on the city though?

Who were some of the names tossed out by the progressives to jamb into the mayors office? Chris Daly, Erin Peskin... white.

Progressive race theory is so interesting.

It's refreshing to read a post with some real information about what's, what and who's, who in town, without the usual spin and low-brow snark.

The only things I remember from high school civics are the kitchen cabinet and appointment process. They make sense - use polticial power to further an agenda, maintain the status quo, and/or pay off or create a political favor. We can learn a lot about the integrity and goals of a politican based on who they choose to nurture and support with their powerful hiring and appointment perks.

There shouldn't be any surprise to anyone. The Bay Guardian Management and Mr. Mirkirimi knew that the heavy price for having a new sheriff in town was losing one of the core progressive seats. It will probably take at least 9 years when the seat is open again to figure out how that worked out for the "progressive coalition," whatever that means these days. The biggest fumble. Ever.

For those of us who subscribe to the theory that our politics and economic philosophy are based 90% on self-interest and 10% collective interest, it hurts to lose one of the key supervisor seats such as D2, D5, D6, D7 or D11 where progressives were able to elect politicans where the ratio was closer to a 50/50 split between self-interest and collective interest.

On a more positive note, it appears there are many fluid political relationships swirling about the local political scene. Mr. Brown, Ms. Feinstein, Mr. Burton and Ms. Pelosi won't be around forever. Mr. Newsom and Ms. Harris, the heir-apparents, seem to have less local influence with well-established city groups than the old guard. Although,in reality, the money stream available from wealthy capital owners, landlords, bondholders and unions is probably worth much more than having deep personal connections to a local community. As long as political speech = big money, those with access to big money are likely to win most political battles.

There are still billions of dollars of "free profits" to be made in San Francisco. A zoning and variance change here. A redevelopment master plan there. Another 175,000 rental units to be converted to TICs and condos, giving the current owners a couple billion dollars for the conversion process and allowing the new owners to avoid rent-control restrictions forever.

Every year thousands of the smartest and ambitious new graduates from the top schools in the country - top schools in the world is more like it - show up on the doorstep to start a career in a wonderful place, maybe hoping to make a small or large fortune along the way. The top graduates make the top income, which means they can pay top rents. On top of that, with more multi-millionaires created evey day in China, Russia, India, Brazil and other countries who decide that having a 2nd, 3rd or 4th home in San Francisco isn't a bad place to park a couple million dollars, the rest of the wannabe homeowners can get in line behind them.

Whose city? As always, the real estate owners, developers, landlords, bondholders and the financiers, attorneys and lobbyists behind the scenes who make all the magic happen. The architects, construction industry and local unions all play along since that's where the money is. Most of the world has been this way for a long time, but of course the biggest profits are in the major cities. Maybe SPUR keeps a running tally of the hundreds of billions of real estate profits and assorted fees made in San Francisco over the past 50 years during its incredibly influential and successful existence.

Living in San Francisco provides the perfect vantage point to watch the billions of legal, financing, development and lobbying fees funneled to the 1%ers during the real estate development cycle. The next phase is fun too when the froth and party gets ahead of itself and the upside down real estate loans - about $10 trillion in the US from the latest meltdown - become the responsiblity of the 99%ers.

The final phase is even better: the bad loans stay with the public taxpayers, but the real estate is sold off at a fraction of its value to the 1%ers to start the process all over again. I've heard Greek real estate is being sold off by the government fairly cheap if anyone is in the market and has the right political connections.

The Graduate was totally wrong. It's not "plastic." It's real estate.

An anonymous character witness.

Classic.

Add "help create jobs" and you'd have the new political buzzphase that actually means "maintain the staus quo."

Lots of people are making lots of money in San Francisco: real estate rents, tourism, hotels, technology companies. I suspect that's where the priorities of Mr. Breyer would lie, rather than with the more marginalized groups that had an important ally - at times the most important ally and leader - in the D5 seat over the past 11 years.

The family already has one member who is a lifetime Supreme Court judge - the most powerful and often conservative political position in the country. Another family member is an untouchable US District Court judge presiding over San Francisco where the property owners are favored time and again over human and social rights. And now their influence should extend to one of San Francisco's most important supervisor districts? Isn't that a bit much?

The mayor has numerous appointment powers where Mr. Breyer can work in a high-level city position, build some local relationships, and earn a political seat through the election process. Or maybe Mr. Farrell would be open to a transfer to a powerful city department and Mr. Brewer can move to D2 and take that seat, which seems a more appropriate supervisor district given Mr. Breyer's family rank and status.

This isn't about someone being nice. Or smart. Or well-connected. This is about having city leadership with multiple roots connected to diverse communities that the city is supposed to represent. It takes an entire village, or so we were told.

I'll continue to believe that Mayor Lee is a supporter of the general tenor of the Occupy Movement and realizes it's going to take a lot of buy-in from all sides to move the city and country to a more sustainable footing. It seems the appointment of Mr. Breyer to the key D5 seat would be a step in a much more polorizing direction.

Have you contacted the cops or the DA with your evidence?

Lee won with over 60% in the final poll. A landslide, and not a result that could have been changed with any amount of fraud.