Petrelis Files

SF Chron: Students Say Bank of SF
Lesbian Achtenberg is Part of 1%

Longtime Democratic lesbian Roberta Achtenberg, pictured, has never pretended to be a grassrooter. Her Wiki entry provides details about her work in the nonprofit and educational worlds, serving as a member of the Board of Supervisors before being appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve at Housing and Urban Development as a special assistant and lots of other facts.

She has in recent years served as a trustee of the California State University system and yesterday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, she was ignored pleas from students to not raise tuition at a contentious meeting of trustees:

"We have an institution to run here, and we have an obligation to run it well," said Trustee Roberta Achtenberg, who voted for the increase.

Because she also sits on the board of the Bank of San Francisco, Achtenberg has been identified by protesters as among the "1 percent" who should make banks and corporations pay more in taxes to help public education.

That's news to me, her position with the bank, which certainly adds credence to the charge that Actenberg is part of the 1% not working on behalf of folks who comprise the 99%. It doesn't help matters that she cast a yea vote raising tuition at state universities.

According to the San Francisco Examiner account of yesterday's meeting, she had this say to her colleagues and angry students, bolding added:

“This is the last thing in the world that I want to do. You can respect that or disrespect that. I couldn't care less.”

Achtenberg didn't win any points among the 99% for that comment dismissing the deep concerns of students and their families. Let's hope she eventually comes around to showing some leadership in addressing the great divide between the 1% of folks like her running the banks, and the vast number of ordinary people suffering countless hardships during these recessionary times.