Which SF Sup. Had the Most Meetings With Uber Lobbyists in 2014?

In addition to following the money, good watchdogging also demands paying close attention to the professional lobbyists hired by corporations to influence politicians and legislation at San Francisco's City Hall.

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Public records at the Ethics Commission reveal that Supervisor Scott Wiener and his aide Andres Power received the most visits from Uber's lobbyists this year. There were five meetings with Boe Hayward, who began his lobbying career about five minutes after he stopped working for Sup. Bevan Dufty in 2011, and one meeting with Patty-Jo Rutland.

All five of Hayward's meetings with Wiener's aide were about opposing rideshare regulations.

Uber paid the Goodyear Peter Hayward and Associates firm $30,000 so far this year, and Rutland and her consulting company received $32,500, bringing Uber's total lobbying fees for City Hall purposes to $62,000.

Sure would be great to know what was discussed at all of these meetings Uber held with our elected officials.

Fire Chief & Wiener Got How Many $600 Comp Tix?

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San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White is the City's second highest paid public employee according to public records, taking home a robust pay and benefits package totaling $422,353 last year for her services and expertise. She's not hurting for money with that kind of compensation.

District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, like all members of the Board of Supervisors, received a compensation package of $154,719 in 2013. He's hardly scrapping by to pay the rent, as far as I know.

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Why are these public officials receiving free tickets to the three-days of Outside Lands concerts through Recreation and Parks Department, when they clearly can afford to purchase them with their own funds?

Wiener received three $595 tickets totaling $1,785 and Hayes-White two tickets costing $1,190. The concerts were held in Golden Gate Park from August 8 through August 10.

For Wiener, who holds sway over the Recreation and Parks Department's annual budget, I believe it's not ethical to accept any freebies from the department.

In Hayes-White's case, she has no power over the department with a yearly paycheck well over $400,000, she should buy her own tickets.

The alleged public purpose of the comps is explained as "increasing public exposure to, and awareness of. the recreation, cultural and educational facilities available to the public in the City" and "gathering public input on City facilities and spaces".

Translation? Our public leaders like to enjoy their entitlement and privilege on the taxpayer's dime and both Hayes-White and Wiener took advantage of the perks available to them, feeding themselves at the trough.



Last night, Thursday, November 13, I attended the San Francisco fire commission's meeting to again demand the $86 million fire department immediately begin meeting at City Hall and airing their meetings on SF GovTV.

The July 10 commission minutes reveal lame excuses from Hayes-White about the expense of installing television equipment in the auditorium at the department's headquarters on Second Street and that's it's easier for her commanders to meet there instead of City Hall, taxpayers be damned. I used the minutes to argue for respecting taxpayers and putting the meeting on City media platforms.

The fire chief and her department needs lot more watchdogging and it may take action from the Board of Supervisors to bring this commission into the modern tech age and taking full advantage of TV and web streaming and video-on-demand, to better serve the general public.

Which Supes Got Airbnb Executives' Donations?
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Following the money of Airbnb executives for the current election season as listed at the San Francisco Ethics Commission web site led us to some unsurprising info. All of these contributions from the executives were made in 2014.

Varsha Rao gave Supervisor Mark Farrell $500; Stephen Conley donated $500 to Assessor Carmen Chu, $500 to Supervisor Katy Tang, $500 to Supervisor Malia Cohen; Jeffrey Nanney contributed $500 to Supervisor Scott Wiener; and David Owen gave $100 to Chu.

Airbnb Inc contributed $2,500 to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, which is the home club for Wiener.

All of the Supervisors who received donations from the Airbnb leaders voted in the majority last week legalizing short-term stays in private homes and apartments, and absolving Airbnb of having to pay about $25 million in back taxes.

The legislation was signed by Mayor Ed Lee yesterday, as affordable housing advocates built an alter honoring all the displaced and evicted renters and small businesses over the past few years of the tech boom disfiguring San Francisco.

We're just saying it's rather curious four of the Supervisors who voted for legislation with very favorable terms for this tech firm also received the maximum amount allowed by local law for donations from individuals.

Pissed off about this sort of stuff? Then #VotePetrelis!

Wiener Accepted Gilead's Medical Affairs VP's Donation 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Last month, District 8 incumbent Supervisor Scott Wiener generated lots of media attention after disclosing he's taking Truvada as part of a PrEP regimen to avert contracting HIV.

The disclosure was made in advance of a hearing he and Supervisor David Campos held at City Hall, looking at a supplemental budget allocation to the Department of Public Health in order to investigate educational and cost issues related to Truvada for use for pre-exposure prophylaxis reasons.

We wondered why these gay Supervisors waited more than two-years since the FDA approved Truvada for prevention purposes and how many sexually-transmitted HIV infections occurred in San Francisco in this period that could have been averted if the at-risk individuals had access to PrEP.

A story in the Bay Area Reporter by longtime LGBT health writer Liz Highleyman on the hearing generated a comment from John Steen asking if either Supervisor had received donations from Gilead. Steen seems unaware that such info is a few clicks away.

The SF Ethics Commission's contributions search engine (http://tinyurl.com/SF-Ethics-search-engine),shows that Wiener in 2010 during his first run for Supervisor, received $125 from Hans Reiser who is Gilead's vice president for medical affairs.

We seriously doubt that donation played any role in Wiener pushing for the DPH to receive the Truvada educational allocation, but in the interests of providing transparency between the incumbent and Gilead we're sharing the info since it was omitted from the tremendous coverage last month.