Matt Dorsey

Ed Jew Submits Records On Where He Lives

SFPUC On the Take, Alleged Bribe-Taker Says

San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission has long had a "gift policy" in which employees were allowed to accept lavish trips and other presents from suppliers doing business with the city -- or at least that's the claim of a retired city water-meter repairman accused of accepting $13,348 from a ... More >>

California Cities and Same-Sex Couples Join SF's Prop. 8 Challenge

By Lauren SmileyThe San Francisco city attorney filed an amended petition (note: PDF file) challenging the constitutionality of Prop. 8 in the state Supreme Court Wednesday, adding seven same-sex married couples and 11 more cities and counties as parties. The amended filing also argues that Prop. 8 ... More >>

Mayor, Supes Flout the Law -- But That's Okay. Ethics Commission Won't Enforce It.

If none of the elected officials who voted a law into existence can be bothered to follow it, and the government commission charged with implementing it opts to not enforce it (even after the law is approved by voters) -- well, what does that say? It says it's just another working day here in San Fr ... More >>

It's the Law ... Sort Of

Mayor, Supes won't follow law they approved. Ethics Commission won't enforce it.

Shaky bond insurers cost taxpayers money

Mayor, Supes won't follow law they approved. Ethics Commission won't enforce it.

Dark Side of Sunshine

The city correspondence with one determined citizen is now more than 2,300 pages--even longer than War and Peace.

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, September 5, 2006

Why Must Bike Activists Continue to Roll Over the English Language?

Dennis Herrera -- and his fun but ungrammatical T-shirtLook, we're tickled by Dennis Herrera's photo of himself showing up to work on a bicycle today -- he looks like he's getting ready to wave a kid around third base while coaching his son's Little League team, and we like that casual look in a cit ... More >>

Just One Problem With Supes' Approved Plan To Defund $510K From Opera, Ballet, Theater -- It Wasn't Legal

While the supes voted to strip $510,000 from the opera, ballet and ACT, the person whose job it is to actually make such decisions says this won't happen On San Francisco's fiscally sinking ship, a majority of our supervisors voted Tuesday to toss the record player overboard via half a million ... More >>

What a Predicament: City Attorney Defends Crappy S.F. Law Against Ultimate Corporate Force of Evil

I am the law!​ Like a duel to the death with the prize to the victor being death, it seems there are no winners in this morning's legal showdown between San Francisco and Philip Morris at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Well, the winner may be "your lungs," but, at best, the loser would be "your ... More >>

Turns Out City *Was* Officially Lobbying at State Level for More Government Secrecy -- Yes, Again

Smile! ​Yesterday we reported that San Francisco was listed as a "supporter" of an Assembly bill that would, among other things, curtail public access to government data. At the time, we weren't sure exactly what being a "supporter" entailed, but now we are. Paid city lobbyist Steven Wallauch pen ... More >>

Why Did The City Feel the Need to Tack 20 Cents Onto a Settlement Worth Nearly $91K? Here's an Answer.

​Back on Monday, my colleague Benjamin Wachs pondered why the city felt the need to toss two extra dimes onto the pile for a proposed settlement of $90,670.20 for former Park and Rec Department Spokeswoman Rose Marie Dennis. We ran a short article yesterday about this -- but most of the folks we r ... More >>

Candlestick Park Trample Victim Lawsuit Isn't First Involving S.F. Police Horse -- But It's the First In a Long Time

​We've written a little bit about Eugene Caldwell, the 78-year-old 49ers fan killed by a runaway police horse last year at Candlestick Park. According to court records, Caldwell's widow and grown children filed suit against a bevy of defendants on April 17; yesterday the Examiner ran a story in wh ... More >>

Oh, Snap: City Attorney Demands Proof of Cocoa Krispies' Immunity-Boosting Claim

Get a flu shot, kids​Kellogg's just can't get a break. First, one pissed-off cereal consumer realizes that Froot Loops cereal contains no actual fruit and decides to sue for false advertising. Now Kellogg's is dealing with more false advertising claims, this time from San Francisco City Attorney, ... More >>

State Not Ready to Shut Down Mirant Power Plant Just Yet

​City clean power activists and politicos were split in their reactions to the outcome of a state power regulatory body meeting today in Folsom, as San Francisco's plans to shutter the Mirant power plant "irrevocably" by 2010 took something of a hit. While Cal-ISO -- the state body that determines ... More >>

City Attorney Seeks Injunction Against the Marina's Crime-Ridden Bridge Motel

​ As detailed in our recent cover story, "Motel Hell," the Bridge Motel in the Marina had been a dilapidated, stinking monument to neglect for more than a decade. The down-and-out and oftentimes disabled folks who live in the residential motel have been subjected to re ... More >>

City Attorney Wants PG&E Muzzled On Government-Run Clean Energy Plan

City Attorney Dennis Herrera is asking state energy regulators to shut PG&E up when it comes to a controversial overhaul of San Francisco's power system that proponents say would provide greener electricity.A city brochure for CleanPowerSF​In a petition filed today with the California Public U ... More >>

While our hypocritical mayor vows to reduce homeless population, city eyes cutting shelter beds

City Attorney Dennis Herrera is asking state energy regulators to shut PG&E up when it comes to a controversial overhaul of San Francisco's power system that proponents say would provide greener electricity.A city brochure for CleanPowerSF​In a petition filed today with the California Public U ... More >>

City Attorney Defends Potential Challenge To Arizona Immigration Law

​ San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera committed this morning to suss out and terminate city contracts with Arizona companies in protest of the state's harsh new immigration law.  Herrera also said he would offer his staff's assistance in any legal challenges to the law. While no progre ... More >>

Nob Hill Grand Dame Marion Cope Files Claim Against City for Alleged Dog Attack

Where's that dog's leash?​In what could be the overture to a lawsuit ensnaring high-level city officials, Nob Hill resident Marion Cope has filed a claim for hefty cash damages with the San Francisco City Attorney's office, alleging that government negligence contributed to a nasty dog attack last ... More >>

Gay Realtors Say They've Nixed S.F Conference Due to Arizona Boycott

The purported head of a gay Realtors' group said he'd much rather hold his conference in Arizona than the City by the Bay​A man claiming to be the executive director of a consortium of gay Realtors has told the city he is canceling a planned conference in San Francisco in protest of the city's boy ... More >>

Michela Alioto-Pier Will Take City to Court, if Necessary, to Run for Supe Again

Michela Alioto-Pier is running until the judge says she can't​Yesterday, we reported on how Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier took out papers with the Department of Elections to run again, even though a 2008 opinion from City Attorney Dennis Herrera claimed she was ineligible to do so. John Arntz, th ... More >>

Alioto-Pier: Not Progressive, Thus Termed Out?

Can't Stop, Won't Stop​Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier just doesn't understand. Tom Ammiano served fourteen years on the Board of Supervisors, Chris Daly ten. So why, then, is City Attorney Dennis Herrera insisting that Alioto-Pier -- who's been on the Board since 2004, when she was appointed to fi ... More >>

Is Philadelphia More Immigrant-Friendly Than San Francisco?

Does Philly's Michael Nutter have more spine than Gavin Newsom?​Philadelphia's deputy mayor said yesterday that his city will likely cease cooperating with federal immigration officials by sharing records of local arrests, a policy change that would put it in the vanguard of so-called "sanctuary c ... More >>

Michela Alioto-Pier Wins Term Limits Suit, Will Run Again for District 2 Supervisor

Michela beat the city -- but can she beat her District 2 rivals? ​Staffers for Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier tell SF Weekly that the District 2 supe has won her suit vs. the city and will be allowed to run again. Judge Peter Busch this morning ordered her name be placed on the ballot. A 2 ... More >>

Cell Phone Industry Suing San Francisco For Your Good, Lawsuit Claims

techzblog.inHey, Mom! I want a rainbow in my brain, too! ​Lobbyists from the Cellular Telephone Industry Association are suing San Francisco over the Cell Phone Right-To-Know ordinance, claiming the city is not allowed to make decisions involving the wireless industry. But they're not doing th ... More >>

Unions Sue Jeff Adachi, City to Keep Pension Reform Off Ballot

The union-led brawl over pension reform has, inevitably, found its way to a courtroom​Members of five city unions took the next step in labor's all-out battle against Public Defender Jeff Adachi's pension reform measure, suing Adachi and the city's election director in an effort to keep Propositio ... More >>

Zynga Off the Hook for Mafia Wars Vandalism, S.F. City Attorney Says

​It looks like Zynga is not going to face legal or financial consequences for alleged sidewalk vandalism carried out as part of a marketing campaign for the San Francisco-based company's new online game, Mafia Wars: Las Vegas.Instead, according to Matt Dorsey, spokesman for San Francisco City Atto ... More >>

Zynga Mafia Wars Stickers Prompt City Attorney to Go to the Mattresses

Yes, money is power. But having the Unfair Competition Law at your disposal is power, too.​San Francisco's city attorney has decided that money is not enough to compensate for ad firm Davis Elen plastering 4,000 Zynga Mafia Wars stickers onto San Francisco sidewalks. And, unless ad executives agre ... More >>

Jelly's Club Sues San Francisco Claiming City Shuttered Nightclub To Protect America's Cup Bid

Whistleblower​Jelly's Dance Cafe, a nightclub that has faced eviction since a fatal July shooting, is suing San Francisco, claiming the city was retaliating against the club after it complained about leaky bay-side sewage pipes, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court last week.If publiciz ... More >>

Dennis Herrera Implies Homosexuality Is a Choice; Upsets Gays

Weighing the gay vote​The gay-friendly, Dennis Herrera, San Francisco's city attorney who last year filed a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on gay marriage, "accidentally" referred to homosexuality as a sexual preference rather than an orientation. In other words, he made it sound like being g ... More >>

Dennis Herrera Called Out Over Pension Reform Ethics

Deciphering what's legally dumb​Public Defender Jeff Adachi's crusade continues ... but now he's turning his sights on City Attorney Dennis Herrera, claiming he is using his role as the city's chief lawyer to influence pension reform. Adachi's SF Pension Reform group, fired off a letter to Herrera ... More >>

Mental Health Employees Sue Over Crazy Work Schedule

Stop the madness!​City employees who care for the severely mentally ill have sued over a severely unstable work schedule that's driving them craaaaaaaazy. They are scheduled to work four days one week, then six days the next, then four, then six .....This routine was devised by a madhouse, known f ... More >>

City Charter May Keep Top Contender Out of DA Race

Stop the madness!​City employees who care for the severely mentally ill have sued over a severely unstable work schedule that's driving them craaaaaaaazy. They are scheduled to work four days one week, then six days the next, then four, then six .....This routine was devised by a madhouse, known f ... More >>

Dennis Herrera Has at Least One Vote -- His Wife!

Too bad his son can't vote, too!​We're so used to getting flooded with scores of e-mails from City Attorney Dennis Herrera detailing his awesomeness, but we're not used to getting those kind of e-mails from his wife.Which is exactly why this morning's e-mail from Anne Herrera caught our eye -- and ... More >>

With Anti-Lee Attack Ad, Dennis Herrera Ditches Logic of Ranked Choice Voting

Is this the best type of ad to run in an RCV election?​According to the ranked choice voting playbook, candidates must offer themselves up as a perfect amalgam of milquetoast and pablum. They might not draw enough attention to be anyone's favorite, but perhaps they'll get enough second-choice vote ... More >>

SF Log Cabin Republicans: There Are More Than Three of Us

anoldent via Flickr​Much ado has already been made about Dennis Herrera slamming Ed Lee for contributions from a Republican -- one that has also supported Herrera over the years. But a comment in the Chronicle from Herrera's spokesman, Matt Dorsey, prompted the SF Log Cabin Republicans to as ... More >>

DA Launches Criminal Investigation into Mayor Ed Lee's Donors

On the bright side, that's fewer thank you notes to write now ​District Attorney George Gascón refused to investigate previous accusations of questionable ethics tied to Mayor Ed Lee's campaign. But  just 24 hours after early voting started, the DA announced he would investigate allegations ... More >>

George Gascón and Dennis Herrera Share Consultants. Is That a Problem?

Trouble in motion...​We all know the query about who will watch the watchmen. But what about the watchmen's consultants? After Dennis Herrera's tubthumping that a full-blown investigation was required of alleged money-laundering after shuttle bus drivers claimed they were made to donate to Mayor E ... More >>

Dennis Herrera's Spokesman Backs Boss' Opponent in Mayoral Race

Who's been knocking on whose door?​As the old adage warns ... don't bite the hand that feeds you. Matt Dorsey, loyal spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera who is running for mayor, has been fiercely defending his candidate and longtime boss in the final days of the race. And that's why we fou ... More >>

State Election Monitors to Observe S.F. Voting Tomorrow

It's never a good sign when the state has to intervene​The California Secretary of State is sending election observers to oversee poll workers and voters as they cast their vote starting tomorrow morning. State officials would not confirm how many election monitors would be in San Francisco, but s ... More >>

Embarcadero Center Threatened to Sue City Over Occupy Encampment

Embarcadero Center: Occupiers holiday ice show = "disastrous."​The Hyatt Regency and Vitale hotels complained of foul camp conditions, "sexual harassment," and an employee getting coffee thrown on him by OccupiersThe 99 percent might wage war with drum circles, slogans, and tent cities, but the 1 ... More >>

BREAKING: San Francisco Suspends Medical Marijuana Licensing Program Indefinitely

​San Francisco city officials indefinitely suspended the city's medical marijuana dispensary permitting program on Wednesday, according to the Department of Public Health.Pending permits had been on hold since December, after a ruling in a state appeals court case halted similar permitting program ... More >>