Daly’s Last Chance to Shine

h. Brown. Photos by Luke Thomas.

By h. Brown

June 15, 2010

(Supe should open his ‘Primary’ to all)

Supervisor Chris Daly is doing his best impression of ‘Thelma and Louise‘ with his pedal to the metal as he roars toward the canyon cliff and his doom. Now, that’s his own choice and he’s got a right to have his last significant act as an SF supervisor to be political suicide.

There’s only one problem: He wants to load Jane Kim and Debra Walker and Jim Meko into his convertible with him and if he succeeds, the hopes for a Progressive victory in D6 will go over the edge with them. It’s not too late for Chris to change his mind but doing that can be like plugging BP’s raging well in the Gulf. Personally, I’ve thrown everything I have at him and nothing gets through that thick skull.

Candidate for D6 Supervisor Jane Kim.

Candidate for D6 Supervisor Jim Meko.

Candidate for D6 Supervisor Debra Walker.

He has 53 hours to change course

D6’s political boss has set a deadline of Noon two days from now (Noon, Thursday, June 17th) for ‘approved’ entries to sign away their independence in order to be ‘allowed’ to appear on the ballot of his mid-July contest. In fact, by the rules set by Daly, only 3 candidates of the 27 registered even have a chance of making his ticket. Those would be the aforementioned Walker and Meko and Kim – those with the most money collected and willing to cross their hearts and hope to die. Thus far none of them have publicly agreed to enter and the Kim and Walker campaigns indicated over this past weekend that they wouldn’t be participating. No public announcements because, quite frankly, they’re afraid of Daly. That’s not democracy. The Chris Daly I met in 2000 wouldn’t have qualified for this Frankenstein monster constructed of parts of the democratic process. The Chris Daly I supported from 2000 ’til 2009 would have been in the streets with me protesting this plutocratic insanity. Talk about forgetting your roots.

Here’s your choice, Chris

You can back down and invite everyone to run. Drop all of the checking bank accounts and signing of pledges and the like. Put every single candidate who has taken the time to register on the ballot. Election day will be joyful with a couple of dozen candidates and their supporters waving signs in front of the War Memorial. I can imagine speeches in Alioto Plaza under Gavin’s balcony as the various candidates stoke their followers before marching to the polling place a block away.

Or, …

You can have a couple of dozen rejected candidates and their couple of hundred supporters all gathered around Daly’s private party, all screaming and condemning the elitist candidates who knuckled under to Chris.

The media will be there in force whichever way Daly decides to go. Sadly, I think that’s more important to Chris than the outcome of the election and that he really doesn’t even realize it. Come what may, Chris Daly will be the center of attention on ‘Primary’ day. That could be a very good thing. Or, it could be a very bad thing. The choice is up to Chris Daly.

Emails and calls to Kim, Meko and Walker have gone unanswered for the past 3 days. Maybe Daly has them tied up in a basement somewhere.

C’mon Chris, I’m a candidate and a little guy. There are a couple of dozen of us. You used to represent us. Open your primary to every single candidate. A Non-Partisan check of the public’s mood 100 days before the November vote? That’s a great idea. But, you shouldn’t discriminate on the basis of the size of bank accounts or anyone’s personal beliefs. That’s the voters’ job.

Go Gigantes!

Harold Brown

h. brown is a 62 year-old keeper of sfbulldog.com, an eclectic site featuring a half dozen City Hall denizens. h is a former sailor, firefighter, teacher, nightclub owner, and a hard-living satirical muckraker. His other FCJ articles can be found here. here.

More Posts - Website