Screaming Plants
April 27, 2000
MUSICAL CHAIRS: On April 26, the 31-member S.F. Democratic County Central Committee will vote to elect Chair Natalie Berg’s successor, who’s running for re-election to the College Board—and not precluding a run for supervisor.
A top contender is Jane Morrison, who has close fundraising ties with the Chinese Newcomer Service Center and recruited a number of Asian American interns for a local radio station. Making her second bid (she lost in 1996 by one vote), Morrison is supported by the “reform” wing of the party in 1996.
Alex Wong is another favorite, expected to win by a slim margin and become the first APA chair of the party. Wong himself is the former president of the dormant Asian Pacific Democratic Club and current chair of the Richmond District Democratic Club. Wong, who works for City Attorney Louise Renne, is a former student regent of the University of California and currently is the party vice chair. He is likely to receive the support of the S.F. Democratic Party’s political establishment.
Unlike the Democrats, the S.F. Republican Party battle for chair is not divided between “reformers” and “establishment” factions. When the 32-member committee convenes on May 8, they will vote in what Stephen Fong, a former county committee member and political consultant, calls a “friendly fight” between current chair Donald Casper and county committee member Howard Epstein.
With the initial blessing of Casper, Epstein started rounding up votes to succeed Casper, who at the time wasn’t considering a run for re-election.
He changed his mind, however, when the Republican Party decided to endorse Willie Brown in his December mayoral run-off with Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano. Since then, Casper and the party have been with prospects of reaping the benefits of their support. (The mayor was re-elected with 80 percent of the Republican vote.) Already, the party has gotten commission appointments. Casper, himself, was appointed to the Civil Service Commission and the Mayor’s 2000 Committee.
Republicans are facing new political horizons in San Francisco. While their party registration has increased in numbers in recent years, their relative strength has declined to less than 14 percent. There is a potential to pick up more mayoral appointments and at least one seat on the Board of Supervisors this year.
PASS THE BUCK: Some political activists have occasionally questioned whether Supervisor Leland Yee is playing it too safe. For example, Yee stayed neutral in last year’s mayoral race. And after he left the school board, he only questioned the wisdom of the school district’s desegregation consent decree, which I think discriminated against Chinese American kids. A class action lawsuit finally forced the school district to change its admissions policy.
How about passing the buck? The architect of a neighborhood notification initiative for two years, Yee most recently seemed more interested in passing responsibility to his colleague. Mabel Teng’s Housing and Social Policy Committee will have to wrestle with the relocation of a state parole center. The plans have angered 500-600 feisty Chinese Americans in the Portola neighborhood, including Portola homeowner and former Yee aide, Robert Chan, who also happens to be a supervisor candidate in the same District 10.
In Yee’s brief remarks to an angry crowd last Saturday, he said, “This issue is right now on the desk of Supervisor Teng. She has got to hold a hearing on this particular matter so that the Board of Supervisors will then be able to say, ‘no, we don’t want that parole office out there.’”
A PLANT, BUT NOT A POTTED PLANT: A very belligerent guest at the April 20 Chinese American Democratic Club meeting in the Parkside Police Station took Supervisor Yee to task over the demolition of the Sava Pool and the Parkside Elementary School.
“I’m sure you have a lot of people with money lining your pockets,” she sarcastically said to Yee.
Through most of the meeting, she persisted, seething and venting at guests who tried to ignore her. I whispered to the bemused supervisor that she was obviously a plant from another campaign.
“I don’t want the whole county being Chinese,” she said, interrupting Chris Bowman’s presentation on district elections, while the predominantly Chinese audience laughed uncomfortably at her offbeat statements.
“I’m sick of it,” she said, as she swore, arguing with some audience members. “You f-cking a–hole. I’m sick of this. My father was born in North Beach.” she ranted.
Believe it or not, the next day I did find out the woman was a “volunteer” from another campaign. A campaign representative confirmed that the screaming woman was the same person who had signed up to help out. The campaign, however, soon found out she was as Robin Williams might say, “two tacos short of a combination plate.”
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