Friday, October 29, 2010


SF Magazine: Mayor Pelosi?

An article in the new edition of San Francisco magazine that just hit the newsstands and web, is the scariest thing I've read this political season. Lemme try and boil down the essentials to explain what's happening right now regarding the mayor's office.

Our current mayor, Gavin Newsom, is trying to become the state's lieutenant governor in Tuesday's election and his odds look pretty good for capturing that office. If that scenario plays out, and he's soon off to Sacramento, then the Board of Supervisors must choose an interim replacement for mayor.

However, this being San Francisco, and being in un-chartered electoral and municipal territory, it is not quite clear if the current Board of Supervisors, a few of whom are being termed out this year, would decide on the replacement or if the new Board of Supervisors would get the king- or queen-making opportunity.

Once it's agreed which Board will do the choosing, the Supervisors then have to find common ground about who to install in Room 200 at City Hall. That's the mayor's suite overlooking Polk Street and Civic Center.

Now comes the frightening part. San Francisco magazine sees a convoluted series of plays and deals that could put Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in at Room 200. That scream you just heard was this queen reacting in horror to such a possibility. I say no to Pelosi as our mayor! The last thing our great city needs now is Pelosi giving up her Congressional seat and returning home to rule as mayor.

Conservatives will be shocked to learn that in her backyard, Pelosi is not widely viewed as truly representing our core liberal to progressive values. She's all sizzle and no steak on pro-peace politics, gay rights, ending the AIDS drug waiting list crisis, preserving the environment and other important local concerns. Pelosi is from San Francisco, but her real constituency has been her more rightwing House colleagues.

To help us all get a handle on the complex process that will start if Newsom becomes lieutenant governor, the magazine has created a flow chart to explain some plausible scenarios. Check out the piece and all of the chart's slides here. In order to whet your appetite, I'm posting the final slide, which illustrates Pelosi winning the mayor's office. She's the visage on the bottom right hand side, outside the also-rans column:


9 comments:

Nikita Cat said...

My Human says that it

"Couldn't happen to a nicer town, if you ask me!"

He explains himself this way:

"Not that I have anything against that fair city, you must understand!

I hear San Francisco is a real Treat!

Especially for lifelong Bicyclists such as me, and I've always wanted to check out the Bridge, among other places." ;-D

Anonymous said...

That scenario also depends on Pelosi being willing enough to take responsibility, should her party lose its majority in the House, to do as former Speakers have done in the recent past and leave Congress.

I'm not sure I could see her doing that. Denial is strong in that one.

Akatsukami said...

In The Godfather, Bonasera says to Don Corleone of the punks who beat up his daughter, "Let then suffer, then, as she suffers".

You have inflicted Pelosi on us for years. Now suffer, as we have suffered.

Anonymous said...

Is San Francisco such a communist republic that the people don't vote on important things like mayor, interim or otherwise?

Anonymous said...

"...her real constituency has been her more rightwing House colleagues..."

Oh, that's rich!
But then, when you're standing to the left of Lenin, Joe Stalin looks like a Right-Winger.

paul a'barge said...

Ah San Francisco. Home of the Folsom Street Fair and the Gay Pride Parades, as captured in photos published on the Zombie Time blog (use Google).

Truly deserving of Nancy Pelosi.

Anonymous said...

SF deserves Pelosi. Do what you want with her, but she's been inflicted on the nation for far too long.

The rest of us in the intelligent 49 states (yes, there are only 50, not 57!) deserve a promise that under no account, NO ACCOUNT, will we ever bail out CA.

Carry on.

el polacko said...

@paula'barge: cities and towns across the country (and around the world) host annual pride events...so, other than an opportunity to express your bigotry, what exactly is your point??
that said, please baby jeebus, keep pelosi out of san fran !

Anonymous said...

This is the Hope & Change for San Francisco the we can all believe in.