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Apparently, the "C" Stands for Crack
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Constant Readers,
I promise this will be my last post about a Democratic County Central Committee (DCCC) meeting. My friends staged an intervention yesterday and I’ve decided to quit cold turkey. I will still write about the DCCC and what my friend Paul Hogarth called the Progressive Take Over that appears to have occurred there, but no more meetings.
It started with the meeting at which Supervisor Aaron Peskin was elected chairman of the DCCC over Scott Wiener – thanks in large part to the successful Peskin-Daly brainchild called the “Hope Slate” which packed the DCCC with Progressives. The 18-16 vote for Peskin was also tipped by two of Wiener’s (ex?)friends, David Campos and David Chiu, voting for Peskin. Yay, Drama!
Then last Saturday I went to watch the endorsement presentations mostly hoping to get some info on the ballot propositions for my voter guide, but couldn’t tear myself away from watching all the candidates’ speeches. I emerged from the meeting room in the Tenderloin six hours later, pale and spent.
Rock bottom came on Wednesday night when I left a perfectly nice party and went to watch the DCCC vote on which candidates and ballot propositions to endorse. (After all, I had seen each party make their case on Saturday!) I arrived at about 8:45 and left at 12:45. In the process, I inadvertently stood up one of my favorite people in the universe who waited for me for 2 hours at a bar that is basically Northern California douchebag headquarters. I spent 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. on the phone with him alternately groveling and laughing hysterically at his many near-fights and observations.
So, I promise. No more meetings.
But I can’t resist writing one…teensy…little…post…about Wednesday night...
Let's begin with the Board of Supervisors candidate endorsements:
1. District 1: Where My Ladies At?
Three candidates had presented themselves for the District 1 endorsement: Sue Lee, Eric Mar and Alicia Wang. Eric Mar (DCCC member and Hope Slate candidate) soundly won the endorsement with the votes of 16 of the 18 Hope Slate-endorsed members. Afterwards, DCCC members Laura Spanjian and Leslie Katz asked the committee to do some rank-choice voting so the body could endorse one of the other female candidates, too. Hell, Alicia Wang is the Vice President of the California State Democratic Party! Can’t we give her second place?
No. No, we can’t, apparently. Eschewing RCV, the committee did a runoff between Lee and Wang and, though Lee got a respectable number of votes, neither got enough for the silver medal.
2. District 3: Here’s One. Happy Now?
Five candidates had presented themselves for the District 3 endorsement: Joe Alioto, Jr., Claudine Cheng, David Chiu, Tony Ganter, and Denise McCarthy. Chiu (DCCC member and Hope Slate candidate) soundly won the endorsement with the votes of 17 of the 18 Hope Slate-endorsed members. In the runoff between the remaining candidates, Denise McCarthy got enough votes for the second-place endorsement. (I later shared a taxi with Ms. McCarthy and she is really quite marvelous.)
3. Districts 4, 5, 7 and 9: Meh.
Carmen Chu overwhelmingly won the D4 endorsement over Ron “I’m-still-p(i)ssed-Newsom-didn’t-appoint-me-to-Ed-Jew’s-seat” Dudum. District 5 incumbent Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is a Green Party member, so the only thing the DCCC could do to show love for his candidacy was to issue a resounding "No Endorsement." Which it did. Then, demonstrating that they collectively are at least as smart at Tony Hall, the members voted not to mess with incumbent Supervisor Sean Elsbernd - he was endorsed for District 7. David Campos (DCCC member and Hope Slate candidate) soundly won the endorsement in D9 with the votes of 14 of the 18 Hope Slate-endorsed members.
4. District 11: Safai was there and looking very dapper in a gray suit, FYI
Five candidates had presented themselves for the District 11 endorsement: John Avalos, Eli Horn, Randall Knox, Julio Ramos and Ahsha Safai. Progressive candidate John Avalos won the endorsement. In the second round of voting, Safai got 15 votes, just 2 votes shy of the 17 needed to get the second place endorsement. Interestingly, Laura Spanjian voted for Safai over Avalos in the first round of voting but then voted "No Endorsement" instead of Safai in the second round. Honestly not sure what's up with that.
You know you were wondering. How did the allegedly betrayed Scott Wiener vote when it came to his former Harvard Law School classmates? He voted for Denise McCarthy instead of David Chiu. And “No Endorsement” instead of David Campos. I freely admit my participation in the wonky giggles that followed each vote.
And now for a look at the ballot propositions: (Complete List Here: Download list_of_propositions.pdf)
1. The CJC: Observe the Strategery
Lemmie set the stage for y'all: there were only 33 people voting Wednesday night because Representative Pelosi didn’t send a proxy. The body can take one of three positions: “Yes, we endorse,” “No, we do not endorse,” and “No Endorsement” (neutral). In the first vote on whether to endorse the Community Justice Center (CJC) ballot proposition (Prop L) 17 votes were needed for any position to prevail (Leland Yee's proxy abstained, bringing the total pool of votes down from 33 to 32) but none of the three positions got a majority. There were only 15 “No” votes because so many people voted “No Endorsement.” Including David Chiu.
Much later, at about 11:30 pm, when we were all packing up to leave, Daly called for a re-vote on the CJC, which he could do because no position had received a majority of votes earlier. In the re-vote, members Eric Mar and Melanie Nutter changed their votes from “No Endorsement” to “Abstain” in order to bring the total pool of voters down to 30 so only 16 “No” votes would be required. Hene Kelly changed her vote from “No Endorsement” to “No” and, voila! The 16 “No”s required to get the DCCC’s official thumbs down.
Note that despite concerns of some members who felt that Daly was taking advantage of the absence of DCCC members Hsieh and Levitan (two CJC supporters) who had already left at the late hour, according to the numbers, their absence did not affect the result of the vote.
On this second vote, David Chiu chose to vote last and voted “Yes". Which looks suspiciously like he waited to see how the votes were going and once it was clear that the anti-CJC effort didn’t need his help, he safely voted in favor of endorsing the CJC.
Look For: Eric Mar to proclaim his neutrality even though he was key to the “No” vote. And Chiu to try get credit for endorsing the CJC, even though he voted “No Endorsement” the first time and it appears that he only voted “Yes” when he saw it would not affect the overall effort to un-endorse the CJC.
2. Big Picture: What's in a Name?
The SF Democratic Party endorses: the SFGH Bond, an Affordable Housing Set-Aside, Even-Numbered Year Elections, More Signatures to Remove a Supervisor from Office, Retirement Credit for City Employees Who Took Unpaid Leave to Care for Children Prior to January 1, 2003, the Clean Energy Act, the Pier 70 Stuff, the Historic Preservation Commission, Treatment On Demand, and the Decriminalization of Prostitution.
The SF Democratic Party opposes: a Public Utility Ratepayer Advocate, Prohibiting City Employees from Serving on Boards and Commissions, Limiting Budget Set-Asides, the Community Justice Center, Restructuring the Transit Authority, and JROTC.
As for the G.W. Bush Sewage thing? No position got a majority of votes. On the one hand, it would be hella funny. On the other hand, as one audience member observed, “it gives sh(i)t a bad name.”
Which is precisely the kind of intellectual exercise that I'll miss the most.
--Melissa
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