SF Police Officer's Association attempts to influence race for Public Defender's Office

What i know is that Adachi has been at anti police brutality protests, and spoken out on that issue, and generally not been a lock-step fascist supporter of SFPD no matter how brutal they become. For that reason, I would imagine they oppose his election, and if he is close to getting elected, somehow I bet the the ballot boxes will be "fixed" or thrown in the bay or something like that.

I think it's a legitimate endorsement by the Police Association. It has helped me make up my mind-- I'm voting for Burton!

Sorry, I don't get your point. Why can't citizens and groups support the candidates of their choice. We can't have it both ways.

all endorsements constitute spam, and all spammers are prohibited from contributing to political campaigns. Also, there's a wide ranging conspiracy in this country to endorse people for public office. Every group is in on it; it's out of control; oh, why did it take so long, why? i did it all for the rookie; you give these people an inch and they'll just start voting and walk all over you. I tell you, San Francisco used to be a nice town until the heterosexuals moved in. You can't trust them, even though some of my best friends are heterosexuals. Come to think of it, so am I. Oh, but for the days when I lived in Salt Lake City and men were Mormons and women were men. Or something. Now I sit all alone in this dark alley, drinking away the dull dusk that is my life. Does anybody really know what time is it? And does anybody really care? I'm not a girl but I'm not yet a woman. In fact, I never will be and I think this is what is holding me back. Oh, if I could just turn back time and get some liposuction. I could have been a pretender.

I'mmm dreeeeeaammmmiiiingggg of a whhiitteee Christmas, a gay old whiiiite christmas, just likkkke the onnneees I usssssed to knowwwww. where the dradle glistens, somewhere in the snowwwwww.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

John,

What is being questioned here is the possible motive for SFPD's support for Burton. What is your response to the first comment by "anarchist"?

Obviously, the information that we received in the mail supporting Burton over Adachi is not providing a complete picture. Since most people are probably not well-informed about the Public Defender race, this is an excellent opportunity to expand our knowledge about the issue in order to not be unduly influenced by this particular, and most likely biased, piece of information.

http://www.sfbg.com/36/21/x_oped.html

Greens support Adachi

ALL MAY BE fair in love and war, but the same free pass should not be extended to politics.

Recently Kimiko Burton's campaign has been running ads that create confusion about the Green Party's endorsement in the race for public defender. The San Francisco Green Party would like to set the record straight as voters study their options for the March 5 election.

One ad, paid for by Burton's campaign committee, features a photo of Kimiko Burton and her father, state senator John Burton, with Ralph Nader, the Green Party candidate for president in 2000. The photo was one of many snapped at a speaking engagement featuring Ralph Nader back in October 2001 and has nothing to do with the public defender's race.

In the context of the ad, however, the photo implies that Nader has endorsed Kimiko Burton. There has been no Nader endorsement. The San Francisco Green Party has endorsed Jeff Adachi for public defender. We are impressed with Adachi's 15-year trial record in the Public Defender's Office, his managerial experience as chief attorney, and his commitment to juvenile justice, immigrant rights, and hiring a diverse staff based on merit.

Just as important, our party was established, and has grown in membership and stature during the past 10 years, precisely because of our principled stand on challenging political machines and the corporate-funded domination of politics that plagues the two major political parties and prevents true progressive reform.

Kimiko Burton was put in office by the Burton-Brown machine, named after her father and Mayor Willie Brown. This type of insider politics is anathema to progressive politics in San Francisco. The Green Party is actively working to create a fairer political system by advocating for true electoral reforms such as instant runoff voting (Proposition A on the March ballot), real campaign finance reform, and an end to backroom political appointments like that of Kimiko Burton.

Jeff Adachi (a liberal Democrat) has progressive credentials and has waged a vigorous, grassroots campaign. His opponent, meanwhile, has raised an outrageous amount of money for this campaign – more than $500,000 – mostly from out-of-town sources close to her father. She has also used large amounts of unreported soft money from special interests loyal to the Brown-Burton machine, money that is not counted toward her supposed spending cap.

Adachi, while lacking Kimiko Burton's high-powered political backing, has an abundance of experience and a solid record of excellent service, both of which give him an edge over his well-funded opponent. He comes from a working-class background and has represented 2,500 criminal cases and more than 50 felony trails, defending people who could not afford a lawyer. The Green Party feels strongly that this kind of experience is what should be used as the measure for choosing qualified candidates, not the backing of political machines that perpetuate political appointments.

Some San Franciscans are so used to machine politics in this city that they see the Burton-Brown dynasty as impenetrable and resign themselves to the old adage "You can't fight city hall." But the Green Party doesn't believe in political dynasties and certainly fights city hall – from inside and outside. We won't settle for politics as usual. We set a higher standard, and we demand a higher standard. So does San Francisco. On March 5 please join us in supporting Jeff Adachi for public defender.
Medea Benjamin is director of Global Exchange and was the Green Party's candidate for U.S. Senate in 2000.

Medea: Two words:

Alexander Cockburn

Actually, in today's Chronicle there's an endorsement of Adachi. This reprinted article is by Ken Garcia, who's just a columnist, and this is a very slanted article by him. It's a little surprising that the Chron would do the right thing and endorse Adachi, but they did.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/02/22/ED149667.DTL&type=printable

Another point about this mailing -- if you look at the envelope, it says that it's paid for by the California Professional Firefighters Political Action Committee. This was a very expensive mailer -- note that each one has the person's name printed on the letter. From financial disclosures, it's been revealed that this mailing cost upwards of $75,000. And it's a soft money... the Firefighters union also paid for Burton's street signs. Now what do statewide unions care about who's defending poor people in San Francisco? It's because they are trying to curry favor with her father, State Senator John Burton.