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Hi all,<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=5931">http://www.sfbg.com/printable_entry.php?entry_id=5931</a><br>
<p> </p>
<h1>SF Bay Guardian: Newsom's commission games</h1>
<p><i>Everything the mayor does now seems to be aimed at increasing his
odds of moving up in the political world</i></p>
<p><b>EDITORIAL</b>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>This is what the second term of Mayor Newsom, who is now openly
running for governor, looks like. It's not pretty.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>Why would Newsom be doing this — if he didn't need the support of
PG&E and its allies for his next political step?</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<div class="entry_created_on">Wednesday March 19, 2008</div>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara</pre>
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