SFGP WEEKLY For The Week of 6/30/05 - 7/7/05 Welcome to All Our New Subscribers From SF Pride 2005! This Week: ********************************************************** ************************************************** News: 6/13: Keep on Reforming 6/29: Against All Enemies 6/30: Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage 6/30: Ethics Commission Charter Amendment From Sup. Ross Mirkarimi ********************************************************** Events: - 7/2: Voter Reg at SF Mime Troupe - 7/6: Support Immigrant's Rights - 7/7: Register New Citizens - 7/7: FIG Meeting ********************************************************** More Events: - Walk San Francisco's Peak to Peak Walk ********************************************************** Announcements: - Pride Pics - Joke of the Week - Become A Sustainer! ********************************************************** ********************************************************** News ***************************************** Keep On Reforming Steven Hill Salon.com June 13, 2005 Politics involves the art of achieving the possible. Rarely do you get what you want, so you take what you can get. But when it comes to electoral reform, reformers run the risk of overpromising in trying to gain attention for their particular issue -- and can end up underdelivering, increasing voters' cynicism. Two of the most talked-about electoral reforms in the past decade have been the public financing of election campaigns and the use of independent commissions to redraw legislative district lines. While reformers have had limited success passing those two reforms -- to date, only a handful of states use either public financing or independent commissions, and even fewer use both -- when enacted, the reforms have been accompanied by great fanfare and hope. Yet the impact of the two reforms has been disappointing, and it may be time to extend our efforts at reform to the primary culprit in our broken democracy: our winner-take-all elections. Read the full article at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/06/13/electoral_reform/print.html *********************************************************** Against All Enemies (this article on Arlene Ackerman mentions prominant local Greens such as Mark Sanchez, Sarah Lipson, Matt Gonzalez, Whitney Leigh, and Bruce Wolfe) Tali Woodward and Steven T. Jones SUPT. ARLENE Ackerman's long pattern of treating those who disagree with her as enemies has destroyed her relationships with key schools stakeholders and seriously restricted the district's ability to function. Ackerman's battles with the elected San Francisco Board of Education have grabbed headlines for years, but this year she has simply stopped coming to many meetings, offering her recommendations on complicated and controversial issues, or engaging in more than cursory conversations with board members. ....... Sarah Lipson has been the most soft-spoken of Ackerman's critics on the school board. For some time now, she's been the one who has been able to meet with the superintendent, the one who has tried to keep lines of communication open. But over the past four months, Ackerman has cut off her regular monthly meeting with Lipson. "She's canceled every meeting without rescheduling," Lipson told us. "We've always had disagreements, but we've always managed to work it out," Lipson continued. "Now she doesn't even look at me. It's worse than it's ever been." Read the full article at: http://www.sfbg.com/39/39/cover_ackerman.html *********************************************************** 6/30: Spainish Parliment Legalizes Gay Marriage- Bill also lets same-sex couples adopt children, inheret property Associated Press MADRID, Spain - Spain became the third country to legalize gay marriage Thursday in a parliament vote that left gay activists blowing kisses to lawmakers and the powerful Catholic Church issuing veiled calls for defiance. The new law increases the chances of happiness for "our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives," said Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The 50-seat Congress of Deputies, by a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions, approved the measure to give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children. Read the full article at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8413036/ *********************************************************** 6/30: Important Ethics Commission Charter Amendment The Office of Sup. Ross Mirkarimi The proposed Charter Amendment would require the Ethics Commission to undertake a study, in conjunction with the Controller, of comparable agencies in other jurisdictions and to determine an appropriate level of staffing for the level of work the Ethics Commission has historically undertaken. Based on this study, the Commission shall develop a baseline budget that provides for a minimum level of staffing. Using the baseline budget, the Ethics Commission will submit to the Mayor a budget that estimates its financial needs for the next fiscal year, which may not be less than the baseline budget. The Mayor must submit the budget to the Board as proposed by the Ethics Commission, with such recommendations as the Mayor deems appropriate. The budget may be amended and adopted in accordance with the Article 9 of the Charter except that the Mayor may not reduce or reject any expenditure authorized by the Board of Supervisors related to the Commission. In addition, the Commission must establish a process for updating its baseline budget determination every three years. The first baseline budget determination may be in effect for fewer than three years in order to implement the three-year cycle in a manner that comports with the City's budget process. The Commission must establish a timeline, not to exceed three years, for bringing its staffing in line with any baseline budget. The proposed amendment would also provide the Commission authority to decide, by vote of a majority of its members, to retain outside counsel for any audit, the assessment of a fine or penalty or complaint when the City Attorney or a current employee of the City Attorney's office is the subject of the audit, fine or penalty, or complaint. *********************************************************** **************************************************** Events ************************************* Voter Reg at SF Mime Troupe Saturday, July 2 12:00 noon Music 1:30pm, Show 2:00pm Dolores Park, 18th & Dolores - San Francisco See a free show sponsored by the SF Mime Troupe and register voters with the SF Green Party before and after the show. This year's production will be "Doing Good" inspired by the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." For more information, contact Mark Barnes mwbsf@riseup.net ********************************************************** Support Immigrant's Rights Wednesday July 6 11:00am- 12:00 noon (leave SF at 7L00am) Sacramento, CA Immigrants from various cities in Northern California will convene in Sacramento on July 6 to demand that California offer unmarked drivers licenses to undocumented residents and keep the border vigilantes out of the state ! This is a critical moment for immigrant communities to assert their agenda in statewide politics ! Please join us in this effort ! WHAT: Immigrants go to Sacramento to demand licenses and no Minutemen. WHEN: Wednesday, July 6, leave San Francisco at 7 am. WHERE: To leave from San Francisco, a bus will pick up participants in front of Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia St. #295 (at 16th St.), San Francisco. SCHEDULE: 7:00 am Depart from Centro del Pueblo (474 Valencia St., San Francisco) on bus. 9:00 am Arrive at State Capital, in Sacramento 10:00 am Meeting with Assemblyperson Gil Cedillo to discuss his drivers license legislation (We want UNMARKED licenses!) 11:00 am Press Conference on front steps of the State Capital and rally against Governor Swarzenegger's mean spirited proposals and his support of the vigilante minutemen who terrorize immigrants at the US Border. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Renee Saucedo (415) 553-3404. ********************************************************** Register New Citizens Thursday, July 7 8:30am- 12:00 noon Masonic Auditorium, Nob Hill, California at Jones, San Francisco We need Greens to be there by 8:30am to get out the word that there is another choice (or come later just to register after swearing in). No longer do citizens have to choose the lesser of two evils! Mark your calendar to register new citizens and inform the public about who we are and what we value. For more information, contact Pat Gray patgray.green@att.net ********************************************************** FIG (Feminist Issues Group) Meeting Thursday, July 7 6:30pm 1028A Howard St. (SFGP Office) Agenda items so far...until you all email more... --Vicki Leidner on her candidacy for City Assessor (Herself) --Recap/debrief on SF People's Organization Kickoff event (Erika, or others who were there, can you speak about this?) --Welfare to Work Mom's--how are they doing now? (Irene) Please email more items and if you plan to attend. Thank you, Maureen & Irene ********************************************************** ********************************************************** More Events: ************************************************* ************************************* Walk San Franciscos Peak to Peak Walk Saturday, July 23 Walk San Francisco will be holding their first annual Peak to Peak Walk, a 12-mile challenge that will inspire even the most avid walker. Walkers will get a unique view of San Franciscos skyline, stairways, paths, parks, and monuments all while raising money for WalkSFs vital pedestrian safety and advocacy work. Visit www.walksf.org to download a registration form and for more information. REGISTRATION DEADLINE - July 15. Current WalkSF member: $65 New WalkSF member: $75 (415) 431-WALK www.walksf.org director@walksf.org *********************************** ********************************************************** Announcements: ********************** Pride Pics See pictures of the Green Party contingent at the 2005 SF Pride Parade at: http://photos.sfsurvey.com/gaypride/index314.asp ************************************************************ Joke of the Week Proud to Be a Green A first grade teacher in the Midwest is explaining to her class that she is a Republican and how nice it is that a new Republican president has taken office. She asks her students to raise their hands if they, too, are Republicans and support George Bush. Everyone in class raises their hands except one little girl. "Mary," says the teacher with surprise, "why didn't you raise your hand?" Because I'm not a Republican," says Mary. "Well, what are you?" asks the teacher. "I'm a Green and proud of it," replies the little girl. The teacher cannot believe her ears. "My goodness, Mary, why are you a Green?" she asks. "Well, my momma and papa are Greens, so I'm a Green, too." "Well," says the teacher in an annoyed tone, "that's no reason for you to be a Green. You don't always have to be like your parents. What if your momma was a criminal and your papa was a criminal, too, what would you be then?" Mary smiled. "Then we'd be Republicans." ************************************************************ 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.