Although she has ended her fanciful campaign for president of the United States, the heuristic Kamala Harris remains a United States senator. As Savannah Blackwell, SFProgressive editor, wrote 15 years ago: “… by law, Harris should not even be the city’s district attorney.
On its website, the Common Sense Party is framed as a needed antidote to the lack of choices in California, the polarized nature of the two-party system and the inefficiencies of current government.
Former President Herbert Hoover responded to a 1964 interview: “Honesty is not the exclusive property of any political party.” We don’t elect local officials in California on the basis of a political party, but Mr. Hoover’s answer applies federally with an incumbent president confronting certain articles of impeachment and a predictable U.S. Senate trial in January 2020 (Mr. Hoover’s opinion is undoubtedly irrelevant in California, which has only one political party, for all intents and purposes.)
As I write, local election results are unknown, including the sickening process of replacing the former district attorney who resigned last month to take his prosecutorial ignorance to Los Angeles County to oust a two-term incumbent,
The most important endorsement is district attorney, and I repeat my even stronger recommendation of Nancy H. Tung, Esq., for that position. The other three candidates show less than stirring dedication to enforcing criminal laws and respecting police officers who perform dangerous tasks in protecting society.
An anonymous wit declared: “Capital punishment is when the government taxes you to get capital so that it can go into business in competition with you and then taxes the profit on your business in order to pay its losses.”
Winston Churchill exclaimed: “I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” That surely applies to the latest information emanating from a so-called Bay Area transportation working group.
There are now four choices: the two best with genuine experience in criminal law and belief in law enforcement are Leif Dautch and Nancy Tang. The two worst are Deputy Public Defender Chesa Boudin, a champion of illegal immigration which results in more work for public defenders at taxpayer expense and Suzy Loftus, the City Hall establishment favorite, weaned on the public trough as the sheriff’s attorney, who doesn’t prosecute crimes.
In 1931, San Francisco voters approved a new charter which reduced Board of Supervisors membership from 16 to 11, elected citywide, and paid $2,400 per year, without membership in the retirement system, but with membership in the publicly-funded health system.
The Cow Palace is engaged in negotiations with an adjoining private property owner and Daly City to develop jointly approximately 25 acres west of the Geneva Avenue entrance for housing and a supermarket.
I don’t know the author, but someone claimed: “There is one fixed rule in government: the less it’s worth, the more it costs.”
I Pledge Allegiance Often repeated is Justice Louis D. Brandeis’ observation in the Dec. 20, 1913 edition of Harper’s Weekly: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. […]
It’s time to record genuine history rather than historical debasement books like “Season of the Witch.” San Francisco’s first experiment with district election of supervisors was voter-enacted in November 1976, resulting in election of Harvey Milk in the so-called Castro Street area (he had run unsuccessfully citywide) and Dan White in the Portola in 1977.
Once upon a time, presidential campaigns were relatively short. Not now in the era of Trump, especially for Democrats, like an unknown congressman from Texas who was vanquished two months ago for U.S. Senate or another similar type unknown except in Alameda County and the SF Chronicle, and rookie U.S. senate members, including one from San Francisco.
As observed by a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Constitution Day this year, Thomas Jefferson in 1789 wrote: “Wherever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”
