Ed Jew should resign BEFORE July 10

To the voting citizens of San Francisco:

If embattled SF Supervisor Ed Jew resigns before July 10, as he should, his appointed successor can be replaced by an elected supervisor in the November 2007 election.
This would empower the people of his district.
[ Note to progressives: Don't assume they'll choose a liberal.
The district system aims at a Board containing diverse political views, as well as diversity of color, class, sexuality, gender, whatever. ]
The people of Jew's district are morally entitled to ELECT their own district supervisor.
All San Franciscans -- right, center, and left -- should
DEMAND that Ed Jew resign BEFORE July 10.


.....
If Ed delays resigning, until after July 10,
the rules will change dramatically.
The mayor's appointed supervisor would get to serve out the entire remainder of Ed Jew's term.
NONE of that district's voters would be represented by an elected supe.
The big winner would be the mayor.
The three biggest losers would be
(A) the citizens of Jew's district;
(B) the citizens of the rest of San Francisco; and
(C) the ideal of democracy.

...
Whatever Jew may have done (or may not have done),
he now has ONE last chance to do something good for his district and his city
-- that is, to resign BEFORE July 10.
If he waits until after July 10, or if he refuses to resign at all,
then his inaction will harm almost everyone (except the mayor).
Let's hope that Ed Jew has a conscience.
Let's ask him to do the right thing, at least this one time.

......

On the anti-democracy side,
Mayor Newsom has every reason to encourage delay,
and to "study" this crisis until AFTER July 10.
Delay rewards Newsom.
In theory, Newsom could remove Jew from office, PDQ.
In practice, don't hold your breath...


-- Tortuga Bi LIBERTY
San Francisco

June 2007