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“Aren’t you running for Mayor?�?(fellow diner at St. Anthony’s)

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings.
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss.
And lose and start again at your beginnings.
And never breathe a word about your loss.

If you can walk with fools and keep your virtue.
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch.

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you.
If all men count with you but none too much.

If you can keep your head when all about you.
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute.
With 60 seconds worth of distance run.

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.
And what is more, you’ll be a man, my son.�?

(Kipling)

OK, I’ve never done that ‘not breathing a word’ thing very well but otherwise I simply love myself and have for years. I’d add something about the courage to fight the unwinnable fight for which I’ve sacrificed all at times in my existence.

But, hey! This isn’t about me except as a Bulldog ‘plant’ within the 2007 campaign for Mayor of the City of San Francisco. Let me give you the status of the race from the inside with 71 days til you go to the polls and pull your lever in privacy as they say (sounds like a certain Idaho Senator?).

Luke Thomas is on vacation this week. Yeah, right. That’s why he was the only publication in town present at closing time of the Ethics Commission yesterday and got the money shot of Chicken John and Tony Hall being the only two contenders filing for public matching funds.

SF Weekly blew it. Ran a piece on how Chicken John Rinaldi was only candidate who applied. The Examiner ignored it in their flagship and it’s satellite, ‘City Star’ publications.

John Wildermuth and the Chronicle got the facts right, to their credit, but were 12 hours late on the scoop and had not picture (Bronstein won’t pay anyone overtime). The Guardian, sadly, didn’t even try to cover the event (hedonism in the desert once again trumped the battle for San Francisco). So, it was a Thomas scoop once again and this time he did it while on vacation!

Because the rich candidates have more money? Well, HELLLOOOO!. Given the lock that Downtown money has on the local media superstructure, the only way a candidate they don’t support to get any publicity at all is to pay for it. Because Downtown has virtually all of the money all piled up in one corner and looking to get more … they not only outspend opposing candidates by obscene margins, they go out of their way to send Eric Jaye to the offices of publications who give a fair shake and try to get ‘offending’ reporters and editors fired.

Anthony Faber writes in the online chat JUNTO that Gonzalez butler, Jim Dorenkott was working the phones on behalf of Ahimsa Sumchai and using a Gonzo donor data base from his ’03 campaign. Given the total fuck job that Gonzalez has done on the Progressive movement for the last 4 years, that’s only appropriate.

Of course the upshot of all this was that neither Gonzo offshoot, Quintin Mecke (who regularly curses Matt in private meetings I’m told – for playing ‘Dead Elvis on the toilet’) … neither Mecke nor lead Prog challenger, Ahimsa Sumchai were able to corral 25k to qualify for matching funds.

And, the result will be that the Chicken John campaign which is essentially a USO show meant to divert attention from the war of fundamental issues (what’s his stand on Donald Fisher?) will be the primary focus of publications like the Weekly and the Guardian and the Examiner and the Chronicle for certain. In fact, the only venue where you can be guaranteed to get the view of the opposing candidates without a bunch of Downtown censorship, is from the candidates themselves at our Friday forums (5-6:30pm in Alioto Plaza).

I used to be a teacher in SF. They just got a hard fought 3% raise. They are the frontline warriors in the battle to reform the gangster elements in town. They never avoid a challenge. They are altruistic idiots who sacrifice everything for the community.

The cops in the meantime, got 25%. They do not rush to reform, to put it mildly. They have withdrawn more and more from any contact with the public (other than bashing heads in steroid rages – they don’t fly helicopters or man Kiosks in tourist or high-crime areas like all other ‘world class’ cop shops do) for the last 20 years and with Phil Ginsberg (cop lawyer, now Gavin’s Chief of Staff) calling the shots, they’ll be more disengaged with the contract he’ll negotiate in 2011. That will make 24 years without police reform.

The City departments don’t do their jobs because they are run by political hacks who have been instructed to halt maintenance and encourage decay so that they can award new contracts to well-connected firms to do the jobs City workers would gladly do but have been prevented from doing.

Donald Fisher controls the Presidio which is supposed to be a national park? He also has given the City’s soccer fields as a gift to his sons. Thanks to Aaron Peskin, it’s all legal.

Warren Hellman promised a free parking garage (never needed in the first place) in Golden Gate Park, then charged you to build it and is losing money while in total control of the area.

You’re about to lose any public input into the management of the City’s major golf courses (which were brought to PGA standards – that means for one golf tournament for the rich every 3 years – at the expense of the poor parks – they literally took money out of the poor box for parks in poor neighborhoods and have refused to repay a dime – trying to get more out of you with bonds, bonds, bonds) … you’re losing the golf courses and the stables are next and you already lost the zoo and the libraries to control of one small group of Downtown moguls).

Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic is run by Hellman operatives and his people also used phony ‘minority’ fronts to strip revenue-producing garages in the Mission from local groups.

Walter Shorenstein bats billions of dollars in downtown office property around using hundreds of lawyers who mask hundreds of millions in unpaid City transfer taxes.

Richard Blum got the head of the University of California system fired because he divorced Hellman’s daughter (tell me different and support it). Blum (who was nearly tossed off the Board last year for diverting way too much money to his URS enterprise – read about how his wife, Feinstein gave him contracts to 1,000 airports when she was head of Senate oversight of FCC – and, he looted the ‘Smart Carte’ concession and then gave it to friends who invested just the minimum amount at just the right time and place to become receivers) … Blum, what a character. His first revelation after dumping the Hellman divorce’ was to note that UC had a much larger debt capacity then even he had suspected (smelling URS contracts?).

I’m in much better physical shape than I was when I entered this campaign. I did my 43rd workout yesterday and decades of experience has taught me that 100 workouts in 4 months will get me in good physical shape as much as is possible. So, I’m calculating that it is possible (barring injury or assassination) that I could reach my goal of being in shape for the first time in 10 years, somewhere around mid-October.

The Candidates Collaborative has survived attacks by Eric Jaye and continues with its third ‘Calling out the Mayor from Under his Balcony’ debate this Friday (August 31st) from 5-6:30pm. With no major publication covering these gatherings, the only comprehensive journal of the Newsom opposition is likely to be the online work of Len Harrison and Tony DeRenzo, live each Friday evening. Keep in touch with fogcityjournal.com for live video-stream and chat connects.

Hey, quitting is the only sin. Barring some unforeseen polar shift, this race vis a vis the battle against Downtown is for informational purposes only. At least one credible opposition candidate (Tony Hall) appears to have qualified for public financing (why the hell do they take a month to disburse?). And, Tony’s on our right. The reasons that the formidable Progressive machine we built in ’03 lies rusting in the field with vines growing over it is the subject of another column. Or two. Or, maybe three?

Contact me if you want to meet the Collaborative candidates at a little party after Friday’s debate.






	Bulldog 2007 Article 131 (8-29-07) “Aren’t you running for Mayor?�?(fellow diner at St. Anthony’s) “If you can make one heap of all your winnings. And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss. And lose and start again at your beginnings. And never breathe a word about your loss. If you can walk with fools and keep your virtue. Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch. If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you. If all men count with you but none too much. If you can keep your head when all about you. Are losing theirs and blaming it on you. If you can fill the unforgiving minute. With 60 seconds worth of distance run. Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it. And what is more, you’ll be a man, my son.�? (Kipling) OK, I’ve never done that ‘not breathing a word’ thing very well but otherwise I simply love myself and have for years. I’d add something about the courage to fight the unwinnable fight for which I’ve sacrificed all at times in my existence. But, hey! This isn’t about me except as a Bulldog ‘plant’ within the 2007 campaign for Mayor of the City of San Francisco. Let me give you the status of the race from the inside with 71 days til you go to the polls and pull your lever in privacy as they say (sounds like a certain Idaho Senator?). Fog City scoops majors again Luke Thomas is on vacation this week. Yeah, right. That’s why he was the only publication in town present at closing time of the Ethics Commission yesterday and got the money shot of Chicken John and Tony Hall being the only two contenders filing for public matching funds. SF Weekly blew it. Ran a piece on how Chicken John Rinaldi was only candidate who applied. The Examiner ignored it in their flagship and it’s satellite, ‘City Star’ publications. John Wildermuth and the Chronicle got the facts right, to their credit, but were 12 hours late on the scoop and had not picture (Bronstein won’t pay anyone overtime). The Guardian, sadly, didn’t even try to cover the event (hedonism in the desert once again trumped the battle for San Francisco). So, it was a Thomas scoop once again and this time he did it while on vacation! Why Public Financing is important Because the rich candidates have more money? Well, HELLLOOOO!. Given the lock that Downtown money has on the local media superstructure, the only way a candidate they don’t support to get any publicity at all is to pay for it. Because Downtown has virtually all of the money all piled up in one corner and looking to get more … they not only outspend opposing candidates by obscene margins, they go out of their way to send Eric Jaye to the offices of publications who give a fair shake and try to get ‘offending’ reporters and editors fired. No Progressives made the cut Anthony Faber writes in the online chat JUNTO that Gonzalez butler, Jim Dorenkott was working the phones on behalf of Ahimsa Sumchai and using a Gonzo donor data base from his ’03 campaign. Given the total fuck job that Gonzalez has done on the Progressive movement for the last 4 years, that’s only appropriate. Of course the upshot of all this was that neither Gonzo offshoot, Quintin Mecke (who regularly curses Matt in private meetings I’m told – for playing ‘Dead Elvis on the toilet’) … neither Mecke nor lead Prog challenger, Ahimsa Sumchai were able to corral 25k to qualify for matching funds. And, the result will be that the Chicken John campaign which is essentially a USO show meant to divert attention from the war of fundamental issues (what’s his stand on Donald Fisher?) will be the primary focus of publications like the Weekly and the Guardian and the Examiner and the Chronicle for certain. In fact, the only venue where you can be guaranteed to get the view of the opposing candidates without a bunch of Downtown censorship, is from the candidates themselves at our Friday forums (5-6:30pm in Alioto Plaza). Reality Check I used to be a teacher in SF. They just got a hard fought 3% raise. They are the frontline warriors in the battle to reform the gangster elements in town. They never avoid a challenge. They are altruistic idiots who sacrifice everything for the community. The cops in the meantime, got 25%. They do not rush to reform, to put it mildly. They have withdrawn more and more from any contact with the public (other than bashing heads in steroid rages – they don’t fly helicopters or man Kiosks in tourist or high-crime areas like all other ‘world class’ cop shops do) for the last 20 years and with Phil Ginsberg (cop lawyer, now Gavin’s Chief of Staff) calling the shots, they’ll be more disengaged with the contract he’ll negotiate in 2011. That will make 24 years without police reform. The City departments don’t do their jobs because they are run by political hacks who have been instructed to halt maintenance and encourage decay so that they can award new contracts to well-connected firms to do the jobs City workers would gladly do but have been prevented from doing. Cabal Corporate raiders rape City Donald Fisher controls the Presidio which is supposed to be a national park? He also has given the City’s soccer fields as a gift to his sons. Thanks to Aaron Peskin, it’s all legal. Warren Hellman promised a free parking garage (never needed in the first place) in Golden Gate Park, then charged you to build it and is losing money while in total control of the area. You’re about to lose any public input into the management of the City’s major golf courses (which were brought to PGA standards – that means for one golf tournament for the rich every 3 years – at the expense of the poor parks – they literally took money out of the poor box for parks in poor neighborhoods and have refused to repay a dime – trying to get more out of you with bonds, bonds, bonds) … you’re losing the golf courses and the stables are next and you already lost the zoo and the libraries to control of one small group of Downtown moguls). Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic is run by Hellman operatives and his people also used phony ‘minority’ fronts to strip revenue-producing garages in the Mission from local groups. Walter Shorenstein bats billions of dollars in downtown office property around using hundreds of lawyers who mask hundreds of millions in unpaid City transfer taxes. Richard Blum got the head of the University of California system fired because he divorced Hellman’s daughter (tell me different and support it). Blum (who was nearly tossed off the Board last year for diverting way too much money to his URS enterprise – read about how his wife, Feinstein gave him contracts to 1,000 airports when she was head of Senate oversight of FCC – and, he looted the ‘Smart Carte’ concession and then gave it to friends who invested just the minimum amount at just the right time and place to become receivers) … Blum, what a character. His first revelation after dumping the Hellman divorce’ was to note that UC had a much larger debt capacity then even he had suspected (smelling URS contracts?). On the upside I’m in much better physical shape than I was when I entered this campaign. I did my 43rd workout yesterday and decades of experience has taught me that 100 workouts in 4 months will get me in good physical shape as much as is possible. So, I’m calculating that it is possible (barring injury or assassination) that I could reach my goal of being in shape for the first time in 10 years, somewhere around mid-October. The Candidates Collaborative has survived attacks by Eric Jaye and continues with its third ‘Calling out the Mayor from Under his Balcony’ debate this Friday (August 31st) from 5-6:30pm. With no major publication covering these gatherings, the only comprehensive journal of the Newsom opposition is likely to be the online work of Len Harrison and Tony DeRenzo, live each Friday evening. Keep in touch with fogcityjournal.com for live video-stream and chat connects. Hey, quitting is the only sin. Barring some unforeseen polar shift, this race vis a vis the battle against Downtown is for informational purposes only. At least one credible opposition candidate (Tony Hall) appears to have qualified for public financing (why the hell do they take a month to disburse?). And, Tony’s on our right. The reasons that the formidable Progressive machine we built in ’03 lies rusting in the field with vines growing over it is the subject of another column. Or two. Or, maybe three? Contact me if you want to meet the Collaborative candidates at a little party after Friday’s debate. Ahimsa for Mayor!

Bulldog 2007 Article 131