Disclaimer: I do some work for Measure H, but my opinion on this issue was decided before I took the job.

In today’s Beyond Chron, author and activist Randy Shaw talks about Measure H. While I totally respect that there are opposing points of view on Measure H, and respect Randy personally, as you read the article it’s important to make note of a few things that Mr. Shaw missed that are important when talking about the true impact of Measure H.

For example, when discussing the Board of Supervisors’ new ability to issue revenue bonds, without a vote of the people, the provision is referred to as innocuous, when in fact the measure, as written, allows the board to issue revenue bonds to take over any utility, not just a power utility.

That means that without any oversight by citizens, the Board could vote to issue bonds to seize Comcast cable television, build a wifi network, etc. None of this has anything to do with the goals of clean energy – but it’s all legal under Measure H.

More importantly, at a time when San Francisco’s affordable housing stock is in short supply, we need to ask ourselves if San Francisco needs to be getting into the power, cable television, and WiFi business. Surely affordable housing (which is also on the ballot) is of more immediate concern to San Francisco’s residents at this time.

Also, while the article gives one account of past public power initiatives, it does not mention Sup. Mirkarimi’s role as campaign manager for the last public power measure before voters in 2001. This is a significant point to remember when reading Mirkarimi’s analysis and motivations to put Measure H before the voters.

As a past manager of the 2001 public power measure, he’s got plenty of reasons to want a re-match years later on behalf of public power. And as a potential mayoral candidate running on the left side of the San Francisco political spectrum, he needs to once again prove his bona fides vis a vis public power in order to secure a Guardian endorsement.

None of these reasons match up with the urgent priorities for San Francisco at this time. Measure H wraps an old idea in a new, misleading wrapper, and it’s important to keep this in mind as one reads the Beyond Chron article.

If you peruse the virtual pages of BeyondChron, you’ll see a couple of articles that dovetail quite nicely together.  The first is a story by Randy Shaw with the idea that either former Board President Matt Gonzalez or Sup. Chris Daly will run against Mayor Newsom.  Otherwise, why did Daly bother with scheduling a “Progressive convention” for June 1?

The second is an articlce by Paul Hogarth, which lays out the very sound basis for an argument that SF will be a very, very fertile grounds for ballot propositions in June 2008.  Mark Leno’s decision not to challenge Gavin Newsom (a decision that Chris Daly seems to have strongly disagreed with) and instead challenge Carole Migden will ensure strong turnout in the more progressive eastern half of the City while there will be no major elections in the Western half (or as I like to call the Sunset…the place that elected Ed Jew.)

So, two races might become more interesting. The Mayoral race might well…become a race, and SD-03 might not grate on the nerves of Carole Migden’s progressive supporters quite so much given the chance for some real structural reform via the ballot box.