San Francisco Pride went off with nary a hitch.  While many seemed to most excited by Jennifer Beals, I was excited to see Phil Angelides appear at the event.  He also attended the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club annual Pride Breakfast.  Also, I was told by Mark Leno that Angelides was going to be riding in the parade with him, but I was running around and didn’t get to see him in the parade.  If, in fact, he was able to appear in at least part of the parade, it would mark the first time a major party gubenatorial nominee has appeared at Pride in San Francisco, possibly in the nation at large.  It’s refreshing to see a candidate that isn’t afraid of showing his support for the LGBT community.  Angelides also promised that if Mark  Leno’s gay marriage bill reaches him as governor, he will sign it. 

Mayor Newsom, Sen Migden, and all the usual SF elected officials appeared at the event, which attracted.  The picture was taken at the Pink Triangle Event held at Twin Peaks on Saturday morning of (L->R) Brian Devine, Mark Leno, and Brian Leubitz (SFBrianCL).  The event commemorates the discrimination faced by the community and usually draws a nice crowd for the unveiling of the giant pink triange on the side of the hill.

[Welcome, visitors from Crooks & Liars.  If you’re interested in California politics, please have a look around Calitics.  You might even want to register and join Calitics, a Scoop-based community.]

This isn’t exactly California politics, but there is a California hook, and it’s too good to pass up.

Crooks & Liars has video of KGO’s late-night talk show host Bernie Ward destroying Texas Republican radio host Chris Baker on MSNBC.  The two were there to discuss the New York Times’ reporting of the Bush Administrations’ recent financial dragnetting.

Ward gets Baker to completely lose his cool and storm off the set.  This is instructive not because Baker lost his cool, but because of the way that Bernie Ward refused to play his game:

Baker:  Time of War!  New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!
Ward:  Should the government control what a newspaper prints?
Baker:  Time of War!  New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!
Ward:  Answer the question.  Should the government control what a newspaper prints?

[Repeat until Baker loses his mind, calls Ward names, and storms off because his Rove-approved talking points aren’t working.]

Ward changed the basic assumptions of the conversation, and then refused to be baited by Baker’s Republican-party talking points or the host’s attempts to drag him into a diversion about “the courts” (where you’ve already conceded that government censorship of the press is a legitimate question).  See how effective that was?

If only our politicians could be that relentless.

The San Francisco Health Access Plan has gotten a bunch of national attention in the last few days.  Newsom doesn’t support the current plan that Ammiano proposed, but he supports the concept in general.  I suppose he wants to work on the business aspect of it.

One day after announcing the proposal that would make San Francisco the first U.S. city to provide access to taxpayer-subsidized health care for every uninsured resident, Newsom pitched his ambitious plan during local radio and newspaper interviews — knowing that the question of who should be required to pay for it is already generating controversy. … The proposal would cost about $200 million annually, with more the half the money coming from city funds, about $38 million from local business contributions, and the remainder from monthly premiums paid by plan participants.

***
Newsom, who owned numerous local businesses before taking office in 2004, said he provided health insurance to his employees. He said he does not support Ammiano’s legislation in its current form, but he nonetheless challenged the business community — known for being strong mayoral allies — and employers who do not provide health care to “step up.”
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“We have been at every public hearing saying one thing: affordability, affordability, affordability,” Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, told the supervisors. “It needs to be affordable. The way it’s constructed, it’s not.” Westlye sat on a 41-member task force created by Newsom to study and develop the health care plan. (SF Chron 6/22/06)

So, I suppose that this is going to come down to a “progressives vs. businesses” thing like most other big efforts in SF.  However, with the Mayor’s support, I imagine that this one will happen.  Funding seems in flux, and the exact parameters of the deal are a little sketchy right now.  But, as I understand it, SF is essentially getting into the HMO business.  They will provide orimary care providers and allow preventive care.  However, the program participants will have no benefits outside of the county. 

I think this is a great idea, at least as an experiment.  We spend so much money on ER care that is essentially unnecessary.  There is a reason that the U.S. gets the least value of our health care dollar of any major industrial nation.  After the fact that we spend $0.35 of each dollar on the insurance complex, there is the fact that we spend way too much on emergency care.  It’s expensive and many of the cases could be handled a lot more efficiently in regular clinics.

So, there are details to work out, but I applaud SF for this grand gesture.  We’ll see how it works in the next few years.

The League of Pissed Off Voters‘ mission is to engage pissed off 17-35 year olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime. We currently have 17 official chapters around the country.

I’m active in the San Francisco chapter, and I wanted to share our voter guide with you and hear the Calitics perspective on it. In particular, I think Prop 81 and the Controller’s race are interesting ones that aren’t getting any press.

We raised money to print 20,000 of these bad boys, which we’re distributing around town. We haven’t used a dime from candidates or candidate committees.

Governor: Phil Angelides!
Lieutenant Governor: Jackie Speier!
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen!
Attorney General: Jerry Brown
Controller: John Chiang
State Senate District 8: None of the Above
State Assembly District 12: Janet Reilly!

Prop 81 – Library Construction Bond: No
Prop 82 – Universal Preschool: Hell Yeah

Prop A – Stop Homicides Now: Hell Yeah
Prop B – Ellis Act Eviction Disclosure: Hell Yeah
Prop C – Transbay Terminal Authority Shuffle: Yes
Prop D – Laguna Honda Patient Admission and Rezoning: No

See below the jump for our explanations of these.

Governor: Phil Angelides!

Phil Angelides is the anti-Arnold. While Arnold has protected his rich corporate donors, Angelides has a strong history of standing up for children, teachers, and workers. He’s the only major candidate with the guts to call for corporations and wealthy citizens to pay their fair share to rebuild California’s education and social services. Phil also told us he would seriously consider lowering the voting age so that 16 and 17 year olds who pay taxes can get some representation.

Lieutenant Governor: Jackie Speier!

The LT does a little bit of everything, and holds powerful roles on commissions governing California’s universities, environment, and economy. We need an LT who shares our values and has the knowledge to make California’s bureaucracies work for us. Jackie Speier has a strong progressive voting record in the State Senate, and she’s outlined plans to provide Cal Grants to more college students, increase the number of guidance counselors in public schools, and reduce emissions from the state’s buses and trucks.

Secretary of State: Debra Bowen!

The Secretary of State is in charge of our elections. Everyone who remembers Florida, Ohio, and the various Diebold debacles knows how important it is to have a solid Secretary of State. Debra Bowen is a State Senator who has been a leader in technology issues. She was the first Senator with a webpage, and wrote a bill to make legislative info available online. She’s headed investigations into Diebold and it’s her goal to kick their sketchy machines out of California and replace them with secure, open-source voting machines. Amen!

Attorney General: Jerry Brown

We’re going with Jerry Brown, because back in the day, he was the baddest progressive California has ever seen. As Governor, he was a trailblazing environmentalist and he vetoed the death penalty. Then he ran a grassroots campaign for president that refused donations larger than $100. But then some of our friends Oakland aren’t too happy with what he’s done as Mayor, with his “tough on crime” act that hasn’t really involved the community. Brown is running against LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who seems cool, but also makes up nervous. He supports the death penalty, and he also has a “tough on crime” vibe that might not focus as much on rehabilitation and community involvement as we would like.

Controller: John Chiang

The Controller is California’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for keeping an eye on our money, running the state’s payroll, and conducting audits to make sure nothing shady is going on. We like both of the major Democratic candidates, but we’re going with John Chiang because he has the most experience with these kind of technical but important issues. Chiang has worked for the IRS, and he serves on the Board of Equalization, so he knows all the crazy details about how California’s tax system works. He’s never held office before, but he’s worked for Democrats like Gray Davis, Barbara Boxer, and Don Perata. Chiang is running against Joe Dunn, a State Senator from Orange County with an impressive progressive voting record. He was knee deep in the investigation into how Enron ripped off California. But by a hair, we’re going with Chiang.

State Senate District 8: None of the Above

We hate to leave this one blank, but we can’t get behind any of these candidates. We like some things about Leland Yee, like how he opposes the death penalty and the work he’s done for immigrants. But he has a horrible record on renter’s rights, he’s made some sketchy enivormental votes, and he hasn’t really accomplished much in the State Assembly. Mike Nevin is a San Mateo County Supervisor who has some good things to say about “smart growth” and affordable housing. But he supports the death penalty and we’re not convinced that he’ll look out for renter’s rights.

State Assembly District 12: Janet Reilly!

She may not have much political experience, but you’d never know it if you hear Janet Reilly talk about her plans for fixing California. She has detailed proposals for providing health care to every Californian, restoring our environment, and improving our schools. She’s against the death penalty, for tenant protection, and would consider giving 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote. Meanwhile, her opponent, Fiona Ma, has accomplished little on the Board of Supervisors, has a lousy record on tenants’ rights, supports the death penalty, opposes lowering the voting age, and has offered few details on what she would do in Sacramento. Fiona even ducked the Bay Guardian, refusing to meet with them to talk about her campaign!

Prop 81 – Library Construction Bond: No

This one sounds simple: Why wouldn’t you support a $600 million bond for building libraries? Well, here are a couple reasons:
– Prop 81 allocates money only to the construction of libraries- the money can’t be used for librarians, books, computers, or other resources, only building.
– Also, the funds allocated in Prop 81 must be matched by the city trying to use them. This means that the strapped cities that need new libraries the most wouldn’t be able to access Prop 81 funding because they wouldn’t be able to spare the money necessary to match the funds. Meanwhile, Prop 81 would subsidize library construction in more affluent communities, thereby increasing the digital divide.

Our low-income communities absolutely need the access to books, computers, and other technological resources that libraries provide, but brand-new, empty library structures? Not that helpful, and this is all Prop 81 promises.

Prop 82 – Universal Preschool: Hell Yeah

Prop 82 provides free preschool to all kids by raising taxes only 1.7% for only the super rich (individuals who make over $400K or couples who make over $800K). It’s pretty simple: kids who go to preschool do better. A study showed that every dollar we invest in preschool will save $2.62 in juvenile hall and other costs related to dropouts.

Prop A – Stop Homicides Now: Hell Yeah

Our city is facing a crisis of homicides and gun violence, with young people in low-income communities (like Western Addition, Mission, and Bayview/Hunter’s Point) particularly impacted. Prop A creates a citizens council to address the systemic causes of homicide. This council will be in charge of $10 million a year for the next three years for innovative violence prevention programs including job training, after school programs, and summer internships, as well as a fund to support the families of homicide victims. Prop A is a critical step in addressing homicide in our city proactively and thoughtfully.

Prop B – Ellis Act Eviction Disclosure: Hell Yeah

Prop B requires real estate sellers to tell potential buyers if there were any Ellis Act evictions on a property, and if any of the tenants were disabled or elderly. The Ellis Act allows landlords to get out of the rental business by evicting their tenants. But it’s being abused by real estate speculators who buy rental properties because they want to kick out the tenants and convert the rentals into condos. Prop B protects renters without restricting real estate sales.

Prop C – Transbay Terminal Authority Shuffle: Yes

This one’s a little wonky, so stick with us. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority is in charge of building the Transbay Terminal to link BART, MUNI, and CalTrains, which is crucial to the future of public transit in the Bay Area. Prop C would do three things to shuffle the Transbay Authority: 1. It requires the Mayor him/herself attend TJPA meetings (instead of the Mayor’s designee) 2. It replaces the MUNI director with the Supervisor who heads the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 3. It puts the Board of Supervisor who represents the neighborhood (financial district, SOMA, etc.) on the Transbay Authority. The Transbay Terminal is important enough that we think the Mayor should be personally involved. We also think it makes sense to have the Supervisor in charge of public transit there also instead of the MUNI director, because the Transbay Terminal is a lot bigger than just MUNI.

Prop D – Laguna Honda Patient Admission and Rezoning: No

Laguna Honda is supposed to a hospital for seniors. Recently they’ve been admitting a lot of patients suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems, some of whom have gotten violent and caused a lot of trouble. We understand that this is a problem that needs to be fixed, but Prop D isn’t the way to do it. Prop D doesn’t provide for how to care for the patients it would remove from Laguna Honda, meaning a lot of them would get kicked out on the street. The sketchiest part about Prop D is how it rezones public land all over the City to allow for private nursing homes to be built. Huh? What’s that got to do with Laguna Honda?

The good folks over at No On 82 are creating some very nice little ads featuring teachers, principals, and parents stating how Prop 82 would create a massive bureacracy, a “parent tax”, and generally be disastrous for the state b/c uh, rich people would be a little less rich…and uh… well, you get the jist.

The problem is: they are all fake.  Yup, all actors.  Those “teachers” that you’ll see, uh, maybe they taught a summer stock class.  From Matier and Ross:

Take, for example, the new ad opposing actor and director Rob Reiner’s universal preschool initiative, Proposition 82. It warns of a costly new bureaucracy and even the possibility of a “parent tax,” and features a school principal, teachers and kids.

They’re all actors. According to the call that went out from Ava Shevitt Casting in Santa Monica, these were the requirements:
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Teacher: “Female/Asian, Caucasian, 40-45 … professional manner, warm & engaging, authoritative but gentle.”
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Student: “Female, multi-ethnic, 13-15 … dark hair, appealing, warm & engaging, bright, adorable, thoughtful, insightful, poised, inspirational.”
***
California Teachers Association officials, who support the preschool initiative, aren’t amused by the fake school crew.  “Using actors to portray teachers is misleading and deceptive,” sniped Sandra Jackson, spokeswoman for the union. (SF Chron 5/21/06)

The fact that the No on 82 folks are stooping to using fake teacher is more than a little funny/ironic.  Can’t they find one teacher who doesn’t like 82?  Well perhaps not…

As an aside, check out that article for a funny Jerry Brown story. 

Moving to Dem on Dem ads and back to a subject I touched on earlier: SD-8’s bizarre ads.  Mike Nevin wants to appear again on these pages.  This time he tries to tie Yee to Schwarzenegger.  Well, ok, but then he takes a page out of “Girly-Man” Schwarzenegger’s book.  He puts a picture of Yee’s head onto a Hans and Franz picture with Ahnold. I think it’s funny that we get in a huff when Arnold uses this stuff, but then we do it to each other.  Meanwhile Lou Papan is running clean ads on TV and in mailers.

Here it is, click on the ads to make them bigger.

Mike Nevin’s Pump You Up Ad