Bogus Chronicle pages at bus stops

Posters of a fake front page of The Chronicle with a story and headlines about Mayor Willie Brown attacking the homeless were put up on bus shelters in San Francisco today, but were quickly torn down.

Chronicle vending machines in the Financial District also were plastered with a second poster, this one with the newspaper's "Little Man,'' used for rating movies and other events, sleeping alongside a sleeping homeless man and his shopping cart.

Another part of that poster showed a picture of Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, and a missing intern with whom he reportedly had an affair, with the Little Man applauding. The words "EXTRA, EXTRA'' were on that part of the poster.

Chronicle Circulation Vice President Stephen Johnson said "a very sticky, hard-to-remove glue'' was used to paste the latter posters on 25 to 30 vending machines.

"We don't know if it's tied to the other poster,'' Johnson said.

An undetermined number of the Brown-homeless poster, featuring an obscene banner head line, were inserted into locked display cases around the city, including a bus shelter in front of the newspaper's Fifth and Mission headquarters.

They were quickly torn down by workers for Infinity Outdoor Advertising, the firm that handles bus shelter advertising.

Steve Shinn, a spokesman for Infinity, said the firm had received numerous phone calls about the posters, but he did not know how many there were. He said the majority of the posters were on shelters South of Market.

He said loss of advertising, cost of replacements, damage to property and other factors could make the postings felony crimes.

The fake front page had Brown blaming the homeless for ruining the city's tourist trade and damaging its economy.

"I don't know if we want to give any more notoriety to vandals,'' Brown spokesman P.J. John ston said. "Clearly, there is a struggle in San Francisco between those who want to keep the streets clean and safe for all San Franciscans and those who apparently believe anything goes is an acceptable policy.

"The people who are vandalizing bus shelters with these posters are clearly in the camp with the anything-goes folks. In this case, Mayor Brown is their target.''

Muni spokeswoman Kathleen Sakelaris, upon learning of the posters, said, "Why us? We'll get somebody out right now to take them down.''

Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein reacted with some bemusement at the posters, for which no group has claimed responsibility.

"The first one is clearly aimed at Mayor Brown, not us,'' he said. "We prefer that people not use our logo to engage in these kinds of attacks.''

As for any attack on the newspaper's coverage of homeless issues, Bronstein said, ""We cover the homeless very well and appropriately. In fact, we've been criticized by the Rev. Amos Brown for not being tough enough on the homeless. Oftentimes, when you're attacked by two sides on an issue, it's an indication you're doing your job.''

Asked about the Condit reference, Bronstein said, "I'm not sure what that means.''