[SFGP] SF Green Party Weekly

[announce at sfgreens.org]

SFGP WEEKLY
For The Week of 7/28/05 - 8/4/05
This Week:
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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
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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'
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Announcements:
- Joke of the Week
- Voter-Owned Elections
- Oakland Gathering: Request for Workshop Proposals
- Become A Sustainer!
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News
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7/27: Ethics Charter Amendment to Put Teeth In Policing of Elections
By Casey Mills
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s 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
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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
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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 night’s seminar at the First Baptist Church at 
7 Octavia Street. The Green Party’s 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
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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
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Events
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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
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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!
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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.
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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 at cybre.net), 
Charlene Smythe (cmsmythe2002 at yahoo.com), or Susan King 
(funking at mindspring.com)
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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 at ourcity.org" eric at our-city.org or call 415-756-8844
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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)
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Announcements:
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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.
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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.
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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 at 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:
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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

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For more info on our activities, please see our website,
http://www.sfgreenparty.org. You can also email us questions at
info at sfgreens.org.  To send us news items (short blurb please, plain
text only) for possible inclusion in the newsletter, email
news at 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 at hotmail.com