Job in Mayor Lee's Administration
Former District 8 Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who came in seventh in the race for mayor, raised $1.3 million according to the Bay Citizen analysis of campaign records. That amount included $682,108 in public financing reported by the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
I contend that Bevan essentially auditioned for a plum appointment in Mayor Ed Lee's administration, or will otherwise be rewarded with employment from Lee's powerbroker pals Willie Brown and Rose Pak, and that he used public coin and private gay donations to do so.
During the election Bevan made the following promise to me in September, regarding the controversy over the rainbow flag in Harvey Milk Plaza:
On occasions I have contacted MUMC leaders to support flagpole flexibility to recognize major events involving our community. From reading the BAR, it appears there has been movement in this direction.
After November 8th I will revisit the situation.
Well, first off, MUMC has made no moves on flexibility and control, and second, November 8 has come and gone, and so has Bevan. His promise to activist Bill Wilson and myself that he would meet with us after the election is gone with the wind, like the money he spent to place seventh.
Right after November 8, I followed up and pushed Bevan to agree to a time and place for the promised-meeting. He said it would happen last week, and it didn't. Three emails and two phone calls to him have not produced a response.
What I believe went down here was Bevan just wanted to string us along till after the election, not jeopardize his political and monetary support from the Merchants of Upper Market Castro, and with the election over, and him having played Mr. Super Nice Guy to Mayor Lee during the race, the last thing he wants to do is risk a payback from the mayor and moneyed Castro circle that backed his campaign.
These shenanigans and basic dishonesty are among the reasons why Bevan received none of my three votes. He was a good supervisor and a pleasure to work with on so many important global LGBT issues, and he's a pal, but his attempt to become mayor was quite misguided.
In all honesty, I can't see what the electorate or the local gay community gained from Bevan's $1.3 million effort. There are better ways to spend that kind of money than on a losing political quest.
1 comment:
Back in the late 1970s, Terry Hallinan was extremely happy that is campaign for Supervisor had collected $6,000. from contributions. The problem today is that too many good candidates are not rich, thus never get elected because they do not have the funds to start with. Not only are the rich getting richer, they are the only one's that can afford to run for office.
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