A few days ago, I posted a link to an article in the Fog City Journal regarding one of our D10 candidates as being in arrears on a significant tax debt. Well, Matier and Ross over at the Chronicle have just posted this about Lynette Sweet and her tax woes.
Now come on... are we to believe that you mistakenly made the check out to yourself back in 2007? Are we to believe that you didn't notice that that $14,500 was still in your bank account a month, two months, a year, two years, or three years after sending the IRS the check? I know for darned sure that I would notice $14,500 just sitting around in my bank account. Is this the kind of fiscal management we're looking for from our Supervisor?
I want to remain impartial here, but this sounds pretty fishy! First we had the news that developer John Vidovich and family had donated $3500 to Ms. Sweet's campaign and was giving her a potentially sub-market rental deal on her offices at 25 Division. 25 Division is, coincidentally, a property that the Vidoviches are having trouble getting re-zoned so that they can demolish and develop it, and that could use a little push from someone at City Hall to change their fortunes on the matter.
And now we have this news. Granted, this kind of thing is partly a distraction from the issues of our district, but do we really want our new supervisor to enter office with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over his or her head from the start? And if these two things have come to light, it makes me wonder what else is out there that has yet to be discovered - and not just about Ms Sweet!!
With two months left until election day, now is not a good time to be impartial. Few candidates read or post to this blog. Perhaps they do not see the value of the internet, are too stupid to understand computers, or simply don't give a shit. With a hundred people at Velma's, maybe a hundred at VidSF, which had less than a hundred online viewers, and the other forums that have only a small percentage of voters, it's obvious that the bulk of voters rely on other sources for candidate information. That source is probably the internet.
ReplyDeleteWith two months left until election day, the candidates have got to stop patronizing each other, kissing each other's arse. They all want the same job, but they essentially say the same thing. Yes, we know that D10 is allegedly the future of SF which will impact jobs and the economy, and that they will address these issues if elected, etc., etc. All the candidates say this, so how are voters and supporters supposed to distinguish one from the other?
Some, such as CJackson, Donaldson, Morris, Cohen, and Franklin yelp "locally bred" and should have consolidated into one candidate. They are just mirrors of each other, singing the same song, forgetting that D10 includes PotHill, VisValley and the DesignCenter. Others should have consolidated into niche platforms, e.g., LGBT, green, etc. If they were serious about community representation, they would have made the effort to trim the candidacy pool to 10. IMO, the 20+ people on the ballot will prove that the rank-and-file system is flawed. It's never been tested with this many people.
Granted, these candidates are taking the week off to run naked at Burning Man, but after Labor Day, they gotta start fighting. They gotta slam dirt on each other, because with 20+ candidates who all say they same thing, it only confuses voters. There will be no winner in November because with 20+ people running, the person elected will get in with a very small percentage of the entire D10 constituency. That person will have four years of pure hell.
My own impartiality is mainly in how I treat the candidates on this blog. I have my opinions on whom I think would be the best supervisor, just like everyone else does, but this isn't the forum where I want to get into my personal endorsement. I want everyone who does read this to not only feel welcome, but to go away knowing that their candidate is being treated fairly.
ReplyDeleteThe race here is about finding the best person for the job - period. If they all seem a little
'Kumbayah' about it, it's likely because they all want the best for our district. After the election, there will be 21 losing candidates who'll have to work with the new supervisor in one capacity or another. It does none of them any good to be anything other than civil toward each other. Their civility is actually how I'd like to see all of us behave towards each other in D10. So far, all the candidates have set a pretty good example to the rest of us in that regard at least.