From BeyondChron article today by Paul Hogarth:
On June 22nd, business interests who want to recall Supervisor Jake McGoldrick failed to gather enough signatures to put it on the November ballot – falling about 1,000 signatures short. But proponents of this effort, which include the local Republican Party, told the San Francisco Examiner that they will now try for the February 2008 ballot.
Join the San Francisco Democratic Party this Saturday, June 16 at 10 am at Clement Street and 6th Avenue to oppose the recall of Supervisor Jake McGoldrick.
Jake has always been a good friend of labor and a strong leader on issues like paid sick leave, increasing the minimum wage, and universal health care. Jake has stood behind issues important to the Democratic Party, and now it's time for us to stand with Jake. Jake and his supporters intend to canvas the entire Richmond district with information and posters supporting Jake and voicing opposition to the recall- and they need our help!!
If you cannot make it on Saturday, consider sending a contribution of $25 or more to Citizens Against Recall Abuse –the organization created by Jake's supporters. Your contribution will help Jake ensure this recall does not happen. All contributions should be addressed to: Citizens Against Recall Abuse, 38 Homestead St, San Francisco , CA 94114
By Steven T. Jones on the Bay Guardian blog:
The political consultant handling the recall campaign against Sup. Jake McGoldrick, Johnny K. Wang's JKW Consulting, has a client list that is raising questions about the real motives behind bumping off McGoldrick. For starters, there's the reelection campaign of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who would get to appoint the replacement. Then there's Google and Earthlink, which Newsom wants to contract with to provide free wireless Internet service to city residents, a deal that McGoldrick has taken the lead in scrutinizing. Finally, there's a pair of malevolent downtown players, Citizens for Reform Leadership (an attack group created by Newsom moneyman Jim Sutton) and the San Francisco Multi-Employer Group (which represented the big downtown hotels that locked out their workers instead of bargaining with them in good faith). And this is the campaign about which co-chair Keith Wilson said, "This is not being funded by downtown money, this is a grassroots indigenous effort." Sure, an effort that just happens to dovetail perfectly with downtown interests.
As he spoke at the press conference kicking off the recall drive, Kozakiewicz was flanked by Heller and Howard Epstein, a member of the San Francisco Republican County Central Committee, the only political group to endorse the recall drive so far. Democratic Party clubs have all opposed the effort, as did the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee on a rare unanimous vote.
McGoldrick and his supporters say this isn't about accountability but about his policy disagreements with a handful of particularly vocal constituents. "What you have here is some folks who just have to have it their way," McGoldrick told us. "The bottom line is we have a situation where some folks disagree on some issues. But to use this to threaten a politician into backing off these issues is an abuse of the recall."
There's also an ironic note to all of this: if Kozakiewicz had been more truthful in his high-profile attacks, his readers might know that McGoldrick actually watered down the BRT study to appease the Geary merchants and that he resolved the long-simmering park road closure issue in a way that maintains full auto access to the museums and prevents alternative-transportation advocates from reviving the fight for at least five years, much to the chagrin of many walkers, skaters, and bicyclists.
Excerpt from Rita Goldberger's guest editorial on BeyondChron.com:
But why a recall of Jake McGoldrick now? He has only one more year to serve, and then he’s termed out. The reasons are simple: (1) to discredit him politically to make running for higher office more difficult, and (2) to put a mayor-approved replacement in office, giving him or her a better chance of winning the November 2008 election.
At least one high-profile progressive Democrat is poised to run for supervisor in District 1 next year. The mayor would have a hard time defeating him with a new face. He had no luck last year with his two picks in Districts 4 and 6. But someone who had already served a year as Supervisor would have a high enough profile to guarantee a good chance at winning.
In addition to David Heller and the SF Young Republicans, who else is behind or supportive of the committee? I'd like to get a petition going where people can pledge to oppose the recall and also boycott the merchants participating in this recall abuse.
From a blog comment by Allen White on sanfranciscosentinel.com:
Paul Kozakiewicz needs to understand that even though he publishes a newspaper no one has ever heard of, he can’t put people in and take them out of office at his whim.
If he has a problem with Supervisor McGoldrick, he shouldn’t have championed his re-election. Now he wants him out of office.
The real issue here doesn’t appear to be Jake McGoldrick. Rather, it is the integrity or hypocrisy of Paul Kozakiewicz and his Richmond Review?
Making a case for a recall, Mr. Kozakiewicz says he reviewed McGoldrick’s record back to 2000 when he was first elected.
Call me silly for pointing up a check on his first four years in office before endorsing him for re-election might make more sense than trying to recall him now.
Another silly point: Don’t we want our elected officials to be elected through our vote? Should Paul Kozakiewicz be successful (and I think he will fail) McGoldrick’s replacement will be chosen by Mayor Gavin Newsom.
I submit our mayor could care less about the positioning of the Richmond Review or the flip flop positions of its publisher. (And just imagine, if he’s got problems with Jake McGoldrick, he just ain’t seen nothing if he wants to target Gavin Newsom.)
Paul Kozakiewicz also fails to recognize that a substantial of voters would and did vote for Jack McGoldrick. Some, we shall presume, because they were encouraged to do so by Paul Kozakiewicz.
Personally, I find most of what the Richmond Review publisher opposes to be positions I support.
Finally, the charge that Supervisor Jack McGoldrick and his staff are unresponsive to his constituent’s issues and concerns is flat out bullshit! McGoldrick’s office is one of the best run in the Board of Supervisors.
That charge is as outrageous as saying that anything could get “shut out of the public arena.” Hello! This is San Francisco!!!
When the issue of plastic or paper becomes a national news story, few things, I submit, are immune from advocacy before those who control our government.
Bottom line here is Paul Kozakiewicz has embarked on a stupid project, one which will most likely fail, one which encourages bad government and one which exposes him to a rather serious breech of trust as the endorser of a city official who now wants him out of office.
There are serious issues facing the people of San Francisco. Wasting everyone’s time with this is stupid and, some might say, extremely irresponsible.
