2,001 District 8 Voters Can't be Wrong!

The San Francisco Department of Elections continues to count vote-by-mail and other ballots from the November 4th election and yesterday's daily update contained excellent news for my DIY Democracy campaign for Supervisor.

Thanks to District 8 voters, my vote tally now stands at 2,001 and it feels good to break the 2,000 mark, and to remain in second place.

Additionally, the number of votes for all four challengers to the incumbent is 6,535 and is a robust figure. Let's look at other D8 stats from the department for the election.

There are 53,781 registered voters in the district, of which 29,361 cast ballots and 24,420 didn't bother to vote last week.

The incumbent has thus far received 22,924 votes, but if when you combine the number (24,240) of folks who didn't vote and the 6,535 figure of the votes for us challengers, the total is 30,955.

In other words, the incumbent was reelected with less than half of registered voters casting ballots.

By the way, in the 2010 race for D8 Supervisor, the fourth-placed candidate was Bill Hemenger who is a business executive and quit his job at Oracle to run for office. His vote total was 1,802, which is nothing to sneeze at given his low-wattage name.

Needless to say, I think it's interesting to note I received more votes this year than Hemenger did in 2010.

Again, much gratitude to all who voted for me or in any way supported my alternative candidacy.

Gay HIV Org's CFO Fired After 5 DUI Arrests

(Image courtesy of PGN featuring Chaban's profile photo.)

Kudos to Philadelphia Gay News and editor Jen Colletta for her recently article about the troubles of an executive at a local gay health agency with a strong focus on HIV services. 

There needs to be much watchdogging of all Gay Inc and AIDS Inc nonprofits and we really can't have an over-abundance of scrutiny by the LGBT media, individual bloggers and donors, not to mention state attorneys general.

From Colletta's story, which ran on October 9:

Mazzoni Center has fired its chief financial officer after he was arrested multiple times in the last 10 months on DUI and drug charges. Nicholas Chaban, CFO of the LGBT health facility for nine years, was arrested five times in Montgomery County since December, including two consecutive days in July. 

After the fifth arrest last month, a judge revoked bail on his previous cases, and he has been in Montgomery County Prison since Sept. 24. A court source said Chaban, of Roxborough, asked that he delay reporting to prison until Oct. 6 because of work obligations, but the judge denied that request. 

Mazzoni Center executive director Nurit Shein confirmed Chaban was recently terminated, but declined to say when or provide any specifics, citing personnel policies. [...] 

According to financial records, Chaban’s salary at the end of 2012 was $121,448, an $11,000 increase over the previous year. The organization reported income of $10.2 million in 2012, with net assets of $3.2 million.

One piece of constructive criticism for Colletta. Would have been great if she clearly spelled out that the salary and budget info came from Mazzoni Center's IRS 990 tax reports and that the nonprofit does not make the 990s available for public inspection on their Annual Reports page.

You can read the three most recent IRS 990s from the Mazzoni Center here at the GuideStar site.

Armistead Maupin, Scott Wiener & Me on Castro Street 
By Michael Petrelis
 

While out campaigning on Castro Street near Walgreens at approximately 3:30 pm on Saturday, October 11, I ran into "Tales of The City" author Armistead Maupin with whom I am acquainted because of my decades of HIV and LGBT activism.

When I asked for his endorsement in the District 8 race for Supervisor, Armistead said his policy is not to endorse any candidate.

But when I requested a photo of us together, he readily agreed to pose for my camera and we stopped a young woman walking by to snap a picture of us two happy homosexuals.

Barely a minute after we checked the images on my camera, none other than the incumbent, Scott Wiener, came striding up Castro Street and for perhaps two or three seconds we looked at each other.

He kept on walking up toward Market Street, Armistead and I finished our conversation, and I resumed campaigning giving out cards and buttons.

You never know who will cross your path when you're on the streets of District 8 soliciting votes and pushing visibility for the #VotePetrelis effort!

Milk Club: Yes to Pies & No Debates
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

There's no argument that Harvey Milk passionately believed in debating challengers such as homo-hater John Briggs, and was known for offering his endorsement or taking a stand during an election season.

The #VotePetrelis team wishes the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club lived up to those ideals of his this fall, but leaders of the club have opted to not hold any debates in the District 8 Supervisor's race while taking the no endorsement route.

Does anyone really believe Harvey, during a time of great displacement and gentrification and evictions and after four years of complaining about the incumbent, would not engage District 8 voters with debates and at least nudge voters unhappy with the status quo to vote for the best protest candidate?

This week, we received an invitation from the Milk Club's director of events and fundraising, Steven Torres, to help the club at last Sunday's Castro Street Fair:

"In light of the state's desperate water crisis, however, we thought that Harvey might agree that a dunk tank, although fun, wouldn't be responsible or sensitive choice. Instead, we thought he might enjoy our back-up plan which is a pie throwing booth, since he himself, was so fond of getting pied, not to mention throwing them. We are lining up a pretty decent cast to take the hot seat this year and would be so grateful and honored if, like Harvey, you took it on the chin with a pie tin."

If the club had multiple ways of engaging candidates with voters from the serious to the silly, we might be interested in this pie toss. However, given their apathy about District 8 debates and no endorsement position in the Supervisor contest, we're declining this invitation.

By the way, the New York Times offered no endorsement in the Empire State's governor's race, but the paper still urged voters to use their votes for change:

"Those who want to register their disappointment with Mr. Cuomo's record on changing the culture of Albany may well decide that the best way to do that is to vote for Ms. Teachout, Despite our reservations about her, that impulse could send a powerful message."

Might Milk Club leaders, in the month left before the election, follow the lead of the Times, and push folks to use their votes as a form of protest? Would be nice.

Here's a screen-grab from the movie "Milk" with Sean Penn on the right as Harvey, during a debate scene over the Prop 6 Briggs Initiative, just to remind us all of the power of debates and how vital they are to democracy.

Oct 6 Vigil to Mark 'Castro Sweep's' 25th Anniversary
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis
(Cross-posted from the ‪#‎VotePetrelis‬ campaign site.)

In the annals of bloody misconduct by members of the San Francisco Police Department, the events of October 6, 1989, and the Castro Sweep ranks high on anyone's list.

It was a national day of protest organized by people with HIV/AIDS and our allies for access to drugs and more government funding, and before the night was over the SFPD had harmed and bloodied many LGBT and poz people with dozens arrested.

For a short and comprehensive look back at what transpired during the Castro Sweep exactly 25 years ago, check out this page with eyewitness accounts, photographs and a video: tinyurl.com/Castro-Sweep-25-years-ago.

Here's how the #VotePetrelis team will commemorate the important 25th anniversary of the Castro Sweep:

WHAT: Vigil & Speakout
WHEN: Monday, October 6th
TIME: 6 pm to 7 pm
WHERE: Castro & 18th Streets

We'll be out that night to remind everyone of contemporary concerns such as the fatal shooting of Alex Nieto by the SFPD, the gentrification of District 8 and eviction epidemic, lack of affordable housing for low income people and artists, the dwindling diversity of the Castro, harassment of homeless and poor people, and the negative impacts of Google buses clogging our streets

The Castro Sweep was big news among gay and AIDS activists, and to assist the survivors of the police assaults with their legal and medical bills, tee shirts were marketed reading:

"My domestic partner went to the Castro, and all I got was this bloody t-shirt. Night of Resistance, October 6, 1989."

This photo and activist apparel courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society.

#VotePetrelis & Campos for Assembly Signs Blend Well 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Our union-made window signs arrived this week and we've begun distributing them to friends and supporters in District 8, and we'll arrange to get you one if you contact us.

Our addy is Petrelis4Sup2014@aol.com and the phone number is 415-621-6267. We've also amended out hashtag to a much more direct message and it's now: #VotePetrelis. Please share it via your social media.

The Inkworks Press of Berkeley produced a 11"x17" vertical version and one that is 17"x11" with a horizontal design, both at a very affordable rate and with quick turnaround too.

As many of you know, we're not crazy about Supervisor David Campos and we won't get into the reason why here, but we won't be taking the no endorsement route in the Assembly District 17 race simply because he's not delivered on many issues of deep concern to us.

We find Supervisor David Chiu to be a candidate too beholden to Mayor Ed Lee and big development interests, with very mediocre progressive credentials and accomplishments.

Campos will get our vote this election season and we're displaying his campaign signs under ours in our home windows. Frankly, we think the signs blend very well together.

#BREAKING: Zuckerberg's SF Home to Receive LGBT Letter
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Members of the #ILikeMikeSF team on Thursday, Sept. 18th at 12 noon will hand-deliver a letter of protest to the Dolores Heights home of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

We are upset that the social media monopoly, after meeting with San Francisco drag queen icons as part of the #MyNameIs effort, still refuses to change its policy regarding use of stage names and pseudonyms on users' personal pages for whatever reason.

Here's the social media monopoly's stated policy:

“[FB requires] everyone to provide their real names, so you always know who you’re connecting with. This helps keep our community safe.”

We are not divulging the address of where Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan live, and the letter-delivery is not a protest.

Zuckerberg's mansion was the subject of a Sept. 2013 San Francisco Chronicle story and was photographed by reporter Andy Ross, who paid a visit to the home (tinyurl.com/SFChron-At-Zuckerberg-Mansion).

District 8 candidate Michael will hand-deliver the letter wearing his rainbow burqa and as his drag princess persona "Burqa Boy".

Follow the Rubles: HRC & LGBT Russian Groups 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Recently, gay researcher and writer Brian M. Heiss wrote to remind us that it's been just over a year since American LGBT activists and organizations got angry and in the streets to protest anti-gay laws in Russia, and to commence a number of fundraising efforts.

You may wonder what this and our recent posts about the Human Rights Campaign have to do with our District 8 Supervisor race, and the response is we're writing these posts on our campaign site to show how we deliver accountability at the national and international level.

We've excepted from Brian's email to bring you his key points and questions. All of the groups mentioned, along with Russian gay organizations, will be made aware of these questions and if we hear from them, we'll share their responses. Brian writes:

June 30, 2014 marked one year since the Russian Federation anti-gay legislation banning the "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors" became enacted as law. However July 21, 2014 marks the first anniversary of Harvey Fierstein's NY Times Op-Ed titled "Russia's Anti-Gay Crackdown" (tinyurl.com/NYT-Fierstein-Gay-Russia).

With the one year anniversary of America's gaining awareness of Russia’s anti-gay law, I thought it might be appropriate to revisit the impact that the collective efforts here in the US had to help make a difference in the lives of our LGBT brothers and sisters in the Russian Federation. No one has been more effective and dedicated than you, Michael, in pushing for accountability and transparency by the US-based groups who solicited donations from our community with the promise that our donations would directly support Russian Federation-based LGBT organizations and individuals.

Aside from issuing press releases on the first anniversary of the enactment of the Russian Federation anti-gay law (tinyurl.com/HRC-One-Year-Gay-Russia); it seems that the organizations, so quick to solicit donations for the LGBT communities in the Russian Federation, have largely forgotten about the fight for equality in Russia since the closing ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics.

I prepared the material below in hopes that you might reach out to your contacts to hopefully gain answers to these important questions:

1) HRC and Arcus Foundation:
HRC and Arcus Foundation together formed the Russia Freedom Fund (www.russiafreedomfund.org).

Q: How were the groups able to circumvent the Russian Federation’s Foreign Agent Law and fulfill the promise to supporting local Russian Federation-based organizations that have been effective at combating discrimination and violence?

2) HRC:
HRC's December 19, 2013, press release states it was the “first contribution to the Russia Freedom Fund in the amount of $100,000” from the funds raised by the “Love Conquers Hate” campaign (tinyurl.com/HRC-100K-Gay-Russia).

Q: Has HRC and the Arcus Foundation made additional contributions to the Russia Freedom Fund? If so, in what amount(s) and when?
Q: What are the total net proceeds from the sale of the “Love Conquers Hate” t-shirt?
Q: How much money was raised by donations to the “Love Conquers Hate” campaign excluding net proceeds from the sales of the t-shirts?

3) Russia Freedom Fund:
In an email to Michael Petrelis on January 24, 2014, regarding transparency and accountability related to HRC’s $100,000 donation to the Russia Freedom Fund, Julie Dorf from The Council for Global Equality wrote: “The specifics of how money will be disseminated will not be made public for the safety of the recipients” (tinyurl.com/Dorf-Petrelis-HRC-100K).

Q: Without identifying specific Russian-based LGBT organizations that have received funds from the Russia Freedom Fund, might Dorf be so kind as to provide examples of how financial assistance from the Russia Freedom Fund has empowered or impacted Russian Federation-based LGBT organizations or helped move the needle toward equality in the Russian Federation?

4) Principle 6 Campaign: American Apparel, AllOut & Athlete Ally:
On December 2, 2013, AllOut and Athlete Ally announce that they have partnered with American Apparel on the "Principle 6 Campaign" (tinyurl.com/AthleteAlly-AllOut-AmApparel), a clothing line highlighting the non-discrimination clause of the Olympic Charter [and] “majority of the proceeds from the sale of clothing will go support the Principle 6 campaign and directly to lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) advocacy groups in Russia fighting discrimination and anti-gay laws.”

Regarding [the proceeds], in late January 2014, Wesley Adams of AllOut shared with Petrelis this info: “Closer to Sochi, we'll be making an announcement about how much money we'll be donating to LGBT groups in Russia from the sale of Principle 6 apparel" (tinyurl.com/AllOut-Petrelis-Accountability). No announcement was made prior to or during [Sochi and questions remain]:

Q: How much money was raised through the sale of Principle 6 apparel?
Q: If so, what LGBT groups in the Russian Federation received funds from the Principle 6 Campaign?
Q: If you do not wish to identify the specific groups, might you please share the amount of money to date that the Principle 6 Campaign has donated to LGBT groups in the Russian Federation?

Follow Us & Our Fab Fotos on Twitter
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Since Facebook does not allow for more than one photo to be shared in each post, and we're not crazy about their album function, we're used our Twitter feed to showcase various friends, voters and supporters posing with our #ILikeMikeSF sign

If you don't follow us at https://twitter.com/MichaelPetrelis, please cruise on over there now and start following us.

Even if you choose not follow us, check out our feed's great collection of fabulous folks demonstrating their backing of our alternative candidacy.

The feed is also where we opine about non-campaign issues from our unique activist perspective.

When you tweet about our campaign or the photos, please be sure to tag everything with the #ILikeMikeSF and let's light up Twitter with awareness for our candidacy.

Here's our good pal Larry, we go back to our New Yawk days together in the 1980s, striking a pose and showing a smile while holding up our sign.

Fun-Raiser Brings in Bucks & Support

By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis
(Cross-posted to our campaign site.)

Our deep gratitude goes out to all of the voters, neighbors and donors who stopped by our soft fundraiser on Friday at Michael Colter and Wendy Mogg's Sweet Inspiration Cafe in the Castro.

A lovely spread of sweet and savory nibbles was laid out for folks to eat, and non-alcoholic punch was on tap to drink, as folks schmoozed and offered words of encouragement for our candidacy.

On the wall-mounted monitor, dozens of photos from our Twitter feed, twitter.com/MichaelPetrelis, were rotated showing the diverse coalition of people who have graciously posed with our #ILikeMikeSF sign and smiled for the camera.

Among the notables who made appearances were marijuana and disability advocate Mira Ingram, political pundit Patrick Connors who tweets as @UppityFag, Roy MacKenzie who operates the CastroBiscuit.com blog, Debbie Shargel from the Immune Enhancement Project, our hostess Veronika Fimbres, the LGBT liaison for Stoli Patrik Gallineaux, body freedom activist Rusty Mills, longtime community photographer Bill Wilson brought along his handsome hubby Fernando Orlandi, longterm AIDS survivor Bob Bowers alias @OneToughPirate, lesbian advocate Jane Lloyd and many others.

We made just over $300 in profit and people who weren't able to attend but still wanted to donate have pledged a subtotal of $200, that is promised to arrive in the form of checks to our post office box in the coming week.

Special thanks goes out to Michael's life-mate and sweetie Mike Merrigan for providing beaucoup amounts of behind-the-scenes assistance and serving as our treasurer.

Check out the photos snapped by Bill Wilson, tinyurl.com/ILikeMikeSF-Fundraiser-Fotos, and please share them on your social media tagged #ILikeMikeSF. Here are trans advocate Veronika Fimbres and Stoli's liaison to the LGBT community Patrik Gallineaux striking poses with our candidate.

D8 Writer Mark Abramson Endorses Our Candidacy
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis
(Cross-posted from our campaign site.)

It's a treat to announce we received an endorsement this week from longtime District 8 resident, voter and writer Mark Abramson. As a gay man, he lived through the worst years of the AIDS epidemic working as a bartender and sharing his humor and smile with many appreciative patrons.

Mark wrote the new book "For My Brothers" about those plague years and also authored the widely-read Beach Reading "Beach Reading" mysteries that take place in the contemporary Castro gayborhood. Here's Mark's statement of support:

"I want to go on record as endorsing Michael Petrelis for the office of Supervisor of San Francisco's District 8. As a resident of the Castro for most of my nearly four decades in San Francisco, I believe it is high time that our neighborhood is once again represented by a progressive in the mold of Harvey Milk or Bevan Dufty.

"Michael Petrelis is not afraid to fight for, among other things: (1) seniors and members of the LGBT community, many of whom are facing profit-driven evictions; (2) an increase in access to public officials; (3) improvement in transit reliability; (4) reclaiming public plazas for all citizens; (5) the needs of the residents over the needs of downtown, developers and real estate tycoons.

"Please join me in voting for Michael Petrelis on November 4 and make a donation today if you can."

Thank you, Mark, for lending your name to our list of endorsers and supporting the #ILikeMikeSF team!

This is where you can find him online: https://www.facebook.com/mark.abramson.12?fref=ufi. Here's a great photo of Mark that was taken by David K. Bruner:

Appeal to NYT's Nagourney to Cover Gay Criticism of HRC; His Reply

Today I called Adam Nagourney and left him a message, a pitch that he write an article about the swirling, increasing and certainly valid questions being raised the past few weeks related to the Human Rights Campaign. Also sent him an email pitch, which he replied to, with a brief note.

It's worth my time, and yours, if you're so inclined to call reporters and editors, and pitch them this idea: Report on the rising gay voices, from the blogosphere to gay newspapers, over HRC.

I hope you'll also contact NYT staffers and push them to cover the controversies hitting HRC, its leadership and the group's agenda for 2007.

My email exchange with Adam:

hi adam,

hope you'll get interested in a story about the critical mass of concern being expressed by diverse parts of the gay community about the performance of HRC these days.

as we see the vote 2008 race unfolding, and queer issues like ann coulter calling edwards a faggot coming up, not to mention longstanding gay matters in congress and nationally, and HRC's inability to forcefully advocate for gays over the DNC, growing numbers of gays raise our voices, wondering why HRC is so lame.

i'll send you some link about recent criticism of HRC and ask that even if you aren't interested in such a story on them, maybe you can point me to someone else at the NYT bureau in DC to pitch this idea to.

thanks.

best,

michael

In a message dated 3/3/2007 3:31:09 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, adamnag@nytimes.com writes:

Hey michael. Got your message. I'm pretty busy now so don't have time to write about HRC but ill ask around. Thanks for thinking of us


-----Original Message-----
From: MPetrelis@aol.com
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 16:34:55
To:anagourney@nytimes.com
Subject: Two great Chris Crain posts on HRC; Bay Times letter: HRC & dog show?

hi adam,

thanks for getting back to me and promising to ask around the NYT and see if there is someone else interested in reporting on the ever-mounting and valid criticism of HRC. i'm going to make a few calls and send emails to your colleagues sheryl gay stohlberg and jeff zeleny, and the new DC chief dean baquet. i gotta push more people at NYT to realize there's a story here.

best,

michael

[Update: Heard back from Adam this evening and sent him a reply.]

In a message dated 3/3/2007 5:29:39 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, adamnag@nytimes.com writes:

Michael:

There is no better way to make sure that I DON”T respond than a pressure campaign like this.

I told you I was going to find someone to see if they were interested in doing it. This was unnecessary.

Adam:

What kind of campaigner would I be if I _didn't_ blog about my interaction with you, and encourage readers to get better gay political coverage from the NYT?

Frankly, I don't know what kind of pressure you think I can muster, given that I'm a lone blogger, just trying to get some damn accountability from the mainstream press about the critical mass of questioning reached on HRC weeks ago.

You probably get more pressure from HRC, or all the presidential candidates and their campaigns, than from me.

Why the NYT has not ALREADY written on the widening schism and deepening questions over the Human Rights Campaign is of real concern to me and I wanted my readers to know what I was up to, in terms of trying to get your paper to write an article.

I consider this exchange with you very much a part of my commitment to transparent media activism.

Frankly, seeing how no mainstream reporter, either at the NYT or elsewhere, has seen fit to write about the mountain of concern over the nation's largest gay group, really reminds me how queer blogs and gay newspapers are a vital force necessary to keeping the gay community informed, not to mention holding HRC accountable.

Regards,

Michael

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