half hour? And third, and most imporantly, doesn’t Aaron have a business that involves CEQUA and couldn’t his business profit from more cooperation from the Planning Department in these areas? That whole thing just didn’t feel right to me. It reminded me of when Leno used to push through restrictions of some sign companies when he owns a sign company himself. Bad energy.

Chronicle disappears Tenants Union & THC

Yesterday’s Chronicle ran a pretty decent article on homelessness in San Francisco in which they continued their standard practice of failing to mention major players in the game. Major players they don’t like, that is. In listing resources available to renters in conflict with landlords, Chuck Finney erased the two most powerful tenant voices. That would be Ted Gullickson’s, Tenants Union and Randy Shaw’s, Tenderloin Housing Clinic. If they really want to be fair (wait for the laughing to die down) … they should give these boys some ink. Kind of like I do Newsom & Gonzalez & Peskin. You know?

Newsom pushes Olympics for mob land scheme?

This one was sitting in my inbox when I logged back on yesterday. A reader writes to say that when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and cut off the American supply of opium from the far east, the U.S. government set up a supply line through Mexico with the Mafia running the entire operation. Legitimate uses. Like, to make morphine for our wounded servicement. Claims that ‘Wild’ Bill Donovan who founded the O.S.S., which went on (under Congressman Richard Nixon’s wing) to become the CIA … claims Donovan recruited several mob families to secure the connection and that one of their fronts was Nancy Pelosi’s old man (later, Mayor of Baltimore). It gets stranger.

This correspondent says that Pelosi is still protecting shipments of drugs by leaking information she obtained from her seat on the House Intelligence Committee where she sat for 11 years despite a restriction saying members could only serve for 6 years. Now, who’s gonna believe shit like that?

Then, … then, writer says that the mob has built up a community of mobsters and politicians up in Napa County and that Newsom owns 5% of a parcel there that is earmarked to be an Olympic Village once the games come to San Francisco. Says the Bonanno family owns land up there next to the Genovese and that public records regularly show parcels of land as ’surrendered’ to the feds which means they were seized as assets purchased with drug money.

I’m gonna google some of those names soon as I finish this piece. If I were a real reporter, I’d research such serious allegations first. But, then I might not have a story. And, what a story. Mobsters & politicians and the O.S.S. and the CIA and movie stars and the wine country. I mean, fuck, who could make this shit up? Sounds like a whole series of movies. Where’s Coppola when you need him? Wait, reader says he owns a piece of that community too. Also, Wilkes Bashford.

That’s enough for today. Those of you who do Salon, we’re together at the Taqueria 1-3pm.

Smoke em if you got em.