iPad Miracle: Political Mover and Shaker John Whitehurst Saved

You're about as likely to be able to do this with an iPad as you are to get it back when you leave it on BART

​There are two hard and fast rules on Bay Area public transportation: Any unidentified liquid is urine, and if you leave the vehicle without your high-priced electronics, you're not getting them back.

High-powered political consultant John Whitehurst can't do anything about the first rule -- we believe all liquids become urine on buses and trains via transubstantiation. But, astoundingly, after leaving his iPad on a BART train, Whitehurst was tracked down by a devoted do-gooder.

Since Whitehurst has essentially done away with his laptop and gone all-in on the iPad, rival political strategists and their clients are likely slapping their palms on the table at the thought of what goodies they could have unearthed from the Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter principal's electronic brain. (Think about Robert E. Lee's "lost orders" finding their way to George McClellan -- except without uniforms. Or guns.). 

"This restores my view of daily life and civility in San Francisco," said Whitehurst. "I've heard of many people having their iPad or iPhone stolen. I've never heard of one being returned -- let alone two weeks later."

Whitehurst, in fact, had already gone out and bought a new iPad, and remotely erased much of the memory of the old one. "I knew I'd never get it back." D'oh.

The anonymous do-gooder, however, found the names of two people Whitehurst was scheduled to meet with listed on the misplaced iPad, tracked them down via Facebook, and managed to contact the consultant. Describing the returning of the device as a "mitzvah," he took the bus to the consultant's office and handed over the item.

There wasn't any money involved -- but, the do-gooder says, "thanks was reward enough."

Fair enough, but just think: A reward could have been written off as a political expense.

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