By Louise “Lou” Fischer–
Happy almost Election Day. If you were wondering why you received an official ballot and a mountain of campaign literature in the mail and on your doorstep, there’s a Special Election on February 15 in San Francisco. If you haven’t done so yet, turn in your ballot at one of the many drop boxes throughout the city or at your neighborhood polling location or City Hall on Election Day. If you did not receive a ballot, go to City Hall and vote in person.
Unlike the marathon ballots of the past, this one is short, but packs a wallop of controversy. There are only three categories, two of which (State Assembly, District 17, and SF Assessor-Recorder) emanated from the corruption probe that generated a kick-ass game of “Musical Chairs, City Hall Edition” and the third is either an undiagnosed side-effect of COVID-19 entitled “recall-fever” or, more likely, just simple parental frustration.
School Board Recall
In the 3rd century BC, philosopher Han Feizi introduced the paradox of “what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.” The 2022 version in San Francisco is “what happens when incompetent governance of children’s education meets an unruly mob of infuriated parents.” Never underestimate a parent’s power to protect their children, or gather over 80,000 signatures for the three ballot measures (only 51,325 signatures were required; these are some seriously overachieving parents).
In most jobs, you actually have to be qualified, maybe take a test, or at least get through a gauntlet of interviews to be hired. But to serve as an elected official, it’s just a popularity contest. A vote is basically a “Like” button; if you get enough, you get the job, your lack of qualifications notwithstanding. I can think of many elected officials in San Francisco who were more inept than these three bumblers, but none of them suffered the indignity of a recall.
Recall elections are an expensive waste of taxpayer funds and can easily be manipulated by “special interests.” Our current system of democracy has a failsafe baked in. It’s called “the next election”; if you don’t like ‘em, vote the bums out of office. That said, vote “YES” to recall all three. The other four members of the Board had not served long enough in their terms to be eligible for recall. They better get their act together before their next election in 2024.
Assessor-Recorder
Joaquin Torres, former head of the Office of Economic Workforce and Development, is running unopposed to finish the term vacated by Carmen Chu who was appointed to City Administrator after Naomi Kelley voluntarily resigned because being married to the guy ensnared in a corruption probe is a career-ending event. Joaquin doesn’t have to break a sweat in this race. According to his campaign manager Maggie Muir, he is “reaching out to voters to introduce himself and talk about the impact of his office on everyday people.” Joaquin, I can save you a lot of time. I know the impact of your office every April and November when my property tax payments are due.
Vote for Joaquin; he is actually pretty good at his job, he’s had a year to figure out when to assess, and when to record. He was a professional actor in New York and Chicago where he appeared in King Lear, so he is familiar with the drama of political machinations. Having known him since he moved back to San Francisco, his calm demeanor and even temperament do not worry me that he’ll go mad and wander through a storm.
Assembly District 17
This race is open because former Assemblyman David Chiu accepted the Mayor’s appointment to be City Attorney when Dennis Herrera was appointed to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. If you live on the east side of the city, buckle up: you might be voting in this race up to four times because the perfect storm of state election laws met up with local San Francisco ordinances. Former San Francisco mayor and current California “Gov. Gavin” declared a special election for the D17 vacancy to take place on April 19, 2022 with a primary on Feb 15, however, the regular election cycle for this office is in June and November.
For the upcoming election, close your eyes, throw your pen at the ballot and mark your vote wherever it lands. If you are sportier and want to use darts, make a copy of your ballot first; tiny holes might void the ballot. While the four candidates will disagree with me, it doesn’t really matter who wins in February. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes (50%+1), the top two will run against each other in April.
If you don’t like the winner, the game will start all over again on June 7 with a “jungle primary” (I’m surprised the word “jungle” hasn’t been canceled yet; it’s borderline offensive to residents of jungles) in which the top two finishers regardless of vote percentage will run against each other in November. While there is some advantage to incumbency, the final certification by the Secretary of State for the April 19 election is May 27, so that’s not a lot of incumbency time before the June 7 election.
Don’t forget to vote on February 15 and for residents of Assembly District 17, you’ll be voting experts by the final 2022 election on November 8.
Louise (Lou) Fischer is a Former Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and has served as an appointed and elected Delegate for the State Democratic Party. She is a proud graduate of the Emerge California Women’s Democratic Leadership program, was a San Francisco Commissioner, and has served in leadership positions in multiple nonprofit and community-based organizations.
Published on February 10, 2022
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