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Herrera Evaluating Alioto-Pier Appeal Options

Written by Luke Thomas. Posted in News, Politics

Published on July 23, 2010 with 9 Comments

District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, with her husband Tom Pier by her side, filed papers with SF Department of Elections this morning indicating her intent to run for re-election. Photo by Luke Thomas.

By Luke Thomas

July 23, 2010

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has not ruled out an appeal against yesterday’s court ruling by Judge Peter Busch, a ruling that clears a path for District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier to run for re-election.

Herrera is “evaluating the ruling and is considering his options,” said City Attorney spokesperson Matt Dorsey. A decision to appeal or not is expected to be made within the “next several days,” Dorsey added.

Judge Busch indicated his ruling was a close call that could have gone either way, resolving an ambiguity in the law, he said, in favor of Alioto-Pier, the office holder.

Meanwhile, Alioto-Pier, accompanied by her husband Tom Pier, filed papers with the Department of Elections this morning indicating her intent to run for re-election.

According to Alioto-Pier, Judge Busch’s ruling “ultimately came down to the clear letter of the law, and that’s what he said.”

“In this particular case, there is no ambiguity,” Alioto-Pier added. “This was clear.”

At issue is whether Alioto-Pier, who was appointed to the Board by Mayor Gavin Newsom in January 2004, has served two full terms, the maximum allowed.  Citing the City Charter, Herrera maintains Alioto-Pier’s first term, from January 2004 to January 2006, counts as one full-term.

“Any person appointed to the office of Supervisor to complete in excess of two years of a four-year term shall be deemed, for the purpose of this section, to have served one full term,” section 2.101 of the City Charter states in part.

“You cannot interpret a (voter enacted) law in a manner that renders it meaningless,” Dorsey told FCJ, a basis on which an appeal may be filed.

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas is former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, has published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521.

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  • http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/author/hbrown/ Harold Brown

    Congrats to Michela,

    The law is unfair and Dennis should not appeal. I love the picture of Michela and hubby, Tom. Eileen Left said yesterday that Tom is a treasurer for Reilly?

    Eileen assured us that Janet will drop out and we’ll see Janet again up for the post in 4 years.

    Go Giants!

    h.

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  • http://groups.yahoo.com/group/patmonkrn/ Patrick Monk

    h
    about time we had a ‘falling out’. What the hell has she done for “us” lately – or ever – whenever she shows up.
    Dump her back in the pool of Brown/Newsom appointees.
    See you at our party on Sunday; still got a couple of nice stogies in my stash, at least one with your name on it that was thigh rolled by a sweet and sweaty senorita.
    Everybody should check out Patrick Monette-Shaw’s ongoing expose of the skullduggery at Laguna Honda. It’s just the tip of the iceberg that is sinking the SPDPH under the leadership of “Doctor” – first do no harm to the bottom line and your political power base cohort – Katz.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_tab_pro Ann Garrison

    Can someone explain how Judge Busch adhered to “the clear letter of the law” if this, below, is true?

    “Any person appointed to the office of Supervisor to complete in excess of two years of a four-year term shall be deemed, for the purpose of this section, to have served one full term,” section 2.101 of the City Charter states in part.”

    Is “in excess” the issue? She served two years exactly, having been appointed in January 2004, and then assumed office, after being elected, in January 2006? So she served two years but not “in excess of two years”?

    Much as I dislike this prospect, that does sound like the letter of the law, if that’s all the law says.

  • http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/author/hbrown/ Harold Brown

    Pat,

    I adore Tom Ammiano but there is no way that he should spend 14 years as a supe and Michela gets 6.

    The back story here is that Herrera and Peskin are thicker than thieves and Peskin hates the Alioto’s with a passion. Did this influence Dennis’ call?

    And, asking what Pier has done for “us” is just silly. The answer is, of course, almost nothing. However, I don’t reserve my defense of the wronged just to victims who are out Progressives. I defended Tony Hall against a vile public mugging too.

    Will the senorita with the thunder thighs be there?

    h.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_tab_pro Ann Garrison

    h., you’ve got me cryin’ a river for Michela Alioto-Pier.

  • marc

    Tony Hall got to where he was on his own, totally different than MAP.

    The look on Pier’s face says it all: “Please, oh, please, let her run again so that she’ll have a daytime activity so that I don’t have to deal with her entitled whining for another four years, please, oh, please?”

    -marc

  • http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/author/hbrown/ Harold Brown

    Pathetic,

    So, justice is only for your side? Pier practiced her right to seek redress and won. If she were a Progressive you’d both be cheering.

    h.

  • marc

    h, I thought Ammiano was wrong on the law in 2002 and I think that Alioto-Pier is wrong on the law now. Ammiano had Herrera, Alioto-Pier has Sutton. Same difference.

    -marc

  • http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_tab_pro Ann Garrison

    I’ve got several unpleasant memories of Michela Alioto-Pier’s remarks on the Board, and in committees, but the most vivid was her response to Chris Daly’s first attempt to cancel the Blue Angels Air Show’s welcome, in the Budget and Oversight Committee, back in 2007:

    “I hate the war, but we can’t turn down any money.”

    I.e., “we” can’t turn down any money raked in, most of all, by the hotels and restaurants that profit from this annual all forces recruiting disaster, including Alioto’s Restaurant, while the rest of us pay for extra police and fire protection.

    Same excuse made by every manufacturer and contractor now living off the military industrial Ponzi scheme, financed by Chinese investors, that the U.S. “economy” has become.

    Did Alioto-Pier at least recuse herself, on the Budget and Oversight Committee, or at the full Board? Uh-huh.

    Did anyone else on the Board even suggest that she should? No; Chris Daly missed a great opportunity to expose his arch rival, on the ever so obvious, but he was the target of so many military fanatic blog posts and hate phone calls by then that I understand.

    But, h., although that was the most blatant self-dealing I’ve seen Alioto-Pier engage in, I never saw her cast a vote or take a position that was “just” or “fair” to anyone but herself and her super-rich peers, so don’t expect me to give a damn should Herrera have any luck.

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