San Francisco News Blog

The Mormon Church's recent "Oh, that $190,000!" disclosure to the California Secretary of State regarding its contributions to pass Proposition 8 and derail same-sex marriage should lead to a renewed bout of number-crunching from the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Well, here's where to start: The amount the Yes on 8 campaign reported receiving in nonmonetary donations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not match the amount the Mormons reported giving. What's more, the dates don't match -- Yes on 8 suspiciously reports the donation a day before the Mormons recorded making it.

Here's what a little fishing on the Secretary of State's Web page revealed:

On Nov. 4, the Mormon Church reported non-monetary donations of $96,849.31 and $20,575 -- a total of $117,424.31-- to the Yes on 8 campaign. You can see the file here:

Xcontributions made - disclosed by Church of Latter-day via 1.30.09 461 - 09.2.1 export from SoS site2.xls

Since the Mormon Church is listed as the donor and the recipient, the $96,849.31 is for "compensated staff time" of church workers, and the $20,575 was for use of facilities. (Here's the filing that backs that up). Amazingly, this donation just happened to occur on election day!

And yet, according to Yes on 8,  the Mormon Church's nonmonetary donation actually came on Nov. 3 -- and was only $30,354.85. Once more, you can see the file here:

Xnonmonetary ctbs from latter-day saints as disclosed by yes on 8 committee - 09.2.1 SoS Adv Search download.xls

So, which is it? We just don't know yet. But it's a good bet those questions will soon be asked. Those grousing that the Mormon church has been hiding its contributions and both Yes on 8 and the Mormons have been lowballing have a treasure trove to work with now. As they say, follow the money.

This one really is worth a thousand words.

 

Tuesday's momentous swearing-in of President-elect Barack Obama means many things to many different people: change, unity, hope, and of course, marketing. Pepsi has set a national standard of co-optation, but smaller businesses are no less quick to piggy-back on the nation's excitement.

Last weekend, doorknobs all over the Mission were hung with the above ad for a small gym outfit, LiveFit. It's a tad cheesy, but the connection between Obama and fitness is clear. The man is in very good shape. And it's safe to assume that his health care plan emphasises the vague notion of "wellness."

Then there's this menu for Twin Peaks Pizza, which also appeared on doorknobs. While the "Yes We Can" and "Change Can Happen" specials are merely puzzling (Yes, we can ... eat two meat lasagnas and two salads in one sitting. Change ... can happen to your pizza when you are the one picking the toppings.), one has to wonder who made the decision to include 10 chicken wings in the "Obama Special." Have we learned nothing from the nefarious escapades of a certain Republican womens club?

Back in election season (remember that?), we wrote about "Fred, just Fred," the artistic newspaper seller at Church and Market, who'd drawn impressive portraits of the presidential candidates.

While Fred only grinned when asked whom he supported, his allegience is now a little easier to spot. Only President-Elect Barack Obama's portrait remains hanging in Fred's kiosk. When asked where his drawing of Sen. John McCain was, he laughed and lifted a stack of old newspapers which had been obscuring the onetime maverick.

Poor McCain. It appears Fred has rendered him yesterday's news.

City denizens may not know Jim Martin, but they like him fine

By Joe Eskenazi

For all San Franciscans who grew addicted to red-and-blue maps of the United States, dueling spokesmen, and, finally, dueling exit polls – it’s time to plug Jim Martin straight into your veins.

Thanks to a Libertarian candidate – and, according to Sen. Saxby Chambliss, them darn minority voters – Martin kept the incumbent Chambliss from garnering a majority on election day. Now a runoff is set for December 2 – and the Longest Election in History, Ever has, in essence, gone into overtime. A handful of San Francisco voters who just couldn’t get enough flooded a fund-raiser for the Democrat Martin Tuesday night at House of Shields, raising around $3,000 for the candidate.

It warrants mentioning that many of those who happily contributed to Martin -- $500 for one giver – couldn’t pick him out of a police lineup. When asked, if Martin ambled up the steps, could they identify him, a number of attendees replied, “What, is he here?”

For most of those present the fact Martin is The Guy Running Vs. That Bastard Saxby Chambliss was reason enough to show up, drop 50 bucks and quaff a couple of beers. Chambliss, incidentally, is the man who unseated Democratic incumbent Max Cleland in 2002, comparing his opponent to Osama bin Laden in a TV spot (Cleland’s tour of duty in Vietnam cost him the use of both legs and an arm; even in this jaded age of ours Chambliss’ ads make the Willie Horton spot look like “The More You Know”). Further endearing himself to San Francisco voters, Chambliss explained his inability to put away his Democratic opponent to Fox News thusly: “There was a high percentage of minority vote, but we weren't able to get enough of our folks out on election day.” It doesn’t take an enigma machine to break that political code-talk.

Voters spurn Arizonan to elect city’s favored candidate

By Joe Eskenazi

Looking back, we San Franciscans were wrong to be nervous. We thought a doggedly conservative electorate would go with the more experienced candidate from Arizona. We thought our man would be perceived as too young for the job. We thought it might be a painstakingly close election – but it wasn’t. In fact, it was a landslide – Tim Lincecum has won the National League Cy Young Award!

With 100 percent of the precincts – sorry, Baseball Writers Association of America voters – reporting, Lincecum garnered 23 first-place votes, seven second-place tallies and a third-place vote, easily beating Brandon Webb of Arizona (4-15-8) and Johann Santana of the New York Mets (4-8-11). It’s worth noting that the BBWAA has appropriated San Francisco’s embrace of ranked-choice voting, too.

The voters realized what San Franciscans have known all along – Lincecum is a transformative figure whose skill belies his youth and inexperience. And, while he can be expected to savor the moment, soon he must focus on the gargantuan task of bringing change to a moribund franchise plagued by mounting losses and saddled with bad debt.

For longtime San Francisco Giants fans who had been fearing “The Marichal Effect” would keep their man from winning the election, the sun shone brightly in the city today, indeed. Yes, we can – finish fourth in the National League West!

Despite the depressing news on Prop. 8, the Castro turned into party central at the news of Obama's win. Sam Heller shares photos from that neck of the woods, and from other parties around town:

Obama's as good a reason to strip as any! Though these guys don't usually need a reason.

Dancing it up at Rasselas Jazz Club.

One woman whipped out the "loser" sign when Palin was mentioned.

If you were out at the bars watching the election results roll in last night, you probably noticed that states weren't the only thing swinging. Opportunistic Lotharios were doing their best to strike while the mood was high and "I Voted" stickers were like targets. But the sexual tension started building much earlier in the day at local polling places, as evidenced by Missed Connection posts on Craigslist.

"Sorry i didn't offer you the voting booth that opened up after a few minutes of us awkwardly sharing some kind of coffee table?," writes one shy voter who goes on to say, "thought of trying to be funny by saying, "so, you here for McCain too?" or "don't cheat off my ballot" but felt embarrassed and thought maybe not the place to even attempt to be cute."

When in doubt, m4w, 36 -- go with your gut.

A poster in SOMA is more to the point...

Although there are thousands of uncounted absentee votes left, as well as the ranked-choice craziness, there’s enough precinct data to make a preliminary list of Election Day winners and losers. So with that caveat, here we go…

By Will Harper

WINNERS

Labor: Seems like almost anything or anyone the San Francisco Labor Council endorsed is winning voter support including the bond for General Hospital and, perhaps more importantly, its favored candidates for supervisor in the key swing districts, Eric Mar in District 1 and David Chiu in District 3. Labor’s candidate in District 11, John Avalos, is also winning, but that race is too close to call at this point.

The Progressives: Dare we say there is a progressive political machine in the city now? It turns out that taking over the Democratic County Central Committee was a stroke of genius. Combining the Democratic Party brand with local labor’s footsoldiers proved potent.

District Attorney Kamala Harris: She wasn't on the ballot, but Harris ranks as an Election Day winner by virtue of having been an early supporter of Obama. A post in the new administration could be her reward.

Jim Stearns: He is now the political consultant to hire if you’re a lefty in San Francisco. He did the slate card for the new-look SF Democratic Party, and despite the hits his client David Chiu took in District 3, Chiu is cruising to victory.

Eric Jaye: PG&E hired the mayor’s political strategist to run the $10 million-plus campaign to defeat Prop. H. Jaye didn’t do anything brilliant—the No on H campaign followed the same playbook as all previous anti-public power campaigns—but that doesn’t matter ‘cause the dude made bank off this race.

(Richard Marracq shares his sentiments.)

Well, shit.

By Joe Eskenazi

Gathered in front of a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln conveniently sitting, yet leaning forward – not unlike someone in the midst of utilizing the toilet – backers of a proposition to rename a Parkside sewage plant after President George W. Bush waited out a cold night.

While Barack Obama stormed to victory and re-defined the term “blue state,” there was no joy in sewageville. When all the dust – we’ll assume it was dust – settled, they’d lost by roughly a 70-30 ratio.

This came as a blow to Bob Katz, who flew in all the way from Florida to be here for what he assumed would be the Proposition R victory party. Katz had been telling anyone who’d listen how a sewage plant should be named after the president for years, so when he found out such a plan was in the works in San Francisco, he enthusiastically lent his support.

Brian McConnell and Michael Jacinto, the proposition’s co-authors, weren’t ready to retrace their steps yet. But Jacinto noted that the Public Utility Commission’s oft-repeated estimate of $50,000 in city money to accommodate the name change was “pulled out of their posterior,” while both men were surprised at the Guardian and others rationalizing that christening a sewage plant after the president would be disrespectful to its employees – after all, the SEIU Local 1021, the sewage workers’ union, endorsed their proposition.