HRC Forced to Open Griffin's 
2 SF Events on Sunday Morning

Yesterday I blogged about an anonymous tip I received stating the new head of HRC was coming to San Francisco and that he had no plans to hold open events. I said this sounded like the same old, same old elitist nonsense we got for seven years under Joe Solmonese.

Today Seth Hemmelgarn asked me to opine about a release from HRC, all of a sudden on a late Friday afternoon, the time when bad news or something you don't want to garner much attention, announcing there will be two events with Chad Griffin on Sunday. Seems pretty reactive to me, and while I may feel good about playing a role in bringing this small bit of transparency to bear on Griffin and HRC, I'm not hopeful that he has a genuine understanding of democratic engagement, that is willing entered into.

Let me spank HRC for waiting this late in the game to share the info on the Sunday events, because they're not giving folks nearly enough time to attend, and also the events are no substitute for town hall meetings. I look forward to speaking with Griffin on Sunday.

Here's part of HRC's release:

Chad Griffin, the new president of the Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – will kick off his tenure with a visit to the HRC Action Center & Store at the site of the historic Castro Camera on Sunday, June 10, 2012 before heading to the Harvey Milk Academy for a community gathering. [...]

The visit and community gathering will raise awareness of issues facing LGBT youth in California and across the country. HRC recently released a new groundbreaking study of LGBT youth and their straight counterparts. 

Visit to HRC Action Center & Store at site of historic Castro Camera Sunday, June 10, 10:00 a.m. HRC Action Center & Store, 575 Castro Street, San Francisco [...] Camera Community Gathering at Harvey Milk Academy Sunday, June 10, 10:15 a.m. Harvey Milk Academy, 4235 19th Street, San Francisco.

PFA Screens Two Greenaway Films;
SF Film Society & 'The Wages of Fear'




The film choices around the Bay Area in the next week include two films by British director and provocateur Peter Greenaway at the Pacific Film Archive on the UC Berkeley campus. From the program notes:

In 2006, he undertook to extend his dialogue between the language of cinema and that of painting through an ambitious project of video installations entitled [...] Greenaway first turned his attention to Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (1642), and, in addition to a video installation, created two films exploring the Dutch master’s most famous painting. You’ll want to take note of Greenaway’s speculative art history lessons. He elucidates the puzzles and mysteries embedded in the painting and its enigmatic iconography with wit and intelligence.

The PFA is showing "Rembrandt's J'Accuse" tonight at 7 p.m. and "Nightwatching" on Saturday at 6 p.m. Having seen a number of his other films and enjoyed them immensely for their visual lushness, and assorted provocations, I'm looking forward to catching these works that are new to me. Regardless of their narratives, they won't be boring and will contain many incredibly composed scenes pleasing to the eye.

When the PFA showed Greenaway's most popular and accessible film "The Draughtsman's Contract" about two-years ago, the screening almost sold-out, so expect a full house at both screenings this weekend. Click here for more info, including how to buy tickets.



Here in the city, the San Francisco Film Society Cinema begins a one-week engagement of the restored print of the 1953 French classic "The Wages of Fear", written and directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot that is a fantastic thriller in glorious black and white.

Four male ex-pat adventurers in South American sign on for a well-paying suicide mission, to drive a cargo of nitroglycerine across treacherous roads to douse an oil well explosion. Distrust, greed and lust rear their ugly heads in the course of the adventure and Clouzot keeps the action moving smoothly forward toward a satisfying climax.

I've seen it only once, back in the day at New York's old Thalia Theatre, and the print was decent enough, and the two things I remember the most are the expert editing and the performance by the director's wife Vera Clouzot, playing a local waitress. The restored print showings should not be missed, especially if you've never seen "The Wages of Fear".

You can see it starting today through June 14. Click here for screening times and ticket info.

HRC's Chad Griffin Visits SF &
No Public Events on his Schedule?

(HRC's new executive director Chad Griffin, receives kisses from Prop 8 lawsuit plaintiffs Sandi Stier and Kris Perry. Photo snapped by Karen Ocamb of LGBT POV, at Griffin's going away party earlier this week.)

This anonymous note hit my in-box today:

I am just am an anonymous friend who would like you to know, if you do not, that Chad Griffin, the new head of the HRC will be in town this weekend and meeting with others on Sunday.  I had pushed for your inclusion as I think it is important for him to have your point of view, but it seems those around him want to keep him locked off and not even tell the press.  Disappointing.  From what I know of the man he would definitely want to hear what you have to say.

Not sure how much stock to put in this note. For what it's worth, HRC's page for California lists no public events with Griffin and the Bay Area Reporter shares nothing about him coming to town this weekend. I believe the note was generated in response to my remarks to the Washington Blade's White House reporter Chris Johnson today about Griffin taking the helm at the Human Rights Campaign:

Michael Petrelis, a gay San Francisco-based blogger who has criticized HRC, was skeptical of any change and remained critical of HRC, calling the organization “an elitist social network known more for opening LGBT checkbooks for Democrats” than being interested in engaging with the larger LGBT community.

Among the goals that Petrelis called on Griffin to pursue at HRC were his plan for regional town halls, transparency over board of directors meetings and decisions, greater engagement with grassroots activists and ordinary LGBT people as well as a “commitment to members of the community who don’t want to get married or join the military.”

“The DNA of HRC is not wired to allow one man to change the institutional culture and I’ve heard nothing from Chad indicating that he wants to reform the organization,” Petrelis said. “All I expect of HRC regardless of who the executive leadership team comprises, is fealty to the Democratic Party and a commitment to keep the community from getting too pushy and uppity in demanding fierce advocacy and lasting change from our friends.”

My interactions with Griffin every time we saw each other in San Francisco, and via email, have always been friendly and respectful, however, I do have to recognize a serious fault in how he engages with the community. I'm not aware of him holding open community forums about the Prop 8 lawsuit and larger accountability concerns during his tenure as leader of the American Foundation for Equal Rights. 

If I'm wrong and he's held such forums, please let me know where and when they occurred, and I'll be happy to run a correction. And if he has, then let's hear how he plans to continue democratic grassroots with LGBT folks who don't attend HRC galas.

Los Angeles reporter Karen Ocamb shared photos this week of a cocktail reception held at director Rob Reiner's Hollywood home, to wish Griffin bon voyage and ain't no use in squawking about the new HRC head marking a new chapter in his life with friends at a private home.

But that shouldn't be the only sort of engagement for Griffin at this stage of the HRC regime change playing out as Joe Solmonese officially moves over to the Obama campaign, and Griffin takes the reigns. 

If all we're going to get from Griffin in terms of community outreach as he exits California for Washington are invitation-only parties or coming to San Francisco during Pride Month and not holding a free public event, it could signal a continuation of the same old, same old from HRC.

[Apologies for the uneven fonts and sizing, but Blogger been acting up on me tonight.]

SF Sunshine Dims:
Wiener Puppet: 'I Have no Qualifications'


Video streaming by Ustream

Patience with Supervisor Scott Wiener's puppets on the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force was not on my agenda last night at the panel's regular monthly meeting down at City Hall. Before the meeting got underway, in front of at least two-dozen witnesses, I demanded from newly-appointed Todd David that he state his qualifications for having a seat on the SOTF.

David said, "I have no qualifications." He also stated that nothing he could say would please me. Not true, he could announce his resignation before his first SOTF even started and that would very much please my sunshine heart.

As more SOTF members and members of the public came into the hearing room, I told them about David's quote that he lacked qualifications to serve on this important panel.

I stayed for almost three-hours of the meeting and was sickened to see motions made to install spanking new appointees with no previous service on the SOTF or interactions with it prior to showing up last night, to be the chair and vice chair. What a flagrant insult to the SOTF, attempting to stack the two top positions with folks bereft of institutional knowledge.

On top of that, not one of the Wiener puppets bothered to prepare a one-page written statement for the public, explaining their sunshine experience or why they're supposedly qualified to serve on the panel.

For most of the time I was present, the room contained at least 30 folks deeply concerned about Wiener's evisceration of the old SOTF membership and his continuing efforts to seriously dilute sunshine regulations. I met the half-dozen African-American folks from the Bay View district who've been trying for a solid year to obtain SF Police Department and SF Muni tapes of their relative being shot and killed by the cops on a transit platform.

Listening to the relatives of Kenneth Harding Jr. explain their attempts to get a copy of the closed circuit security camera tapes and getting stonewalled at every turn by the SFPD and Muni, I was reminded of why we need a strong and independent membership running the SOTF. It takes guts and freedom from the City Family to force these departments to eventually release the public records sought by Harding's family.

Kudos to all the sunshine advocates who spoke up last night and taught the Wiener puppets a lot about good government. The entire proceeding was streamed live by master media wiz Tony De Renzo, who also archived the tape at his SF City Watch site. I've embedded the tape here.

Unfortunately, even though SOTF meetings are held at City Hall, the Supervisors have made no provisions to broadcast them on the city government's public access cable channel or its web site. What does that tell you about the commitment of transparency by the Supervisors?

San Francisco's sunshine principles may be dimming right now, but the fight to retain and expand what open government laws we currently have is just beginning.

Haiti's LGBT Kouraj
Releases Inspiring IDAHO Video



This morning, I heard from Vincent Reybet-Degat who is active with the newly-formed gay group Kouraj based in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I blogged recently about Kouraj and their participation in the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia actions on May 17.

Since learning about Kouraj and their advocacy, I've been communicating with them requesting more photos from their IDAHO action because the two photos I located online whetted my appetite for more images. On behalf of Gays Without Borders here in San Francisco, I want to bring more attention to this Haitian group to my local colleagues.

I'm so happy to report that Vincent sent a link to Kouraj's inspiring video of the conference held in Port-au-Prince on May 17, where courageous LGBT people publicly declared themselves out, proud and ready to push for respect and love.

Much gratitude for also translating the Creole speakers' comments with subtitles. Click here to visit the English-language pages of the Kouraj site.

A big shout-out of admiration and solidarity to Vincent and all members and supporters of Kouraj. Keep up the terrific work!

Wiener's Sunshine Puppets Begin Tenure;
Guardian Defends Dorsey Endorsement

He may officially represent District 8 constituents, which now includes Mike and I due to redistricting, but make no mistake about Supervisor Scott Wiener carrying the various agenda items of downtown business interests and remnants of the Willie Brown machine in his work on the Board.

Wiener's got a game plan to undermine and probably eventually do away entirely with the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force and our good government laws requiring much transparency, and he engineered the appointment of two terrible puppets to the task force recently. They are Todd David and David Pilpel and begin their tenure at tomorrow's meeting that starts at 4 pm in Room 408 at City Hall.

Todd David is not known to have basic or historical knowledge of sunshine laws and practices, but has his hitched his political wagon to Bevan Dufty and Wiener and their commitment to Mayor Ed Lee's City Family reigning over boards and commission. Color me wrong if he sides with citizen complainants over the City Family personnel respondents.

The other Wiener puppet, David Pilpel, as on the SOTF before and wasted hours nitpicking over complaints, applicability of sunshine laws and generally voted favorably toward the City Family.

I heard from Steven T. Jones of the Bay Guardian today regarding my kvetching that the paper that touts its sunshine credential ought to rescind their endorsement of City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey for Democratic County Central Committee. Dorsey is out to do away with SOTF in the long run, and when necessary, as he did with sunshine stalwart Kimo Crossman, sling the mud against an opponent to dissuade enforcement of public records laws. Jones wrote:

Matt Dorsey is the spokesperson for the City Attorney's Office and must therefore defend its actions, and we'll be the first to say that department could be stronger on sunshine issues. But that's just one issue, and our endorsement of Dorsey goes far beyond that one issue. Matt is part of the progressive slate created by Sups. John Avalos and David Campos and other progressive leaders, he's someone whose intelligence and values that we've come to know and appreciate over many years, and we stand by our decision to endorse him.

Translation? The Guardian cut its sunshine conscience to suit this year's alleged progressive slate for the DCCC. Oh, and they throw in the names of Avalos and Campos, two Supes who ain't done much that I can see lately about Wiener eviscerating the old SOTF membership.

Memo to Guardian editors: Count me among the folks over progressive electeds retaining seats on the DCCC, a body with questionable influence at the polls, witness their 2010 District 6 and 8 endorsed candidates who lost. Bring in some fresh air to the City Family members and those who wanna be among their ranks who currently control too many levers of power in this town.

It troubles me that the paper continues to give cover to Dorsey's solid opposition to sunshine and will give me pause as sunshine proponents respond to Wiener's assaults on open government regulations.

If you haven't voted in San Francisco today and will do so later, please take a stand favoring good government and rejecting progressive cronyism and backscratching of the Guardian machine - withhold your DCCC vote from Dorsey and Wiener.

Bay City News:
Small Fire at Castro Theatre Last Night

Over at the SF Appeal, from the Bay City News, is a report on a small blaze at the historic and magnificent movie palace:

Firefighters also responded to a one-alarm fire at the Castro Theatre, located at 429 Castro Street. That blaze was reported at 7:38 p.m. and was under control within 20 minutes, the dispatcher said.

Good to know the fire was small and contained very quickly. Let's hope the theatre can still operate and show films while the owner repairs the damage. And remember, the Frameline gay film festival kicks off at the Castro on June 14 and runs through June 23. Program and ticket info are here.

3 SF Supes Take Israeli Junket;
Miss Board Meeting w/o Explanation

Over the weekend, I looked at the San Francisco Ethics Commission's page for gifts of travel disclosures filed by members of the Board of Supervisors. The most recent disclosure filing was from my Supe, Scott Wiener. Thanks to redistricting, the BF and I are incorporated into the District 8 boundaries.

The filing reveals that Wiener, along with colleagues Carmen Chu and Malia Cohen and twenty-five or so other powerbrokers primarily from SF, went on a ten-day junket to Israel leaving on March 15 and returning on March 25. Purpose of the trip? It was a "study tour of Israel organized by the San Francisco Jewish Community" and was funded by the Jewish Community Relations Council. What does the council expect in return from the politicians?

Nice way to get an expenses-paid vacation to Israel, but I wish we knew what the heck was of such critical importance to San Francisco voters that three Supervisors jetted off to Jerusalem for ten-days - at a time when the local economy stinks, the budget's being debated and jobs for the unemployed can't be found.

Question: Did Wiener, Chu and Cohen arrange to not receive their taxpayer-funded salaries for the time spent in Israel, when they were not carrying out city duties?

An answer cannot be found from the minutes of the March 20 full Board meeting that took place while the Supes absent. The first item was a motion from Sean Elsbernd, seconded by David Campos, to excuse their three colleagues from voting, and it passed unanimously by the eight Supes present.

So, the junketeering Supes made no arrangements to have an explanation read into the public record about their absences, and their colleagues went along with keeping the public in the dark.

Wiener, who usually tweets about every opening of a window that he attends, was silent on Twitter about the trip:

During the time spent in Israel, he tweeted once; to announce his latest newsletter was available. Why did he keep mum regarding the trip? The same question needs to be asked of Chu and Cohen.

These Supes need to immediate sunshine their reasons for taking the junket, how it benefited the city, what the Goldman Fund expects in return and if they weren't receiving their city salaries while junketeering.

City Hall: No Idea How Much $$
In SF Mayor's Six Special Funds

A week before Christmas last December the SF Chronicle reported that more than $800,000 was sitting in the Mayor's Homeless Fund and not being spent to provide housing vouchers for homeless families. Turns out that fund was a component of Mayor Ed Lee's outreach for additional donations especially from new media and business titans, according to the paper:

Lee [in November 2011] launched Give2SF.org, an online portal to donate to the city and is focusing on pursuing philanthropy from tech leaders and others to help fill gaps left by diminishing state and federal grants.

Now that everyone was aware of the homeless fund, the mayor's team made promises of accountability to the Chronicle:

Christine Falvey, Lee’s spokeswoman, said that if a certain donation is tagged for a project that needs more funds or intense planning, it may take a while to spend. But that in general, “The funds are going to be monitored, and we’re going to make sure they’re being spent down and given to the communities in need.”

Almost six-months later, I contacted the mayor's team for answers about the six special funds listed at the Give2SF site. It was news to me that in addition to the homeless fund, there were five other funds. I eventually heard from Joan Lubamersky from the General Services Agency, who has oversight of the funds and we had these exchanges:

MP to Lubamersky: Yes, my questions about following the money for those six funds are what I wish to explore. Is there a way to find out what's available for public inspection that does not require a public records request? That's my top concern today and learning more about the city's promise to make some of the donor info open on the web, but as of today is not online. 

Lubamersky to MP: I will provide you a more complete response, hopefully tomorrow. The funds receiving the donations post them on their departmental or program websites. There is no central listing.
 
MP to Lubamerskyu: I've checked the Give2SF page for the six separate funds that are part of Give2SF and wish to point out that three of the funds - disaster recovery, city services preservation, mayor's fund for the homeless - do not have department or programs pages, or, if they do they are not linked to from the GSA page. The three other funds - voluntary arts, neighborhood beautification, recreation and parks - do have links to their departments but at those links there is no info about the donations. This lack of any info from any of the funds or their responsible needs to be addressed by City Hall. I hope you can provide me with some basic answers today about why the promised info cannot be found on various city sites and pages, as we also discuss what documents are kept by the city and open for public inspection regarding the money donated.

Lubamersky to MP:  It is true that some programs do not have websites. We are working on that. My delay in responding to you is partly due to my needing to gather information from the six programs in order to provide you an accurate reply. One response I can provide now, however, is that each department reports to the Board of Supervisors during the first two weeks of July on gifts they receive and on the disposition of those funds.

The mayor and his team have broken the promise of monitoring. Annual disclosing is not sufficient transparency that is needed year-round. I suggest monthly disclosure to the public of amounts received, from whom and how they were dispersed by each of the six funds, and all details should be disclosed on the Give2SF site.

Are any laws being broken here? I don't know and wonder if the City Attorney or the Ethics Commission should be asked to weigh in on this lack of transparency and municipal law. Give2SF's page for FAQs cites this statute mandating disclosure:

SEC. 67.29-6. SOURCES OF OUTSIDE FUNDING.
No official or employee or agent of the City shall accept, allow to be collected, or direct or influence the spending of, any money, or any goods or services worth more than one hundred dollars in aggregate, for the purpose of carrying out or assisting any City function unless the amount and source of all such funds is disclosed as a public record and made available on the website for the department to which the funds are directed.

Mayor Ed Lee owes the public lots of answers about these funds, how they're administered and if he's done any reaching out to tech leaders for contributions to the funds. The answers should be shared this week.

Another Voter Against Dorsey for SF Dem Panel

Patrick Monette-Shaw is a widely respected veteran of many whistleblower, transparency and accountability battles in San Francisco and he has the scars to prove it. He's also someone I'm to call my friend and colleague, and he's also not voting for City Attorney spokesman Matt Dorsey to retain his Democratic County Central Committee seat.

All voters eligible in the DCCC race must understand that a vote for Dorsey equals a vote against good government and responsible accountability over city agencies. Make no mistake about it. Dorsey and his former City Attorney colleague Scott Wiener don't want to amend the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force: they are committed to ending it.

Do not cast a ballot for Dorsey or Wiener, if you give a damn about keeping City Hall honest and transparent.

In response to my post yesterday regarding organizing nine votes against Dorsey in the June 5 election, Patrick sent this note:

I'm your tenth vote against Dorsey, Michael, and I'll encourage 10 of my friends to do the same, and ten of their friends, too. The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force has never been a rogue, lawless jury, as Dorsey wrongly asserted. It doesn't "beat up" on City departments, but it does find that it is a handful of certain City departments that are worse than others, a handful of departments that wrongly withhold public records.

The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force has never tried (knowingly or otherwise) to get any public employee fired. It has tried to keep public officials held accountable for their public decisions. The Task Force has tried to get wayward City departments to adhere to California's Public Records Act (CPRA), and the Sunshine Ordinance, and it has admittedly found at least 35 cases of official misconduct by senior City Family officials and managers.

Dorsey said many City public information officers (PIO's) spend "an extraordinary amount of time and resources complying with the [Sunshine] ordinance." In fact, many PIO's and their respective Departments spend an extraordinary amount of time and resources obstructing compliance with the Sunshine ordinance. Dorsey is an expert at this. Dorsey was making all of this up then — a rogue Task Force beating up on City departments, and City departments obstructing rather than complying with Sunshine requirements — and if he now still stands 100% behind his "then" words, then he's still completely wrong and still making things up.

Like Dorsey, so too is Supervisor Scott "The Tinkerer" Wiener an expert at obstructing Sunshine, since Wiener was previously a Deputy City Attorney, one of Dorsey's co-workers. Dorsey and Wiener are both hell-bent on undermining San Francisco's Sunshine Ordinance. Neither want a truly clean open government, or the Task Force would not have concluded that Wiener and three other currently-sitting City Supervisors had been found to have engaged in "willful failure" to disclose records involving the Park Merced development deal.

I'll be encouraging 10 friends to not only NOT vote for Dorsey and Wiener, I'll recommend they NOT vote for any DCCC candidate who is a currently-sitting or former Supervisor, or for Gabriel Robert Haaland. It's time to get regular Democrats, not office holders or office-holder wannabes, back on to the DCCC.