Articles Posted in the Politics Category
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Bock, Gascón, Onek Square Off at DA Candidates Forum
But judging strictly by the applause-meter, the clear winner was David Onek, a criminal justice expert and former San Francisco Police Commissioner who is the founding executive director of the UC Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. Onek is running as a reformer and an “outsider,” yet he’s no stranger to the halls of power. His father was once senior counsel to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and his father-in-law is Michael Dukakis, the former governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic nominee for president. He served in Mayor Newsom’s Office of Criminal Justice before being appointed by Newsom to the Police Commission. Still, his message that only an outsider can reform the criminal justice system, seemed to resonate with the audience.
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Wagging the Dog
Think about it. Just a week after submitting his budget and fresh off of negotiating a deal on pension reform; just days after revelations that a political consultant with close ties was staging an Astroturf campaign to draft him into the race; and at the very moment legislation authorizing the biggest demolition of rent-controlled housing in San Francisco history was being transmitted to his desk, Ed Lee was at my bar looking magnanimous—bearing gifts for one of his most vocal critics.
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NationBuilder: Increasing Grassroots Access
to the Voter FileToday I begin a new role as chief organizer for NationBuilder, a software platform that aims to equip grassroots activists, small businesses, NGOs and candidates with the kind of organizing tools that are usually reserved only for those with deep pockets. NationBuilder is the brainchild of Jim Gilliam, a progressive activist who co-founded Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films. Jim is also creator of Act.ly and TweetProgress.
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Overheard in Fog City: Campos to Vote Against His Conscience?
Apparently the progressive supe is uncomfortable with his support for Turman, according to a reliable source, but remains committed to Turman despite damaging reports of Turman’s record absenteeism on the Human Rights Commission.
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Congress Should Reject US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
The negotiated U.S.-Colombia FTA will give market access for U.S. agricultural, consumer, and industrial products, and will immediately remove all tariffs on about 80 percent of U.S. goods entering Colombia. This includes immediate duty-free treatment of beef, cotton, wheat, soybeans, many fruits, and other agricultural products. The remaining 20 percent of tariffs will be phased out over a period of 10 years for both agricultural products and industrial products. In addition, the agreement provides protections for U.S. investors that will be enforced through a binding international arbitration program.
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Will U.N September Vote be Palestine’s Last Hurrah?
The last thing Israel wants is for the issue to end up in the U.N with a vote for Palestinian statehood. But why not the U.N.? Consider that at the creation of Israel in 1947, the U.N. partitioned the land, allotting the Jews 55 percent of Palestine. The Arabs did not agree to this partition. The action of the UN conflicted with the basic principles for which the world organization was established, namely, to uphold the right of all peoples to self-determination. By denying the Palestine Arabs, who formed a two-thirds majority of the country, the right to decide for themselves, the U.N. had violated its own charter. Now is the chance for the U.N. to rectify its 1947 action and give the Palestinians a chance, denied them in 1947, to have a say in their future.
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Overheard in Fog City: Will Adachi Run?
That potential candidate is Public Defender Jeff Adachi who is singularly responsible for making this year’s mayor’s race a referendum on pension reform, the Care Not Cash, if you like, of 2003 that helped to elect then Supervisor Gavin Newsom over former Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez to Room 200.
The Hunger Site
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