Making Y'all Jealous - UPDATE

UPDATE: Ahsha sent a very nice apology and a totally self-effacing response to my story. (See comments section.)

Also, for those of you who want to use the chart at the end at your endorsement meetings tonight, let me make two points: (1) the chart is only about what the candidates don't agree on. The truth is that they ALL agreed on tons of lefty issues like abortion rights (yes), death penalty (no), outsourcing (no), etc. So I don't want to paint certain people as being un-liberal - I think fundamentally they all are Democrats. (2) I did reach out to Tony Ganter, Milton Marks, Rodel Rodis and Tom Radulovich to get their info but have not heard back.

Constant Readers,

Allow me to give you a glimpse into my glamorous weekend.

On Friday night, Beth and I had dinner with a married couple and played Rock Band. (Incidentally, I do a mean Chrissie Hynde impression.)

I got up early on Saturday and walked to SEIU headquarters to attend the election presentations to the Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC). This was the meeting where candidates and ballot measure advocates who want the SF Democratic party endorsement give a presentation and answer questions. The vote on whether to endorse a particular candidate or ballot measure will take place Wednesday night.

I arrived at about 9:45 am - just in time to help DCCC member Jake McGoldrick set out the bagels and schmear he so nicely thought to bring. I sat down and began to write: Weird to see everyone in jeans. No coffee. I'll bet the Republicans have coffee.

The ballot measures were heard in the morning, with speakers presenting either pro or con for 5 minutes each. (Ima save my notes from this part of the day for my voter guide.) The mood was pretty light, and I randomly chatted with Aaron Peskin, Chris Daly and George Broder. Around lunchtime, the candidates for office started presenting. Each brought with them a DCCC Candidate Questionnaire. Which I assiduously collected because all lawyers love paper.

First up were the candidates for the Board of Education, the Community College Board and the BART Board. Yeah, y'all! There's a BART Board! I had no idea either.

Fun Fact: If you ever want to kill yourself Leaving Las Vegas-style, just bring a few handles of vodka to a series of speeches by Board of Education candidates. Every time you hear the phrase “achievement gap”, take a swig. They’ll be carting your dead ass away in no time.

Next were the candidates for Supervisor. Here are some highlights from my notes:

Sue Lee (D1) – when asked about her opposition to the Clean Energy Act (which would pave the way for the City to take over public power vis-à-vis a feasibility study that must be completed within very strict deadlines) pointed out that the City “couldn’t even issue pot club permits within the specified timeframe.” I laughed audibly and thanked her silently. Run for Mayor, Sue.

Joe Alioto (D3) – wearing a blue button-up shirt and cords as he bypassed the speakers’ seat and walked right up to the tables where the DCCC members were sitting and stood to give his presentation. At least one other person in the room agreed that he was rockin’ some John Edwards-eque charm. Minus the scarlet letter.

Ron Dudum (D4) – on the way to the meeting was driving in his Mini Cooper and was rear-ended by a Neon. He claimed to be quite shaken up. Which made him seem like a pansy.

Randall Knox (D11) - registered as a Democrat on August 8, 2008. Heheh. He's gonna need all the luck he can get to secure this endorsement.

Ahsha Safai (D11) – sitting in front of me to the left leaned over and started rooting through my pile of questionnaires on the floor with his right hand. I smiled, “Can I help you?” “I’m just looking to see if there are any extras.” I started to say, “Those are mine, but if you tell me which one you want, I’ll go get it for you.” But all I could get out was, “Those are mi..” before he turned around and commenced to denying my existence. That’s right: I got the the Heisman. From a man wearing Mom Jeans. A new personal low.

Julio Ramos (D11)– begins presentation with this whimsical description of his profession as a Plaintiff’s lawyer: “Take from the rich, give to the poor and keep one-third.” Barf. Also: he had no clue what the Ellis Act is, even though it is explicitly the subject of a question in the questionnaire. Google it, Slacker. To top it off, he moved to District 11 in February 2008. Dude, seriously?

When Supervisor Elsbernd came in at around 2 pm, he looked at me with a face full of pity and sadness I imagine he usually reserves for homeless prostitutes. "Oh Melissa," he said, shaking his head, "How long have you been here?"

Over four hours. "It's fine," I tried to reassure him. "I'm getting lots of good information." Shit. He thinks knows I have a problem.

It was almost 4 pm when the meeting let out. I went to my friend Jenn's house where I spent the evening reviewing legal documents for a movie she's producing - the film version of Rubyfruit Jungle. She paid me in scotch and tofu "chicken."

Because all the candidates who submitted DCCC Questionnaires agreed on almost everything, I made a chart of only the contentious questions because I have something special in the works for this election.

And now you know what I did on Sunday.

But Ima share the chart with you since you were not cool enough to be there yourselves. Here ya go: Download dccc_candidate_table.doc.

--Melissa

TWO CENTS: I hear there is a debate about whether to use ranked choice voting on Wednesday, which would allow for candidates to know who came in second and third place for the endorsement. I don't pretend to be an expert on this issue but I will say this: after the Chairman-vote drama, the DCCC is at serious risk of looking like a big ol' circlejerk for its own members (who allegedly sold out the former Chairman for the very honor of being endorsed) and it will pose a further risk to the credibility of the DCCC if the endorsements are just a list of DCCC members. If RCV will allow some non-DCCC people to claim Dem party love (even as second place) then it deserves serious consideration.

AND FINALLY - Special shout to the gorgeous Kim-Shree Maufas who is my new best friend and the only other audience member to stay for the whole meeting on Saturday.

Comments

[Beth Spotswood]

Um, hi. You so DON'T have a new best friend and Ashha is now on my shit list. Love Alex Alioto's brother. Love Rock Band. Love you. Most of all, Love George.
High five...

[Fredo]

I am in awe. I'd propose marriage, but I read Beth's blog, and I know I'd get a beat down.

Of all the political blogging that goes on in this City (and that's an AWFUL lot), yours is, to my mind, the most valuable.

[generic]

Fuck.

This info does us D11 voters no good at all. Randall Knox isn't a Dem, Ahsha Safai's a douche, Julio Ramos is a clueless carpetbagger, etc., etc.

The neighborhood posters say that there's an Asian lady in the running. Maybe she won't suck.

[mschool]

Brilliant!

[Be_Devine]

Ugh.

And you could'a been brunching at the Brians'.

Homemade English muffins with some ESL toppings (eggs and homemade tomatillo salsa)

[Greg]

Ranked choice voting in endorsements is pointless. It's just to make the losers feel better, but really means nothing at all.

Sounds like Sue had the best line of the night. The Clean Energy thing really is a sham - they keep saying "oh it's about clean energy" and yet the BG and the proggy folks keep saying "public power." Strange!

[Sweet Melissa]

Aw, I love y'all!

And RCV may make the losers feel better, but what's wrong with that?

[chester]

It's hard to argue against the underlying ecological sentiment behind The Clean Energy Act, but it's fairly easy to argue against something that might lead toward S.F. residents enjoying electrical service that is as reliable as, say, their public transportation system.

[Rachel]

And here I thought I was going to get a mention on the blog for my inspirational candidate statement! Were the BOE candidates really that boring?

[Brian Leubitz]

Don't worry, you can get help for this problem. And there's more dope tonight at SFYD. Good times really.

P.s. Ya, Kim-Shree Maufus is pretty awesome, huh?

[ahsha safai]

Melissa, wow we got off on the wrong foot. I was embarrassed when I realized that was your pile and not a general one. Sorry for that. As for my jeans, maybe you can find time to give me a sense of style. My wife's giving me a hard time about my jeans. - ahsha

[Jen Longley, SFYD President]

Hey Melissa!
I love your dccc compare/contrast piece on the candidates positions!
You mind if I run off a few copies for the SFYD meeting tonight?
Jen

[Sweet Melissa]

@ahsha - I'm a sucker for a sincere apology, so no worries. As for your style, I recommend you consult your wife and gay male friends. Of course, I'd be glad to go shopping with you in exchange for some scotch and tofu "chicken".

@Jen - Of course you can! Please just note the two caveats at the start of the post.

@chester - you really hit the heart of the issue, I think.

[Kay]

If RCV in endorsements helps the regular voter brigade to not put the same name in all 3 slots, thusly invalidating their ballot, then RCV in endorsements does its job. Just makes for much longer meetings.

[julio ramos]

Dear Melissa,

I commend you on your intestinal fortitude last Saturday at the DCCC meeting. For the record, I know what the Ellis Act is, I don't support its repeal, I stood and stand by my written answer on the DCCC questionnaire,some people did not like it and I think that is what caused confusion in the q and a. As for my residence in the district, for the record I resided half a block from District 11 before moving to my current home. I moved to be closer to my frail 97 year old grandmother who lives a block away from me and decided to run for Supervisor shortly thereafter. I am a Plaintiff's lawyer and proud of it, if I made you barf your bias must be defense oriented, pity.

Julio Ramos

[Sweet Melissa]

@Julio- Thank you for writing! However, I disagree with your characterization of the Q and A. After 4 attempts to ascertain your position on the Ellis Act, the DCCC members gave up trying to figure out your actual stance. It was pretty awkward. As for your recent move, I'm not sure why you would move closer to your grandmother only spend your time running for office, but hey, I won't argue the point on such a worthy endeavor. And finally, if you read my blog with any regularity you would realize that your accusation about my "bent" toward defense lawyers is nonsensical. The "Barf" refers to your attempt to portray yourself as some Robin Hood character "taking from the rich and giving to the poor" - as if the job of a lawyer is wealth redistribution - which, even if you believe, is perverted by your "keep one third" statement. In sincerely hope your presentations before other community entities go more smoothly than this one did.

[Bob Regan]

Props for having the intestinal fortitude to make it all the way through. I am frustrated that the School Board candidates seem to be genuinely interested in little more than setting themselves up for a run for supervisor down the road. Did they say *anything* of substance? It's not fair to put this on you, but increasingly, I am getting all my city news from you!

[Sweet Melissa]

@Bob - Thank you so much for your comment! Since 6 of the 9 BOE candidates indicated their support for JROTC - that's what the DCCC members wanted to talk about. It resulted in some pretty inane exchanges, in particular for Rachel Norton who was asked how she would like it if she had to dress like a man in order to live in society. WTF? Anyway, aside from platitudes about fixing the achievement gap and dealing with school choice problems, there wasn't much said. Five minutes flies by. And also, I don't have any kids, so I'll admit I wasn't exactly hanging on every word. If you want, I can scan the questionnaires and email them to you - they contain more info.

And no worries about being "fair" - I'm very glad to help and flattered at being a news source for you!

[Bob Regan]

Thanks. I am not surprised. I don't think any of these folks have actually spent time in the classroom or know education policy in any substantive way. Sad. Closing the achievement gap is really, really important. However, most of the time it means writing better tests rather than looking at models that have worked in other cities and states. As JROTC, it's a side show. I understand that it is the principle of the thing, but with the district is in shambles, we have more pressing matters to attend to. Any details you have are welcome! Thanks a ton for everything Melissa!

[Sparksfly]

As for JROTC...

Those of us who are active in high school PTA programs here really like all the grunt volunteer work the cadets do for us (cleaning up after events, scrubbing public toilets after sports events, etc)So, if the board cuts the program, we'll have to do it ourselves..

..or ask you, Mel, to come down and help us clean the messes.

So, VOTE TO RETAIN JROTC.

[Sweet Melissa]

@Sparksfly - If you saw my apartment you'd know how laughable it is that you would consider requesting my cleaning services. Good luck with your campaign!