SFGP WEEKLY For The Week of 7/28/05 - 8/4/05 This Week: ********************************************************** ************************************************** News: 7/27: Ethics Charter Amendment to Put Teeth In Policing of Elections 7/27: Schools Chief Is Considering Retirement 7/27: Green Party's Seminar on the Mid-Market Re-Development Area 7/27: Community Choice Aggrigation ********************************************************** Events: - 7/29- 7/31: Community Organizing For Deep Democracy Retreat - 7/30: Oakland Greens Campaign School, Summer 2005 - 7/30: Healthcare for All and Homelessness - 8/1: Campaigns and Issues Working Group Meeting - 8/3: SF Public Power Meeting - 8/4- 8/6: BAUAW Presents 'Marx in Soho' ********************************************************** Announcements: - Joke of the Week - Voter-Owned Elections - Oakland Gathering: Request for Workshop Proposals - Become A Sustainer! ********************************************************** ********************************************************** News ***************************************** 7/27: Ethics Charter Amendment to Put Teeth In Policing of Elections By Casey Mills Supervisor Ross Mirkarimis recently passed charter amendment to allow the Ethics Commission the ability to develop their own budget could do a great deal to improve the accountability of donors and politicians in local elections. The Commission, which primarily concerns itself with enforcing campaign finance law, has become well known in political circles for waiting until as late as 3 years after campaigns end to audit their finances. Developed on the heels of a civil grand jury report that found the Commission to be woefully under-funded, the amendment would pry the budget-making process away from the Mayor. This would likely inject a healthy dose of funds and staff into the body, and with almost unanimous support on the Board, has a solid chance at happening this November. Read more at: http://www.beyondchron.org *********************************************************** 7/27: Schools Chief Is Considering Retirement By Heather Knight San Francisco schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Tuesday that her rocky relationship with some members of the Board of Education had deteriorated even further and that the attacks had grown so personal that she was weighing the possibility of retiring within a year. In recent weeks, she has been sued by allies of the board members over her recent salary increase and was the subject of an unflattering cover story in an alternative weekly newspaper that endorsed two of the board members for re-election in November. ................... Former Supervisor Matt Gonzalez and his new law partner, Whitney Leigh, who are members of the local Green Party and allies of Green Party members Lipson and Sanchez and liberal Democrat Eric Mar, sued Ackerman last month over her contract increase last November. Their suit says the special meeting of the school board to raise her salary was illegal. ................. "We had a relationship where we were able to meet monthly, and even if we disagreed, we were able to disagree respectfully," Lipson said. "She's no longer keeping those meetings with me." Lipson added that Ackerman hadn't been unfairly attacked. Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/27/BAGH7DU99O1.DTL *********************************************************** Green Party's Seminar on the Mid-Market Re-Development Area Ken Werner, Trinity Plaza Tenants Association (TPTA) 27.JUL.05 "Whose city is it, and what kind of city do we want to build?" David Wilbur of the San Francisco Green Party aptly summed up the proposed Mid-Market Redevelopment Plan in Monday nights seminar at the First Baptist Church at 7 Octavia Street. The Green Partys Housing and Land Use working group has organized the ongoing seminar series for the second Monday of every month; this most recent seminar was moderated by progressive Christina Olague of Mission Agenda and the San Francisco Planning Commission. I had originally planned to attend the seminar as part of my ongoing learning process regarding redevelopment and land-use issues, but when I spoke with Casey Mills he asked me to cover the seminar because he had another engagement; of course, I welcomed the opportunity. Read more at: www.beyondchron.org *********************************************************** Community Choice Aggrigation The PUC's failure MIDWAY THROUGH A meeting of the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission Feb. 4, Sup. Ross Mirkarimi, the panel's new chair, asked a key question of the city's power policy director. He wanted to know if the S.F. Public Utilities Commission sees itself as an advocate of community-choice aggregation, a program that would bring cheaper electricity to San Francisco and start moving the city out from under the thumb of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. monopoly. No, the PUC's Barbara Hale said the agency wasn't an advocate of anything. The PUC staff could only carry out the policies passed by the Board of Supervisors. Of course, Hale was missing a key point: community-choice aggregation has been city policy for more than eight months and the whole point of the exchange was that the PUC has been dragging its feet, badly, failing to finish an implementation plan and putting the whole program at risk. But there's a much larger problem here: the PUC is the agency that oversees the city's electricity program, and it ought to be at the forefront of the battle to bring public power to San Francisco. Instead, over and over again, the agency has ducked, stood on the sidelines or actively interfered with that vision. Read more at: http://www.bayguardian.com/39/19/news_ed_puc.html *********************************************************** ************************************* Events ************************************* Community Organizing For Deep Democracy Retreat Friday, July 29th- Sunday, July 31st. Wellspring Renewal Center (located two and a half hours northwest of San Francisco near the small town of Philo in Mendocino County) Community Organizing for Deep Democracy Retreat -- how to organize in your own community to reclaim citizen sovereignty, tangible strategies for actions that we can collectively take to get our democracy back from corporations. Learn from successful outcomes, and network with other activists working for true democracy in their communities. Presented by California Center for Community Democracy and Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County More info: http://www.californiademocracy.org/wellspring2005.html ********************************************************** Oakland Greens Campaign School, Summer 2005 Saturday, July 30 9am-5:30pm (see below) Room # B-260, Laney College (across from Lake Merritt BART station) Oakland, CA Suggested Donation: (All are welcome): $50-$10 (includes lunch and continental breakfast Learn the Secrets of Running a Successful Progressive Campaign - Attend the Summer 2005 Oakland Greens Campaign School You may have already walked precincts and made phone calls; perhaps, you've tabled and networked - but what is the secret to WINNING progressive campaigns? The time is right to prepare for progressive wins across Oakland and the East Bay and to bring grassroots democracy to our communities. To help make this happen, the Oakland Greens are sponsoring a day-long campaign school! Learn from campaign experts - such as San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and former Oakland City Council Candidate Aimee Allison - about how to organize a successful grassroots campaign and how to use your talents to effectively help progressive candidates win. We look forward to seeing you there! ********************************************************** Healthcare For All and Homelessness Saturday, July 30th 531Grove St., San Francisco (2 blocks west of Van Ness, #21 Hayes bus) You are invited to our next San Francisco health meeting at 531 Grove St. on July 30. Dr. Lars Osterberg will be presenting his findings on Health Care and Homelessness. We will also have an update on Senate Bill 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act. SB 840 passed the State Assembly Health Committee on July 5. *********************************************************** Campaigns and Issues Working Group Meeting Monday, August 1st 7pm- 9pm 1028A Howard Street (SFGP office) Join us for our monthly Campaigns and Issues Working Group meeting to discuss upcoming elections and issues of importantance. No agenda is yet avaliable, please e-mail suggestions to Marc Solomon (marc@cybre.net), Charlene Smythe (cmsmythe2002@yahoo.com), or Susan King (funking@mindspring.com) *********************************************************** SF Public Power Meeting Wednesday, August 3rd Sierra Club organizing offices, 85 2nd St. (Between Market & Mission near Montgomery Bart), SF 3rd Floor - Yosemite Room Join fellow activists with the SF Green Party, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Our City, Women's Energy Matters, Local Power and many others for a meeting to discuss our campaign for a renewable energy future. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote in as little as one month on a Community Choice Energy project that could end PG&E's electricity monopoly in San Francisco and give us our own community controlled renewable energy network. This network would provide San Francisco with up to a third or more of its energy from solar, wind, and other renewables by 2009, and that's just the beginning! For more information and to RSVP, send a quick email to: "mailto:eric@ourcity.org" eric@our-city.org or call 415-756-8844 *********************************************************** BAUAW Presents 'Marx in Soho' Thursday, August 4, 7:00 p.m, Friday, August 5, 7:00 p.m., Saturday, August 6, 2:00 p.m Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts (1519 Mission Street between 11th Street and South Van Ness) Sliding scale donation: $10-$20.00 BAUAW Benefit Presentation of Howard Zinn's one man show, MARX IN SOHO Starring Jerry Levy as Karl Marx Directed by Michael Fox Kennedy. The premise of the play is that Marx dies yet he is able to see what's happening on earth for 100 years since his death in 1883. He is supposed to go back to Soho in London but, by mistake, is sent to Soho in New York and finds himself on stage before an audience. Imagine all Karl Marx would have to say after one hundred years of just being able to watch... The single actor in this one-man play is Jerry Levy, who has been teaching sociology at Marlboro College and been acting with the Actors' Theater of Brattleboro since he moved there from Chicago in 1975. Originally directed by Michael Fox Kennedy of the Actors' Theater, Levy has been on the road with Zinn's version of Karl Marx for a year, performing at benefits, colleges, small theaters and other venues around the state. At Middle Earth he was sponsored by the Bradford-based Coos Peace and Justice Alliance and performed free of charge but charged with mighty talent and a bottomless love of the play. WWW.BAUAW.ORG For more information, call: 415-824-8730) ************************************************************ ***************************************** Announcements: ********************** ************************************************************ Joke of the Week Submitted by Susan King Discovery of A New Element A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical yet known to science. This new element has been tentatively named "Governmentium. Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called "peons". Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, since it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. Laboratory testing reveals that the presences of even a tiny amount of Governmentium has the ability to alter time. Specifically, the presences of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years. It does not decay, but instead, it undergoes reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, eventually leading to the formation of isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion has led some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypocritical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass." You will know it when you see it. Other important research notes: When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes "Administratium", an element which radiates just as much energy, since it has half as many peons, but twice as many morons. ************************************************************ Join the campaign for Voter Owned Elections! Voter Owned Elections is a revolutionary election reform measure that has been endorsed by the SF Green Party and every current and former elected Green official in San Francisco including Matt Gonzalez! What is Voter Owned Elections? The concept of Voter Owned Elections is simple: the public funds the campaigns of candidates who can demonstrate a wide base of community support by collecting a large number of small donations. In exchange, candidates agree to limit their private fundraising. Voter Owned Elections (also known as 'public financing of campaigns') is a progressive reform that helps ensure that candidates are accountable to the public, rather than big corporations, and creates a situation where grassroots candidates have enough resources to get their message into the hands of voters. San Franciscans for Voter Owned Elections is now working to bring Voter Owned Elections to the San Francisco mayor's race and we need your help! This is a people-driven campaign! Please visit our web site: www.voterownedelections.org to learn more and to get involved. ************************************************************ Oakland Gathering: Request for Workshop Proposals Dear Members and Friends of the California Green Party, On Saturday, September 17, the Green Party will host a public gathering to discuss, debate and, deepen our understanding of the crucial political issues facing our people and our planet. The gathering will begin with a welcome from the Oakland Green Party and will include three sessions of 4 or 5 simultaneous workshops. These workshops will run for 90 minutes and focus on several important tracks: culture, coalition building, history/theory, social movements and environmental/economic issues. If you, your Green Party chapter, or your organization would like to host a workshop, please send us a proposal. The deadline for all proposals is Sunday, August 14. Proposal guidelines are listed below. Please include all the requested information and then send your proposal to forrest_hill@comcast.net Note: All workshops should plan on setting aside AT LEAST half the allotted time for audience discussion, debate and participation. We will try to accommodate all proposals, but this may not be possible, depending on how many are submitted. See you in Oakland! Green Party Gathering Organizing Committee Proposals Guidelines: 1. Sponsor's individual or group name: 2. Contact information (address, phone number, and email): 3. Topic and Title: 4. Description of workshop (one paragraph): 5. Speakers/presenters/facilitators (whichever is appropriate): 6. Biography/credentials of Speakers/presenters/facilitators: ************************************************************ Become a Green Party Sustainer! As you may know, the SFGP is supported by our wonderful sustaining donors -- 175 and growing. In the next 12 months we hope to double that figure, and you can help us achieve our goal by signing up to make a regular contribution to the Green Party. Our sustainer program nearly pays all of our basic monthly operating expenses, including rent and utilities on the office, and drastically reduces the amount of work needed to raise money. Our sustainers free us up to do what we're really here for - to pursue Green values through the democratic system. Sustainers also ensure that we are able to keep our office, which has hosted numerous campaigns' headquarters including the successful Prop A, Instant Runoff Voting initiative. Becoming a Green Party sustainer is easy, fun, and secure! Online: http://www.sfgreenparty.org/makeadonation/makeadonation.html Phone: 415-701-7090 ************************************************************ For more info on our activities, please see our website, http://www.sfgreenparty.org. You can also email us questions at info@sfgreens.org. To send us news items (short blurb please, plain text only) for possible inclusion in the newsletter, email news@sfgreens.org. Please don't put these addresses on mailing lists; messages not specifically addressed to us won't go through. Submissions for Joke of the Week, or comments and questions on the content of the newsletter are welcomed by the editor at ladypest@hotmail.com