"San Francisco Deserves a Gay Mayor," Claims Bevan Dufty Mailer

Bow down before the one you serve, you're gonna get what you deserve...

​There are plenty of reasons to like Bevan Dufty -- his sunny disposition, his obvious pride in being a urinal owner (we really do get it), and his willingness to speak with us after we ran this photoshopped image.

Perhaps that last item is just another indicator of that sunny disposition. We concede there are many reasons to like Dufty, and perhaps even vote for Dufty. But do we deserve Dufty? A mailer supporting his mayoral candidacy indicates we do.

"San Francisco deserves a gay mayor. Vote Bevan Dufty for mayor," reads a large, attractive mailer currently adorning San Francisco mail slots, kitchen tables, and recycling bins. The message behind a mailer encouraging us to vote for Dufty is not difficult to glean. Understanding the ramifications of our city deserving him is. Asked for comment, the man we ostensibly deserve didn't exactly give us the quote we feel we deserved.

That mailer was produced by an independent expenditure committee, the Washington, D.C.-based Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. As such, Dufty had no say over its content.

"I didn't write it. I don't approve it. Ask them what they meant by it," he said. Dufty declined to tell us whether we deserve him or not or attempt to decipher what the Victory Fund meant by that wording.



Calls for Victory Fund president and CEO Chuck Wolfe were not returned. It's his 50th birthday and he's taking the afternoon off. Dennis Dison, the Fund's vice president of communications, laughed when asked to explain the wording. "It's not something I thought up, frankly." He did eventually note that "if cities like Portland, Oregon; and Houston, Texas; and Providence, Rhode Island; and Lexington, Kentucky can have openly gay and lesbian mayors, San Francisco certainly deserves no less."

Fair enough. But wouldn't "It's time for a gay mayor" have been more clear? Yes, notes Dison -- adding, cleverly, "it's past time."

Filings with the Ethics Commission note the Victory Fund spent $20,343 on the mailers. Somewhat oddly, the fund also spent $10,172 on anti-Dennis Herrera ads. Herrera and Dufty are both vying for the gay vote; their supporters have duked it out on the Democratic club level. Dison said that the mailers, portraying Herrera as a corrupt, pay-for-play politician, are part of the fund's pro-Dufty strategy.

Dufty, for his part, says he's asked the Victory Fund to stop slamming Herrera. There's that sunny disposition again. Too bad there's no sun to go with it -- but, if there were, then Dufty couldn't model his new campaign poncho at West Portal station tonight in a get-out-the-vote meet-and-greet for commuters.

Remember, if you step off Muni and Dufty's there to shake your hand -- you deserve it.

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