Election on My Mind

Win Aaron Win

Of all the contests on this November’s ballot, there are none that I care about more than the District 3 Supervisor race. It is not just that Aaron Peskin is a friend, although he is that. Nor is it not just that he has been such a great supporter of mine over the past de­cade, mentoring me, appointing me to seats on the Building Inspection Commission and Board of Appeals, and strongly backing my campaigns for District 8 Supervisor in 2010 (un­successful) and for College Board in 2012 (successful). It is that Aaron is one of the smartest, most effective people I know in politics, someone who manages to marry pragmatism and principle to advance the public good in a way that I do not see any other figure in San Francisco doing nearly as well.

In the fifteen or so years that I have been closely following SF politics, I don’t remember a time when mon­ey had a tighter grip on City Hall. Aaron’s election on its own would surely not correct the imbalance, but it would give the reformers some hope that we’re still in the game.

Milk Club Agonistes

The Milk Club’s internal struggles over the Sheriff’s race appear to have finally ended on September 23, when a majority of the voting membership gave Ross Mirkarimi the Club’s en­dorsement. Back in July, the Club had voted not to endorse anyone in the race, but following that vote a signifi­cant portion of the membership, in­cluding many longtime members, had been agitating for a re-vote, arguing that there was no principled basis for the Club not to endorse Mirkarimi.

He is, after all, a longtime friend of the Club and champion of progressive causes, a national leader on criminal justice issues and the hand-picked successor to the much-admired for­mer sheriff, Mike Hennessey. Others in the Club argued that, progressive stalwart though he may be, Mirkari­mi’s self-inflicted wounds have virtu­ally assured that he will not win re-election and have done serious harm to the local progressive movement, and that by endorsing him, the Club risked devaluing its overall slate and potentially losing votes for other can­didates and ballot measure positions that would be harmed by the asso­ciation with Mirkarimi. I think it’s possible the “pragmatists” may have overestimated the negative impact of that association; at least I hope so.

Too Many Good Candidates

Another race I am closely following is the contest for the City College Board seat that opened up when longtime Trustee Natalie Berg resigned for health reasons at the end of last year. I have not endorsed any of the candi­dates and will not, since as President of the Board I have to work closely with whomever is in that seat. I will say that I have been impressed by all three of the major candidates. I don’t always agree with Mayor Lee, but his appointment of Alex Randolph has proved to be an excellent selection.

I had thought it was important for the Mayor to use his appointment author­ity to bring diversity to a Board on which five of the members were white. In appointing an African American gay man, the Mayor helped move the Board a little closer to actually reflecting the diversity of San Fran­cisco. I have known Alex for years, served with him on the Board of the LGBT Center and have always found him to be diligent, hard-working and super-responsible. In the short time since his appointment to the Board, he has again and again demonstrated each of these characteristics.

I have likewise known challenger Tom Temprano for years, having worked with him on John Avalos’ mayoral campaign and watched and cheered on his accomplishments as Milk Club President in 2013 and 2014. Tom has shown himself to be a terrific retail candidate, getting his signs up in windows throughout the Mission and beyond and making himself a ubiq­uitous presence at BART and Muni stations greeting commuters morning and night. If this race ends up being decided by which candidate has run the best on-the-ground campaign, Temprano should win by a mile.

Wendy Aragon, a Latina woman and community college graduate herself, who volunteered on my Supervisor campaign in 2010, ran for the DCCC as part of the progressive slate in 2012, and currently serves as president of the Richmond District Democratic Club, has been busy scooping up key endorsements right and left, includ­ing the College’s teacher’s union, the SF Labor Council, the Building and Construction Trades, the Sierra Club, the Tenants Union, the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee, and the list goes on and on. At this point, I could see any of these three candi­dates winning in November, and I know all of them have bright politi­cal futures ahead. I look forward to watching their stars continue to rise.

Rafael Mandelman is an attorney for the City of Oakland. He is also President of the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees.