San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris — a rising political star — could face rougher seas over a $9.3 million hit after a Department of Justice audit alleging that her office misused a grant designated for prosecuting border-related crimes. Harris — who was prosecuting former Supervisor Ed Jew and then won re-election handily last November — is conducting her own internal investigation and has taken “full responsibility.”…
LEGAL TOP GUN: Harris is a top adviser, California campaign co-chair and friend of presidential candidate Barack Obama. If Obama is elected president, Harris — the first California public official to endorse Obama — would be in the running for attorney general, or a top post in the DOJ or the West Wing. Or Harris could be positioned to run for mayor or a statewide post like attorney general of California after Jerry Brown leaves. But with a heated presidential race, the grant and Harris could become an issue, after Congress over the past two years failed to address the hot-button issue of undocumented immigrants. …
CLINTON OPPORTUNITY?: Rival Hillary Clinton could use the issue in further denting Obama’s Teflon candidacy in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary and future races. But the risk is exploiting an immigration issue and alienating Latinos, who have overwhelmingly voted for Clinton in delegate- and electoral vote-rich California and Texas. …
MAC ATTACK?: Nationally, likely GOP nominee McCain could exploit the grant issue if he is to reunite his GOP base and draw anti-amnesty Independents and conservative Democrats, and beat the Democratic nominee. McCain had incurred his party’s wrath when he and Sen. Edward Kennedy proffered a legalization bill seen as an “amnesty.” However, Republicans risk losing Latinos in the long-term, as seen in the 1998 backlash against California gubernatorial nominee Dan Lungren for GOP Gov. Pete Wilson’s support of statewide measures denying social services to undocumented immigrants in 1994’s Proposition 187. …
NANCY GIVETH, SCHOOLS TAKETH: Tough times, tough decisions. If you’re the median-sized Asian Pacific American household of more than three members and making less than $150,000 for married couples, you could expect $1,500 to $1,800 in tax rebates. San Francisco’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the president and the Senate have express mailed an economic stimulus package of rebates amounting to around $600 per adult and $300 per kid into our mailboxes starting weeks after tax day, April 15. But wait: Many will not see all of that rebate. … What Nancy giveth, the School Board could taketh on June 3 if two-thirds of voters support Proposition A, a $198 annual parcel tax totaling nearly $4,000 over 20 years. …
THE REGRESSIVES: Ironically, the most progressive APA School Board members — Eric Mar and Jane Kim — along with Hydra Mendoza and Norman Yee, have become the regressives — as in regressive tax. Their parcel tax measure treats, for example, an APA homeowner and Bank of America headquarters on equal footing. Both will pay the annual $198 tax. But it’s the price that APAs may pay to avert 355 layoffs of the least senior teachers, including at least one-seventh who are APA, like six-year Washington High School algebra teacher Rudy Choy, son of long-time community leader Carmen Choy. He’s received a layoff notice effective June 1. …
KEEPING TEACHERS: The pay raises are a necessity to avert layoffs, but just for San Francisco to retain S.F. teachers who start at around $44,000 and average around $55,000 and top out around $77,000 working for half a year. Former veteran School Board member Eddie Chin at a recent Proposition A forum said rookie teachers get invaluable experience from this tough diverse urban district, but then move out where the pay is better and cost of living is less than the city. …
ECONOMIC CATCH-22: Prop A puts APA parents, homeowners and small businesses in a recession catch-22. They could support a school district with their kids in a majority APA student body, or vote against Prop A while coping with fallout from ground zero (Stockton, Calif.) of the subprime mortgage meltdown, the highest gas prices in the nation and threats of unemployment. …
CLARIFICATIONS: In the March 7 print and March 10 online editions (http://www.asianweek.com/2008/03/10/yee-ma-blameless-for-sf-losing-clout/) of Potstickers, Plan C hosted a forum and invited APA moderate candidates for supervisor, including Claudine Cheng, Alicia Wang and James Fang. The Small Property Owners of San Francisco did not organize the forum.
In the April 4 print and April 7 online editions of Potstickers (http://www.asianweek.com/2008/04/07/city-college-chancellor-next-bmoc-and-just-saying-%e2%80%98ngo%e2%80%99/), all the community college trustees supported the Chinatown community campus. Trustees Milton Marks III and John Rizzo supported it, but were the most vocal in questioning aspects about the planning process and proposed building. They had convened a meeting of advocates and critics to pursue a compromise.
Reach Samson Wong at (415) 321-5886 or
swong@asianweek.com.