[Sustain] Newsom Appoints 2 More PG&E Staff To City Commissions (One A Lobbyist)

[Eric Brooks]

Hi all,

Newsom's deepening relationship with PG&E is becoming more and more 
obvious. The appointments described below bring the Mayor to 3 PG&E 
appointees in the Month of March, including former head of PG&E Public 
Relations Guillermo Rodriguez, who was just appointed to run City Build 
and the 'Green' Collar Jobs program.

http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=5931


  SF Bay Guardian: Newsom's commission games

/Everything the mayor does now seems to be aimed at increasing his odds 
of moving up in the political world/

*EDITORIAL* Mayor Gavin Newsom didn't want Debra Walker, an artist and 
activist, running the Building Inspection Commission. He doesn't want 
Theresa Sparks, a transgender woman and community leader, running the 
Police Commission. And now, we've learned, he doesn't want Robert 
Haaland, a labor activist and one of the city's most visible transgender 
leaders, to serve as vice president of the Board of Appeals.

But of course, the mayor thinks it's perfectly fine to put two employees 
of Pacific Gas and Electric Company --- an outfit that is suing the 
city, breaking the law, trying to subvert public power and cheating the 
public out of hundreds of millions of dollars a year --- on city 
commissions.

This is what the second term of Mayor Newsom, who is now openly running 
for governor, looks like. It's not pretty.

We knew the mayor had his sights on higher office, but now that it's out 
in the open, almost everything he does at City Hall seems to be aimed 
not at improving San Francisco but at increasing his odds of moving up 
in the political world. Why, for example, would Newsom appoint Mary 
Jung, a PG&E customer services manager, to the Civil Service Commission, 
and Darlene Chiu, a PG&E City Hall flak, to the Small Business 
Commission? What possible qualifications could someone whose job 
involves promoting the interests of a giant corporation that routinely 
screws small business people have as an advocate for the city's local 
merchants? Why would the Civil Service Commission, which deals with city 
employee issues, need the expertise of someone whose employer wants to 
prevent the city from creating more public jobs?

Why would Newsom be doing this --- if he didn't need the support of PG&E 
and its allies for his next political step?

Why would he be directing his appointees to keep out of leadership posts 
anyone with strong progressive credentials if he weren't trying to build 
new bridges to the developers, the big employers, the police unions, and 
the more conservative interest groups he'll need for a statewide campaign?

The bottom line is, Newsom needs to stop thinking about running his next 
campaign and start running the city --- because this sort of commission 
funny business, this practice of treating important agencies that manage 
key city departments as nothing more than political patronage posts for 
rewarding allies and punishing enemies, is terrible for San Francisco.

It's too late to do anything about Mary Jung, but the supervisors can, 
and should, overturn the Chiu appointment --- and let the mayor know 
that putting PG&E executives on city commissions is unacceptable under 
any circumstances.

Meanwhile, the Board of Appeals votes for new officers March 19. By 
tradition, the top posts on the five-member panel rotate based on 
seniority, with an appointee of the mayor holding one job, and a board 
appointee the other. But Newsom's three members have indicated that they 
won't allow Haaland --- a conscientious commissioner with an excellent 
record --- to serve as vice president. That's a slap in the face to 
labor, the queer community, and the supervisors. Newsom ought to show 
some political integrity and tell his appointees not to suddenly change 
the rules.

Wednesday March 19, 2008

-- 
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

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