SF Mayoral Election: Ammiano dumped the left

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It is a tendency among progressives and liberals, particularly the candidates who claim such labels for themselves, to take political criticisms as personal attacks. There is also a tendency for taking support from the left for granted (where else can they go?) and the temptation is there to pander to "moderate" voters, adapting to their prejudices and ideas instead of struggling to move them to the left.

Tom Ammiano, once the inspiring force of progressives in San Francisco is now challenged from the left as he moved to the center to win votes. Will Tom insist in the next few weeks in this movement towards the center or will he reclaim its place among left progressives in order to recover the lost support -- both in terms of votes and active supporters
-- by making a shift to the left?

If anything, the California Recall election is offering a crude spectacle of a neo-liberal, pro-corporate governor shifting to the left in order to save whatever is left of his government (Davis passed l/g/b/t, drivers' licenses for non-citizens, new pro-labor legislation,
etc)

He is even calling himself a "progressive" nowadays. Will Ammiano do the same thing or should he insist in demanding the left and progressives abandon their issues in order to achieve voter recognition in Pacific Heights?

Here are quotes from two articles on the issue.

The first, published about 2 weeks ago by Frontlines and the second published in today's Chronicle.

Let's see if progressives, liberals and leftists can debate these issues which are at the center of defeating Newsom and Leal -- the candidates of Downtown big businesses and the favorites of the political machine -- for without the left voters and activists, it will be hard for progressive candidates to win...

Or, as it happened in no few occasions before, will the progressive/liberal candidates and supporters just push aside the concerns of progressive leftists...

Will people in the left and progressive camps discuss politically, or will some of them, as in the recent past, dismiss this discussion and blindly shift center with their candidates?



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Why and How Tom Ammiano Lost his Thunder...
By Berta Hernandez
Frontlines newspaper
September 8, 2003
Read the complete article at: http://tinylink.com/?SudV9StWNz

"[...] Only weeks before the last mayoral election, on November 2, 1999, Tom Ammiano jumped into the race as a write-in candidate and, pushing the other opposition to Willie Brown to one side, garnered 47,000 votes or 25% and went on to fight for the mayoralty in a runoff with Willie, who only got 39% of the vote in the first round, or 74,000 votes.

"Ammiano rode a radical current and a desire all over the City to end the rule of machine politics. Young voters, members of labor from most communities, and his strong l/g/b/t power base gave him the necessary energy and momentum to go into the runoff election, support coming in particular from the Eastern side of town.

"These were voters who were hoping for an end to big businesses politics and searching for a pro-tenant, clean government, independent, pro-labor and pro-community alternative.

"The fuel for such a campaign came from the energy of around 1,500 volunteers who swept the streets of the City with their message, along with a flood of small donations.

"His position in second place to go for the runoff was a revolutionary achievement of sorts. On Election Day for the first round, Ammiano had a thunderous reception at a party at Roccapulco with 2,500 of his supporters."

"[...] Tom abandoned his previous position on "progressive taxation." Even today he is against a new business tax tied to the profits of the most powerful corporations headquarted in the City.

"Moving from the position of defending tenants against landlords, Tom became the compromiser who struck out against rent control by accepting the 50% pass-throughs to tenants for improvements and bond issues.

"Two years ago he divided the "public power" movement by putting on the ballot a second measure that would deny the appropriation by the City of the PG&E grid. Contrary to the position of most supporters of public power, this would have made the administration of any public power enterprise unelected, leaving the political machine in charge of appointing it.

"Even traditional liberal allies of his, like the Bay Guardian, criticized these divisive decisions.

"When Supervisors Peskin and Gonzalez tried to attack the centerpiece of the machine's patronage - the Mayor's 600 "special assistants" - Ammiano, then President of the BOS led the counterattack, stating that there was an "unwritten agreement" not to touch the prerogatives of the Mayor in that area."

"[...] when Supervisors Gonzalez, Sandoval and Daly pushed for a legal challenge to the machine: fighting the 50 biggest corporations' attempts to repeal the business tax, which would leave the City with a huge shortfall, Ammiano joined the machine Supervisors at the BOS who approved the repeal.

"IRV (Instant Runoff Voting or Modified Ranked Voting) is a source of battles between some liberals, most progressives and the center right and the political machine. Newsom, Leal and Willie Brown opposed IRV and boycotted the implementation of the will of the voters as expressed two elections ago.

"Tom, after procrastinating for months, again tried to compromise by grandfathering in the Mayoral, DA and City Attorney races, so that those races would NOT be subject to IRV. At this point Tom came the closest yet to machine positions, if not in appearance, at least in substance.

"What in hell was Tom thinking when he led the opposition to Matt Gonzalez becoming President of the Board of Supervisors, instead supporting the most palatable Brown machine candidate until the very end?

"When Matt Gonzalez was proposed as President of the Board to succeed Tom, Ammiano picked a different candidate and ended up forming a bloc with Newsom, Dufty and Maxwell (his candidate) who are the representatives of the machine at the Board.

"Another candidate for the position, Supervisor Peskin, quit the race after two voting rounds and released his supporters. He himself then voted for Gonzalez."

"Tom Ammiano stood his ground and led the machine's supervisors for six rounds until Gonzalez trounced them, obtaining the necessary majority.

"[...] In fact, Ammiano opposes the new business tax linked to profits and the creation of a municipal bank proposed by his more progressive opponent, Matt Gonzalez.

"[...]And what about immigrant rights; public power; progressive taxation; extending democratic reform; political independence from the two party regime; defense of civil rights; free transportation; environmental justice; strengthening tenant rights; the rights of homeless people; gang prevention and alternative programs to gang lifestyle.

"Sure he would talk about some of these issues if asked, but for the most part he said as little as possible so as not to alienate the "moderate" voters. Tom's campaign has lost its thunder and the support of the left, and many progressives and it is all his own doing.

"Lost opportunities, lost support in the l/g/b/t, his stronghold, and in communities of color."


"[...]Now, Tom is faced with the mainstreaming of his and many other activists' policies about l/g/b/t rights like gay marriage, transgender rights and other issues through center-right l/g/b/t politicians like Treasurer Susan Leal, Assemblyman Mark Leno, Board of Equalization member Carole Migden, right wing Supervisor Bevan Dufty and others.

"These can now comfortably support these issues as they are no longer, in San Francisco and most of the Bay Area, confronted with fierce opposition.

"Even neo-liberal Governor Gray Davis, threatened with a recall election, is said to be considering a push for gay marriage at the state level.

"Tom has endorsed most of these politicians at different times and has refused to differentiate himself from them. In fact, he is a defender of the same party that jump started all of them in public office: the Democratic Party.

"Many times, a hesitant Tom navigated the waters of compromise with these conservative l/g/b/t public officials, thus not only watering down his own policies, but fortifying the position of those politicians who would come back to undermine him.

"[...]While he got 60% of the vote in his bid for re-election in 2000 - only a year after his failed mayoral race - his vote among Latinos and immigrants in the Mission District was negligible.

"He never drew the lesson that most of his opponents in the race were Latina women candidates and that they received an overwhelming vote from Latino voters.

"The fact that at least three strong Latina candidates ran against him, including lesbian radical Lucrecia Bermudez, was an indication of the positions of the majority of the population, if not of the voters, in his District.

"In his many years on the Board of Supervisors he had tended to some Latino issues, at least tangentially, like the temporary living wage for workers working for City sub-contractors (only lasted for a year) and other issues.

"He has also pandered a little bit to the Latino NGOs. But that was hardly perceived as consistent work on behalf of one of his most important constituencies.

"He has never been in the forefront of the Latino and immigrant issues and struggles in his own District 9, and when he did participate, the general perception is that he had to be dragged into doing so.

"Gang turf wars that have erupted from time to time in the Mission District have mostly met with indifference by Ammiano - who limits himself to making some phone calls and appearing at a few hearings - and while Tom paid attention and legislated (rather late) against gentrification and displacement, his focus was on artist communities and young people rather than on working class Latino families.

"Not that artists and young people should not be defended, on the contrary; but immigrants and Latino families were those most affected by the yuppie boom of the 90s, fueled by the now deflated dot com bubble.

"Tom has never spoken out forcefully about extending voting rights to non-citizens or for an immediate amnesty for all undocumented workers. Several times he has declined to do so, even when invited by organizers of those campaigns.

"Tom declined to support the Bayview/Hunters Point Reparations Act in 2001 that won overwhelming voting support in his District 9 and in the African American and Latino communities in BVHP and other areas of the city.

"Moreover, he dismissively referred to the leftists who raised those issues in public and took them for granted - as if he figured they had no place else to go. Now he complains loudly about left progressives abandoning his camp.

"Tom's campaign for Mayor is now stagnant, only supported by the hard core of his old friends and supporters. Instead of trying to regain his lost thunder, he has acknowledged that this is not the course he intends to take. At the August 20th mayoral forum in the packed Koret Auditorium, he admitted that much when he said that now he defends "populism, not necessarily progressive" as his political thought."

2003 S.F. MAYORAL RACE
Ammiano leans toward center
Some say guru of progressives is now leaving the left behind
By Rachel Gordon
SF Chronicle
September 22, 2003

Read the complete article at: http://tinylink.com/?pcptk4jdvR

"When Tom ran for mayor (in 1999) and was instrumental in getting the supervisors elected, there was a lot of talk about there being a new force, a new movement. I don't know if Tom's been up to leading that," says Ted Gullicksen of the San Francisco Tenants Union. "The board didn't live up to a lot of expectations."

"That sentiment stems, in part, from Ammiano's calculated efforts to reach toward his right and position himself as a City Hall politician who will attempt to bring warring factions together with the goal of reaching a compromise solution.

"[...] One that fizzled was when he teamed up with Brown last year to ask the city employees unions to help balance the budget with what would have amounted to a small pay cut. When the Service Employees Union locals balked, Ammiano backed off.

"I wouldn't say that Tom has moved more to the center. I would just say that he's more open and understanding that negotiation makes for good legislation. He's really matured into a good leader," says New, whose organization nonetheless is backing Supervisor Gavin Newsom in the mayoral race.

"One split he had with some other progressives on the board came two years ago, when he sided with the majority in voting for an $80 million settlement with the business community over litigation involving the city's tax structure.

"Supervisors Matt Gonzalez, Chris Daly and Gerardo Sandoval -- part of that 2000 progressive Board of Supervisors takeover -- opposed the payout. They wanted the city to fight the lawsuit and not give in to businesses attempting to lower their tax bills, resulting in less revenue to fund city programs."

"[...] Ammiano, who once proposed imposing a local income tax on wealthy San Franciscans and to tax stock transactions, and who became Enemy No. 1 in the eyes of downtown business leaders, now is hammered by some on the left who accuse him of capitulating to corporate interests when he voted for the settlement. One of the most prominent critics of the deal is Gonzalez, who last month leaped into the mayor's race, challenging Ammiano on the left.

"School Board member Jill Wynns says the debate on the left is healthy
-- and exactly what Ammiano envisioned when he led the charge to undo the system of electing supervisors citywide and persuaded voters to resurrect district elections after a 20-year hiatus."

"I think a lot of people would presume that what Tom wanted in 2000 was to push a narrow leftist agenda and get people to follow him blindly. First, they weren't going to follow him blindly, and second, that wasn't his agenda," says Wynns, a staunch Ammiano supporter.