2 weeks before Election: SF Realtors' Mudslinging Against Rent Control

With less than 2 weeks to Election Day, the SF Association of Realtors has jumped into the mudslinging with disgusting multicolor slick hate mailers attacking the 3 candidates for the SF Board of Supervisors endorsed by the SF Tenants Union because they support rent control, the primary litmus test issue in San Francisco, namely Democrats Eric Mar of District 1 (Richmond), David Chiu of District 3 (North Beach-Nob Hill) and John Avalos of District 11 (Excelsior-Mission Terrace-Ingleside).

For more on these campaigns, see the website of the San Francisco Tenants Union, http://www.sftu.org/

In the week of 10/20/08 week, 3 hate mailers were received in these districts, with the primary focus being on 35-year-old Chris Daly, a pro-tenant member of the Board of Supervisors who is termed out this year. Since at least half the voters are over age 50, ridiculing Chris Daly, one of the best supervisors for the workingclass, is like attacking a child, an unthinkable form of advertising.

These hate mailers refer to Democrat Chris Daly and the termed-out District 3 supervisor and Board President, Democrat Aaron Peskin, as part of a “left wing extremist faction” of the 11 member Board of Supervisors. This is news to the voters as for the Democratic Party to exist in San Francisco, they have to at least give lip service to supporting rent control, and the majority of the Board of Supervisors certainly supports rent control.

The other litmus test issue, opposing the Navy’s Blue Death illegal low flights over heavily populated San Francisco during Columbus Genocide Week to recruit for the military, is a position taken by only 3 members of the Board of Supervisors: Democrats Chris Daly, Tom Ammiano and Green Party member Ross Mirkarimi. Aaron Peskin was one of the Democrats who supported the Navy’s Blue Death flights, as did the reactionary darling of the real estate industry and PG&E, Democratic mayor Gavin Newsom.

The slick mailers continue with their Red Smear with a quote from Fascist Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic California senator who also supports PG&E, claiming she wants Chris Daly censured. It is of course Fascist Feinstein who should not only be censured, but told to resign.

The landlords are making a fortune in San Francisco because we have no vacancy control, thanks to the worthless Democrats in the State Legislature who under a Democratic governor could have passed a vacancy control bill. Rent control only lasts while one is a tenant; when the unit is vacated, the landlord can charge any rent.

These slick hate mailers for the real estate industry were preceded by 12 false slick mailers from PG&E and friends attacking Proposition H, the public power initiative on the San Francisco ballot. The blank check that PG&E whines about is what PG&E enjoys as they are not elected by anyone. Prop H’s revenue bonds must be approved by the elected Board of Supervisors and the mayor. As the ballot argument for Prop H at p. 125 of the Voter’s Handbook states, “San Francisco already pays billions of dollars to an unaccountable, unelected corporation each year called PG&E. When did PG&E ask you or anyone else before they invested in dirty power like nuclear, coal or liquefied natural gas? Where was the oversight when PG&E made the deal with Enron that ratepayers ultimately bailed out with $18 billion?”

One of the pro-landlord candidates in District 3 is attorney Claudine Cheng, who is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegates to the California Democratic State Central Committee. Her slick mailer was the first hit piece and it was the most reactionary Red Smear piece of all, attacking the Green Party and everyone else to the Left of the Republican Party. This is a friend of Democrat Nancy Pelosi, which is why we need Cindy Sheehan to represent San Francisco in Congress.

Cindy Sheehan’s campaign has made 14,000 phone calls, better than the usual protest campaign, but not enough as there are 500,000 people in the district, and we need to reach at least 200,000 people. Please help with the phonebanking during these last 2 crucial weeks by sending an Email to jackson [at] cindyforcongress.org to get your phone bank list. For more information on the campaign, see http://www.cindyforcongress.org/

Another campaign that needs your help is the No on 8, Stop the Hate campaign. It is very important that we defeat this attempt to put hate into the California Constitution, taking away the civil rights of gay people to marriage. This proposition is being promoted by the same fascists who oppose abortion, support school prayer, oppose evolution, and generally want to set up a fascist state in this country; Prop 8 is being used to build a fascist base which we cannot allow. While Prop 8 is supported by the Republican Party, it is based on the profound ignorance and lack of education in this backward society, which allows for scapegoating gays, women and non-whites for the problems of capitalism. Go to the No on 8 website, http://noonprop8.com/ to make a contribution of any amount so we can have TV advertising during prime time every day through election day. If you cannot contribute, get some signs and stickers to put up everywhere. The San Francisco office is at 2278 Market, 2d Flr. Carry those signs held high when you take your walks, put them in local businesses and anywhere else that they may be visible. WE NEED A SOLID WALL OF NO ON 8 SIGNS IN SAN FRANCISCO as San Francisco must carry more than its own weight to defeat Prop 8.

The real estate industry and PG&E, along with their friends, like Democratic mayor Gavin Newsom and Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, have also united to support Prop V, which calls for restoring the military program, JROTC, in San Francisco’s public schools. They are paying for billboards with the Prop V campaign funds to promote reactionary candidates for supervisor and have paid for the warmongering ballot arguments in the Voter’s Handbook, pp. 220-222. We are all voting No on V and Yes on U, proposition U being a recommendation that the US Congress stop funding the slaughter of the Iraqi people.

We are also all voting for either Cynthia McKinney for President or Ralph Nader for President. The websites are:

Cynthia McKinney for President
http://votetruth08.com/
and
The Green Party at
http://www.gp.org/index.php
Official Candidate Statement:
http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/voter-info/statements/CynthiaMcKinney.htm

Ralph Nader for President
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
and
Peace & Freedom Party at
http://peaceandfreedom.org/home/
Official Candidate Statement:
http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/voter-info/statements/RalphNader.htm

As to the propositions:
California’s propositions may be found at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm#2008General
Recommended votes: Yes on 2, 5, 7 and No on all the rest.
Important Cal Props:
Prop 2-Vote Yes for humane treatment of animals. http://www.yesonprop2.com/
Prop 4-Vote No to stop all attacks on abortion. http://www.noonprop4.org/
Prop 5-Vote Yes to expand drug treatment programs instead of sending drug addicts to prison. http://www.prop5yes.com/
Prop 7-Vote Yes for public power http://www.yeson7.net/
Props 6 and 9-Vote No to stop prison expansion http://www.votenoprop6.com/ and http://www.votenoprop9.com/
Prop 8-Vote No to defend gay marriage. Vote No on 8 to Stop The Hate. http://noonprop8.com/ RED ALERT: We lost our lead on this. YOU MUST VOTE, AND VOTE NO ON 8.
Prop 11-Vote No to keep the status quo in legislative boundaries. This new plan just makes it worse. http://www.noonprop11.org/

San Francisco’s propositions may be found at:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/candidates/Nov2008_QualifiedLocalBallotMeasureWithOfficialTitles090408.pdf
Recommended votes: Yes on B,C, F, G, H, K, M, N, O, Q, T, U

No on A, D, E, L, R, S and V.
Important SF Props:
Prop B-Vote Yes for affordable housing for the workingclass, most of us. See http://www.propb2008.org/
Prop H-Vote Yes- Now is the hour for public power. See http://www.sfcleanenergy.com/2008/
Prop K-Vote Yes so prostitutes have the right to sue without intimidation. See http://www.yesonpropk.org/
Prop M-for tenants Vote Yes. See SF Tenants Union at http://www.sftu.org/
Prop V-Vote NO to get rid of JROTC. See http://www.nomilitaryrecruitmentinourschools.org/

More election websites with information all the propositions and more (with websites):
http://calvoter.org/voter/elections/2008/general/props/index.html

San Francisco Voter Propositions for November '08 by Gregory M. Schwartz (with websites) at
http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005694.html

YOU CAN VOTE THIS WEEKEND AND NEXT, October 25-26 and November 1-2, 2008, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at City Hall, Registrar of Voters, Gove Street entrance. During the week, you can vote absentee at the Elections Department in the basement on the Van Ness side, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.