Mark of Effectiveness

Why Mark Leno ought to serve in the Assembly, and Harry Britt should go back to New College

A A A Comments By Matt Smith Wednesday, Feb 27 2002

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Not that Leno hasn't also received campaign contributions; he's received nearly as much in corporate campaign contributions as Britt has -- well, a lot less, when you consider Britt's unpaid bills -- but the point still holds. Britt has used the phony corporate-money-ties issue to obscure his own record as a halfhearted, machine-picked candidate without much prospect of making effective policy in Sacramento.

I doubt Mark Leno will carve a political legacy as profound as Willie Brown's or Phil Burton's. But Leno's industry and independence would go a long way toward helping this city maintain its influence in Sacramento, to the benefit of all of us, and all lesser Californians.

Mark Leno.

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1 I know, I know: We have a District 12 Assembly race, too. But Leland Yee formally disqualified himself for public office three years ago when he advocated Car Critical Mass, a minor automobile traffic jam created to protest bicycles and buses. Yee's opponent, Dan Kelly, allowed our city's schools to go to pot during 11 years as an S.F. school board member, and should be excused from public life. My advice to voters: With the rental market loosening up this year, readers who've been postponing a move to the eastern part of San Francisco, and out of District 12, might consider doing so now.

Also, be sure to vote "yes" on the "Stop Housing Immediately: Today!" initiative, also known as "Proposition D," which would put the Planning Commission under control of the Board of Supervisors. Everybody knows San Francisco has way too much housing right now, so your vote is very important.

Oh, yeah, and I'm sure Carole Migden would make a great Board of Equalization member (whatever that is), and we definitely need to vote "yes" on Prop 44 to amend the Chiropractic Act (you've heard about that one, right?), and Johan Klehs should be our next state controller (Klehs?), and don't forget John Garamendi for insurance commissioner (I met his wife once. She was nice). Most important of all, we should pillory whoever it was that decided to have obscure, minor-office elections every three goddamned months. And we should desecrate the graves of the geniuses who founded California's ridiculous, policy-deforming ballot initiative system.

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